A New Journey
by Texas Longhorn
Summary: A pokeshipping fic! Ash has just become the Sinnoh Pokemon Champion, and now Cynthia has given him a strange box with surprising instructions that will put his skills as a trainer to the test, but as he brings together the old team, new feelings surface.
1. The Sinnoh Champion

**Hello everybody!** Well, this is my first fic, and it promises to be a long one. The first and second chapter of "A New Journey" will really be meant to catch y'all up to speed, then the real story begins. However, even though it is necessary, I am trying to make these first couple of chapters as exciting as I can, and I think I did well with this first one. I just finished all my AP exams and the SAT this last week, so hopefully I will be able to update weekly. Sometimes, just to divert my energies momentarily, I will not work on this story, but instead something simpler like a quick one-shot, but rest assured this story will be my main focus while it is yet unfinished. As mentioned, this is gonna be a looooong story, but it should be worth it. And yes, by the way, it is really a pokeshipping fic, but I promise that along with that (in case you're not interested in pokeshipping) there will be plenty of funny, dramatic, happy, sad, and scary subplots throughout the fic. Thank you so much for reading, enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"What a great job Ash!" yelled Brock at the new Sinnoh Champion. Ash had just defeated the now-former Sinnoh Champ Cynthia for the title.

Truth be told, Ash couldn't quite believe it himself. "Just a few moments ago, you were the most powerful challenger. And just now, you became the most powerful of all trainers. You are now our newest Champion!" Cynthia cried into the microphone more to the audience than to Ash. The crowd itself appeared to be split between celebration for Ash, and mourning for Cynthia. It was to be expected though, since many did not like an outsider (from the Sinnoh region) representing their most powerful of trainers. However, many from Kanto had come to see the match, and were now proudly waving flags of their country, and of Ash's face in the air.

Cynthia actually seemed to be very happy, although Ash couldn't imagine why. He knew she had been champion for three years, so maybe she had grown tired of the responsibility. However, he had heard he was only the third person to ever receive all the Sinnoh badges, win in the regional championship, defeat the Elite Four, and Challenge Cynthia throughout her reign. Maybe she was just glad to have the pressure of being the best off of her, even at the price of her renowned title.

Whatever the reason, Ash simply shrugged and went to greet Dawn and Brock who were both leaning over the railing to high-five him. He had not felt this great in…well, forever! The stress of the four hour long battle had taken its toll on his appearance, however. After the second hour he had thrown his hat aside, showing a mess of black hair flying in every which way as he masterfully commanded his well trained creatures with grandiose gestures, as if he himself were trying to use thunderbolt, or water gun. He had also thrown his jacket aside, as it was May, and too warm for his body which steadily became warmer as the battle intensified.

"So what are you gonna do now, Mr. Sinnoh Champ?" asked Brock as he handed the deliriously overjoyed teen a bottle of water. He felt immensely proud of his best friend, in no small part due to the fact he had coached this once overly-arrogant kid himself.

"I'm going to Disneyworld!" Ash exclaimed more to the video cameras around him than to his best friends.

"Well, that's good to hear, but first you may wanna get up on the stage to accept the new title," replied an amused Dawn. She too was very happy for her friend. She inwardly very much regretted the fact that she only had another week to spend with him and Brock, before they had to part ways. They had already discussed it, and despite their greatest efforts, they simply could not find a way for Brock and Ash to continue his journey, and for her to become a master coordinator. After weeks of arguing, and at one point crying (Dawn, of course) they agreed that the split was inevitable, so after their amusement park vacation they decided they would disintegrate the group at the Johto-Kanto border, where Dawn would continue her contest career, and Ash could return home for a few weeks.

"Oh yeah!" Ash cried, happily bounding towards the stage to receive the Champion cup, which was as tall as he and Cynthia. It was a beautiful gold trophy, decorated with diamonds and pearls, and the base itself was made of platinum. Although he did not really understand the reasoning behind the decoration, he gladly accepted his prize, and Cynthia began a small speech.

"I just want to say that I cannot help, but smile after such a wonderful battle. The truth is, losing is somewhat a good thing for me, since I can now focus more on what's important in life. During my time as Champion, I obviously received a great sum of money from the interviews I've done, the articles that were written about me, and the books I wrote, and I plan on using these funds to start my own charity offering premium health insurance for families who have none in our great nation. Please visit my website to read the details, and donate if possible. However, tonight's not about me. Tonight we crown the new champion of the Sinnoh region! This is a cause for celebration, and I want all of you to join me in welcoming our new representative!" She screamed the last part into the microphone, and everyone cheered.

Ash nervously walked to the podium, where Cynthia struggled, but was able, to hand him the trophy which he found fairly light, and then bowed out of the way to allow the trainer to speak. "Hey everybody," he slightly mumbled from nervousness. He had completely forgotten the speech he had written in the hotel room. He had written it on the off-chance he actually won the battle. "Well, I'm not a man of many words - ".

"LIAR!" Ash distinctly heard Brock jokingly yell from the audience. Many began to laugh, and that eased Ash's nerves as he continued.

"Well, okay, I'm not a man of more than a couple million words," he once again could have sworn he heard Brock jokingly mumble a "thank you" in the audience as he said this, "but I just want to say that I will do my best to represent the Sinnoh region in my new title. I have no intention of letting your reputation of having the toughest trainers slip through my grasp, and that is what I guarantee as your new Champion. Now, LET THE CELEBRATION BEGIN!" As he hollered this into the microphone, balloons fell from nets being held up by low flying Pokémon, and the crowd roared back into action after having been momentarily silenced by his speech.

He began to walk off the stage with the trophy when he suddenly felt someone grasp at his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was Cynthia. Looking around quickly, she handed him a small lock box from under the podium. She then took a key off of a necklace she was wearing and handed it to him. In barely above a whisper, she ordered him, "You must read this, but not until you are alone. Understand?"

Confused, Ash simply nodded and continued down the stairs with the trophy in one hand, the box in the other, and the key in his pocket. He wondered what that could have been about, but the issue quickly slipped from his mind as Dawn came and gave him a hug, causing him to slightly blush, while Brock slapped him on the back. Suddenly, reporters came from everywhere, and he smiled to the camera and said hi to his mom and Oak, and Gary, and May, and Max, and Misty, and even Drew (although he didn't know why). He then proceeded to spend the next two hours answering rushed questions, and explaining his strategy throughout the battle.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he, Brock, and Dawn were alone in the 17th floor of the Anthony Deluxe Resort Suites and Spa, in a small city outside of Sunyshore. As they stood there, the excitement began to erode into exhaustion, and the effects of the night began to take their toll on the young trainers.

"Well, I still can't believe how well you did!" Exhaustedly, but enthusiastically, cried Dawn.

"I'm just glad I can tell all the ladies that I coached the Sinnoh Champion!" Eagerly screeched Brock for about the fortieth time that night.

"I just can't believe it's 3 o'clock in the morning and we're still standing," replied a bleary-eyed Ash. "Let's hit the hay!"

Quickly agreeing, they all said their goodnights and slugged their ways to their respective rooms. As soon as Ash entered his Presidential Suite (which was free of charge, of course) he kicked off his shoes and jeans, and climbed into the warm bed in his t-shirt and boxers. As he began to drift off however, he noticed a red light on the answering machine on his telephone. With a grin, he realized who that must have been calling him. He quickly sprang up, showing no signs of the exhaustion that had nearly arrested him into deep slumber just moments ago, and went to the phone. He dialed the lobby and asked if there had been any calls for him.

"Finally! Yes, I have about a million messages for _you_ Mr. Ketchum," replied the woman wearily. "Let's see, there was one from a Mrs. Ketchum, not your wife I presume. There was one from a Ms. Waterflower, who seemed _very_ eager to talk, also a Gary, a Tracey, a Professor Oak, and a Ms. May from Hoenn called you."

"Wow! Thanks a lot!" Ash nearly screamed. "I'll call them right away."

"Yes, well I personally thank you for that Mr. Ketchum. By the way, I watched your performance tonight, or should I say last night, on the television, and I must say that was quite a spectacle. You're not from Sinnoh, but I think you'll do."

"Um, thanks," Ash said, wondering if she were simply playing with him, or was serious, "have a good night."

"You too Mr. Ketchum."

Quickly Ash hung up, turned on the video monitor and dialed his mother's house. It was four hours earlier in Pallet, so he hoped they were still up.

* * *

Author's note: Wow! What a rush. I honestly wasn't sure if I would enjoy this or not, but I gotta say it was a great experience! I am already preparing the second chapter. I plan on using whatever free time I have to working on the story, so if it happens that I am too busy to work on the story one week, I'll already have a couple in the reserves waiting to be called on so it doesn't mess up my weekly deadline. Please tell me what you think, cause if you don't I won't really know if this is worth my dedication. As I mentioned above, the story's gonna take a while to write, and if I don't think anyone's listening, then why bother, right? Also like I said, these first couple of chapters are just gonna be to catch you up to where I want to be in the fic, so the real fun, and sadness, can begin, so be patient if it seems a little slow at first.


	2. A Master's Journey

**Hello everybody!** Well, here's the second installment of my fic! I think y'all will like it. I answer a few questions from the previous chapter, and I answer some questions that I always had about the Pokemon world back when I watched the show (such as, how does Ash get an education while on the road?). I hope you all enjoy it, and please remember to continue writing reviews for this story. I relly think I can take it places, but only if you show support. Otherwise, I'm just wasting my fingers (ha ha). Anyway, enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Hello?" asked an almost middle-aged woman, who was tiredly rubbing her eyes. It was almost midnight, but her sluggish attitude quickly brightened when she saw the smiling face on the monitor.

"Hey ma!" exclaimed Ash. He was grateful that his mom was where he guessed. "So'd you see what happened tonight?"

"Of course honey! You were absolutely amazing in battle! Oak couldn't quit telling me how impressed he was with your abilities as a trainer, and everyone kept agreeing with him. I ended up having to shut them up 'cause I couldn't hear what the announcer was saying on the television-".

At this point she was interrupted with a unison of "HEY!!!"s in the background. Ash of course immediately knew who those people were.

"We were not that loud Delia!"

"Yeah Mrs. Ketchum!"

"As a matter of fact, I recall you couldn't stop squealing after Pikachu took down that Garchomp!"

Ash couldn't help but smile, as he realized the entire gang must still have been at Professor Oak's house waiting for his call. However, along with happiness, he also felt a pang of remorse. He really wished they could have come out to see him in the match. He figured friends and family would be given top priority for seating arrangements, but as it turned out, the second the news spread that Cynthia had a new challenger tickets evaporated instantly. He was only given two tickets by the league, and while Brock and Dawn both understood if he wanted his mom instead of them, his mom would hear none of it. "They've been with you throughout your time in Sinnoh, dear, it just wouldn't be right for me to take their tickets," his mom had replied when he had hesitantly suggested taking Dawn's seat and giving it to her. He knew she was right, but wished there was another way.

"Hey Ash!" exclaimed Tracey knocking Ash out of his thoughts and bringing his attention back to the monitor. "I just wanted to say you did a great job. I think that was the best match I've seen in a long time!"

"Yeah!!!" shouted Misty from behind Tracey. The instant Ash saw her, he felt himself blush slightly. "That was SO cool how Bulbasaur evolved right in the middle of that match with Milotic! In my opinion, it was pretty obvious you had the win after that."

"Thanks," Ash replied to all of them, "yeah, I'm glad it finally happened. I mean, I didn't want him to evolve before he was ready, but he seemed very prepared when it happened. And did you see how quickly he shot off that Solarbeam immediately after it happened? I think he'll be even more useful than he was before, if that's possible."

"Yeah, I know" Misty replied, having shoved everyone else away from the monitor, "but I hope you remember the coach that got you to where you are today!" she hinted in a not-so-subtle way.

"Of course! How could I ever forget Brock?" Ash replied teasingly, earning himself a semi-vicious glare from Misty. However, the smile quickly returned as Pikachu eagerly jumped onto Ash's shoulder, waving at the image of Misty on the monitor.

"Speaking of evolving, you think you're almost ready Pikachu?" she asked teasingly, already knowing the answer.

"PIKA!!!" shouted Pikachu loudly while shaking his head almost off his shoulders. Ash could tell that after that victory, Pikachu would probably never consider evolution again. After all, he was strong enough to single-handedly defeat a Garchomp, so who needed to _evolve_?

"Well, that's good. I think Pikachu are cuter than Raichu anyway," Misty winked at the electric mouse as she said this. "So anyway, what are you gonna-"

"Let me talk for once!" shouted Gary as he shoved Misty off the screen. "So Ashy-boy, feel pretty good now, huh?" The rivalry between Ash and Gary had pretty much officially ended when Gary quit training and began going to the Marlin Institute of Natural Science, to get his degree in Pokémon research and studies. However, he and Ash both seemed to feel like their rivalry would never really go away. It was hard to shake off that mixed feeling of camaraderie and animosity that the two had developed for each other ever since they met as kids.

"Yeah Gare-bear," replied Ash mockingly.

"Hey! I told you never to call me that!" yelled Gary into the screen, as he watched Ash smirk.

"Yeah, and I told you to never call me Ashy-boy, but I guess life goes on, right?"

"Whatever, I just wanted to say congratulations. But remember that you'll have to go through me to reach your dream."

Ash wondered silently what he could've meant by that. Wasn't this his dream, to be a champion of one of the regions?

"Sure, whatever Gary," Ash said flippantly as he tried to maintain his air of coolness and not let Gary's words provoke his curiosity any longer. "Go on back to your textbooks now."

"Yeah, well just remember that you're going to college too! Two years, tops!" cried his mother from somewhere in the back.

"Yeah, Ma, I know", he said while rolling his eyes. She really wanted him to get an education, and truth be told he kind of wanted one too. Throughout his journey, he basically had to home school himself while on the road, and the Kanto School System (KSS) would send him his quarterly tests to see if he was eligible to continue his journey. What happened to many trainers was that they would be so preoccupied with their training they would not study, and when the KSS got their grades, they were immediately banned from travelling for one year. However, despite his dense demeanor, he did very well on most of his tests (history was a problem), and was bound to graduate from the high school system in about a year. With this championship under his belt, he was sure to be a millionaire with all the advertising agencies, and the books, and the speeches, and the television shows he would be involved in, but he knew that would not deter his mother from his getting a good education at her alma mater of University of Kanto in Virdian.

"Well Ash, I know you're tired, so we'll let you go for now," said Professor Oak.

"'Kay, thanks Professor, and thanks to all of you for helping me to get here. I know I couldn't be the Sinnoh champ without the encouragement of everyone in that house, except maybe for Gary," he said humorously.

"Smart-alek," mumbled Gary.

"Oh, and dear, you'll be home in a few days, right?" asked his mom excitedly at the monitor.

"Sure will. We're taking the S.S. Anthony from Sinnoh to Johto, where we're spending one day at Disney, and then we'll get to the house by foot from that point. Should only take a week, or maybe even less time if we hoof it!"

"Okay then, you be good and sleep late tomorrow! You more than deserve it."

"CONGRATULATIONS!!!" Everyone roared in the house, and Ash thanked them once more before hanging up the phone. He turned back towards the bed to see Pikachu already asleep. As he climbed in to join his slumbering buddy, he thanked God he had such great family and friends.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next few days flew by. Ash, Dawn, and Brock all had a great time at Disneyworld where they rode every ride, and Brock hit on every girl in sight. However, the unfortunate end of their journey loomed over them throughout the week, and by the time they reached New Bark Town, everyone was a little down in spirit.

"Well, I suppose this is goodbye," Dawn said hesitantly. She really wished this wasn't happening right now. If only she was more interested in battling than in contests…

"It's only goodbye for now," Ash said in a desperately hopeful tone. He too was very down about the departure, but he knew it was in Dawn's best interest. "Listen, I've had to leave behind lots of friends before, Misty, Tracey, May, Max, and even Brock, but it's never been goodbye forever. I'll catch ya' real soon. Who knows, we may end up travelling together sometime!"

"That's true!" squealed Dawn trying to sound optimistic, but in her heart she knew that was unlikely. She wished she could explain what she was feeling. It was stronger than friendship, she knew that much, but she couldn't believe that it was what she was imagining… could it? As she fought back tears, she began to turn away from Ash and Brock. "Well, then I'll see you a little later Ash. You too Brock."

"We'll miss you Dawn!" Brock yelled as she walked away. He admitted this felt strange. He and Dawn were good friends, but he couldn't help but feel that she wasn't as upset about leaving him as she was Ash.

"I'll call you when I get to Cherrygrove tomorrow!" Dawn exclaimed as she turned around. She faintly heard them utter a reply, and she turned back around and headed west. _Maybe this separation time will give me a chance to think about what I'm feeling. Yeah, that's it! Next time I see you Ash Ketchum, I think things will be a little different._ She thought this as she continued west, and began to ponder her and Ash's relationship.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So Brock, you think we'll make Pallet by tomorrow?" inquired Ash as he sat in the Viridian PokeCenter.

"Heck, we'll probably make it before noon, if we leave at eight," replied Brock.

"I want to have plenty of rest before I see everyone, so let's make it ten, alright?"

"Fine, fine. Whoa!" Brock was suddenly thrown off guard as Nurse Joy sauntered past them. Actually, only Brock thought she was sauntering. In reality she was very tired and getting ready to lock up for the night, not noticing the two young men talking in the PokeCenter's diner. "Uh, Ash, I'm gonna go take care of some business real quick. Order a coffee or something till I get back."

"No thanks, I'm good. I'm hitting the sack."

"Oh, okay then. See you bright and early at eight."

"Ten!"

"Fine, whatever," Brock mumbled as he glided towards the young nurse. Ash figured he had never stopped Brock from hitting on women before (someone else had always done it) so he decided against stopping his hormonally crazed friend right now. Besides, he was tired, and he didn't need Brock in a bad mood in the morning.

As he walked into his room, he decided to get a shower in the morning. He simply wanted to get in bed. The day had been tiring emotionally (from leaving behind a good friend), and physically as they had walked at least twenty miles to get from New Bark Town to Viridian. As he got into his pajamas, he noticed something in his bag; the box. He had completely forgotten about it until now! The exhaustion gone from his body, he quickly searched in the pockets of his recently discarded jeans hoping against hope that the key was still there. "Eureka!" he exclaimed joyfully as he felt the small metal object between his fingers. Now he understood why Cynthia had kept it on a necklace the whole time.

His fingers almost trembling, he placed the key inside the locket of the small grey box. It popped open after the key had been turned three times, and inside Ash saw a small, folded piece of notebook paper. He opened it up and read the contents:

_Ash,_

_If you are reading this letter, then congratulations! You beat me in what was surely a stupendous battle. I am sure that we both tried our hardest (I know I did) and that the battle was not an easy one. As the champion of Sinnoh, you have only one obligation; to battle anyone who challenges your right to this grand title with all your heart. However, I know that this is not your ultimate goal._

_It's not?_ Ash thought as he looked up from the paper. He was the champion of an entire continent, what more could he want?

He continued reading:

_No, I know from a very reliable source (your mother) that your goal is to become a Pokémon Master! This is a very ambitious goal. The current Master, whom I am sure you already know a great deal about, has not been challenged in twenty years, and as once again I'm sure you already know, the challenger lost! Do you know why this is? It's because he is indeed the Master. Anyone who wishes to become a Master has a lot of work ahead of them. After all your travels, and all that preparation, by defeating me you have only begun your Master Journey. The following are the secret League Guidelines for becoming a Pokémon Master:_

Become a regional Champion in any of the four continents. If one is attempting to attain Master Rank and loses a Championship battle, they will immediately be disqualified for nomination. The only way to try for the title again is by reclaiming Champion status over the region they lost.

Capture every Pokémon, excluding legendary types. Whether a Pokémon is indeed legendary or not will be decided upon by the Pokémon League Board annually, or in rare emergency sessions of the PLB.

Defeat a Trainer of equal or higher merit than the trainer hoping to attain Master Rank. Another trainer attempting to attain said Rank can be deemed eligible. Whether or not a trainer is of merit will be decided by the PLB, when the case arises.

Defeat the current Pokémon Master in a six-on-six battle. Whether the battle will be broadcast, witnessed, or completely private can be decided upon by the aspiring Master.

_Remember, you cannot share these rules with anyone. I know what you're thinking right now, because it's the same thing I wondered for a long time. Why can't everyone know the rules? The truth is that the Board has believed for several decades now that if a trainer is really capable of Master Rank, then he or she will eventually become a Champion and earn the right to know the guidelines. Also, between you and me, I think they like to have their own little secret. The PLB's such a boring organization, you know? Well, anyway, as you can guess I too received these instructions, but I never tried my hand at becoming a Master, mainly because I have other interests, but also because it sounds really hard. I completely understand if you receive this letter and decide against it. I mean, really, Champion Rank is a lifetime title, even if you're defeated at some point, and frankly I am very happy with it. However, if you choose to follow the path of a true Master, then know I am rooting for you all the way, and will help in whatever ways I can._

_Sincerely,_

Cynthia

As Ash finished the letter, he could not believe that he had forgotten his original goal. Before he left home, he had promised himself that one day he would be a Pokémon Master, yet somehow that seemed to fall to the wayside as he got sidetracked by what he now thought of as desperate attempts to win random battles and raising several Pokémon. Suddenly, all of those victories, all of that knowledge, seemed miniscule. He would have to start a whole _new_ journey, and catch _every_ Pokémon. This was going to be hard, but there was one thing he knew; he was going to do it all.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, I hoped everyone appreciated the slight hint of Pokeshipping I added in this chapter. Trust me, there's a lot more later on, so let's consider this chapter a foreshadowing of things to come, okay? Seriously, this chapter has a lot of hints, if you read in between the lines, about where I plan on taking this fic later on, so make sure you didn't miss anything. I wouldn't mind hearing your predictions if you have any. However, mere praise is good enough (ha,ha). Okay, I'll take critiscism too. If it seemed like I rushed a little bit, that's because I did slightly. I am very excited about the next chapter, and I did not want to drag out the goodbyes and the Disney thing, or it would have taken me at least two more chapters. Besides, I think the goodbye is more realisitic short, especially considering how Dawn's feeling right now (you know). Anyway, please review. I am going to my grandmother's retirement ceremony this next Friday in Dallas (she's taught in the Texas elementary school system for thirty years), and as some of you know I live in Italy, so I will be very busy this week between the jet lag, and the catching up with relatives for a few days before I fly back here for school finals, so I may not be able to update next Sunday. Rest assured though, I will have chapter three up no later than May 29, and no matter what, Chapter four will be up by May 31, to put me back on my "every Sunday" schedule.

P.S. Please review!


	3. The Journey Home

**Hello everybody!** Well, here it is, the third installment. This is the longest chapter thus far, and I have to say it feels like it. I'm sorry I couldn't have it out earlier, but at least I followed through on my promise to get the fic updated by this Friday, right? It's actually three in the morning here in Italia, so I am very tired, and I'll admit I just finished this chapter a few minutes ago. It was kind of hard for me to write because it covers a lot, but I think I detailed it pretty well, and I sure hope y'all enjoy it. Well, no joke, I think I am falling asleep at the keyboard (I went to he gym today so I'm extremely sore as well as tired), so I guess I'll tell y'all goodnight. Please review!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Ash, wait up!" exclaimed Brock for the thousandth time that morning. Ash had originally said he didn't want to get up until ten, and knowing Ash that meant he wouldn't even be out of bed till at least _eleven_. However, he apparently had a change of heart during the night because at five-thirty that morning Ash had awoken him from a great dream concerning his and Nurse Joy's future wedding ceremony. They immediately left the Center in a hurry for some unknown reason, and began briskly jogging towards Pallet, which was about twenty-five miles away.

"Couldn't we at least get something to eat?" moaned Brock, once again for the thousandth time that morning.

"Something to eat?" Ash replied blandly, only half-listening to his friend's request. "Something to eat…"

"Yeah, genius, something to eat! You know, like food maybe. Or I could hunt us a Caterpie if _that's_ what you want, but c'mon! I'm starving here!"

"Caterpie sounds good, but I'm gonna need a Weedle actually…" mumbled Ash, once again not thinking of what his friend was talking about.

"Ash! Will you please tell me why we're in such a friggin' hurry???"

"I told you," Ash replied, snapping back into reality for a moment, "I really can't tell you. At least not yet."

"Why?! I mean seriously, you're not that important. In fact, I really don't think you have a secret. You just want me to think you do so I'll think you're somebody special just because you're the Sinnoh champ! Well y'know what? I'm not falling for it! Don't tell me, I don't wanna know!" Brock proceeded to turn his head in the opposite direction, hoping that this would show Ash that he wasn't as important as he thought he was. However, Brock felt a pang of disappointment when he saw that Ash seemed not at all upset that his friend no longer cared about his little secret, but instead continued to speed-walk while staring at the ground, mumbling to himself like a lunatic.

"Okay, okay, I lied. I really, _really_ want to know what's going on. PLEASE tell me!" he then got down on one knee, but Ash just momentarily glanced back with a look that showed he believed the breeder to be insane before turning around and continuing his journey south.

In his mind, Ash was going over the list of Pokémon he was going to need to catch. He quickly realized there were _way_ too many. Why hadn't he caught more Pokémon throughout his journey? He had seen hundreds, yet only managed to catch about seventy, thirty of which were Tauros. Why didn't he catch that Pidgey he saw at the start of his journey, or that Rattata, or all those stupid Spearow Pikachu had managed to defeat? On his first day as a trainer, he saw three very common Pokémon, and yet failed to catch a single one. He had been mentally beating himself up ever since he read the letter, over his stupidity as a trainer. The Pokémon League's official motto was "Gotta Catch'em All!" for goodness sake! How much more obvious could they have made it? Yet he somehow managed to ignore that phrase for all these years, and was now paying the price.

Truth be told, he wasn't even sure he had an answer for Brock. There was no rush to get to Pallet town. In fact, he thought he probably should be going slower to look for any Pokémon along the way. However, he had someone in Pallet whom he believed had all the answers he needed, and that was encouragement enough to give him the energy to run a million miles if necessary.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Finally, we're here!" cried out Brock, instantly snapping Ash from his thinking. Sure enough, in the distance he could see the Professor's lab and the outlines of the sprawling community beyond it. Pallet had never been an exceptionally large town, but over the years it had grown. While it was still considered by many in the larger cities, like Viridian and Pewter, as "sleepy", it now had a large mall, and several nice restaurants and movie theaters.

"Let's go!" cried Ash as he broke into an all-out sprint. Brock kept up with him, feeling just as excited about getting out of the muggy heat, which had come full force an hour into their trip, and getting into a nice, air conditioned house.

About thirty minutes later, Ash and Brock arrived in front of his mother's house, perspiring heavily, but with large grins on their faces. As soon as Ash rang the doorbell, the door swung open, revealing a very happy Delia behind it.

"Ash, you're here already!" she cried happily. "I didn't expect you till this evening at the earliest!"

"Yeah, well something came up," mumbled Ash as he hugged his mother. He knew what she was going to say before she said it.

"What came up honey?"

"I'm sorry Ma, but I can't tell you that. At least not yet."

"Don't worry Mrs. K," interjected Brock from behind Ash. He then whispered sarcastically, "He's been like this since we left the Center at five this morning. He won't spill the 'big' secret."

"Oh my word! You left that early?" Asked a shocked Delia. She knew her son was not the type to get up early, or on some occasions, get up at all. Unless he had a battle, or something else Pokémon related, he was never quick to rise.

Rolling his eyes, Ash replied "Yeah Ma. Believe it or not, I can function before eleven A.M."

"Oh, I know dear. It's just so unlike you," Delia responded worriedly.

Meanwhile, Brock was dying to get inside the house. From his position behind Ash and Delia, who was still standing in the doorway, only his forehead was catching a slight breeze from the air conditioner, and it already felt like Heaven.

"Well whatever your reason for being so high-strung, I'm glad you're here with me. Why don't you and Brock go take a good long nap. You must have walked about twenty miles to get here!" Delia said in that overly-caring tone she used only for her son.

"Actually, it was more like thirty, but y'know, whatever," Brock mumbled agitatedly while wondering how much longer he could stand there before a heat stroke finally overtook him.

"Ma, I really can't right now. I have to go see the Professor. I wanted to come by here first so you wouldn't get mad that I visited him before you, but this is a very urgent issue," explained Ash in the most patient tone he could muster. His mom was wearing down his nerves, but he didn't want to upset her immediately after his arrival.

"Ash Ketchum, you're staying here for at least a few hours before you go see the Professor. I'm your mother for Pete's sake."

At this point, Brock didn't care who went to see the Professor. They could both take a quick trip to Johto if they wanted for all he cared. However, there was no way he was going to that old dude's house right now. The Professor's house was like two miles away, and he wasn't in the mood for anymore heat. As calmly as he could, practically with tears in his eyes, he asked Mrs. Ketchum, "Could I please come in?!"

Embarrassed at her lack of etiquette, Delia immediately said "of course". However, as soon as Ash entered, he leaned against the door, determined not to relax just yet. His mom was stubborn, but that was a trait she passed on to him as well, and he wasn't about to give in. "Ma, Brock can stay here if he wants, but I've gotta go. I'll be back in a couple of hours, tops, then we can all hang out and talk about how great I am. Okay?" He knew the old Ash-charm would win her over, and sure enough after what felt like an eternity of his mother sternly gazing at him, her features suddenly softened.

"Oh, alright, but you get back here immediately when you're done. I don't want you staying around the lab too long."

"'Kay Ma! So Brock, are you staying-"

He was immediately interrupted by the sound of Brock snoring on the sofa in front of the television. _What a baby_, he thought as he quietly opened the front door and stepped back out into the muggy heat.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As Ash knocked on the door, he had only one question on his mind; did the Professor know about all of this? After all, Oak was one of the chairman of the Pokémon League Board, and was known to be quite popular amongst his peers at the PLB. Ash hoped he could ask the Professor a few questions the note lacked answers to, such as did he really have to catch _all_ Pokémon, or was Cynthia just pulling his leg? However, there was an even more urgent question he needed to ask, and he prayed once again that the Professor could tell him what he wanted to know.

Suddenly, an aging man, about sixty years of age, opened the door with a toothy grin. "Why Ash! Look who's here already! Come in, come in."

As they walked through the hall to the living room, Ash glanced at some of the pictures on the wall and saw a few of him and Gary when they were younger. However, this was no time for a stroll down memory lane, and Ash felt he was about to burst from curiosity.

"-so I thought despite Pikachu's success, Swellow was probably the one who tipped the match in your favor. Don't you think so too?" asked the Professor.

Ash gulped. He didn't realize that Oak had been talking to him the entire time. "Uh, yeah, I guess. I-I-I mean I think everyone on my team contributed equally, but Swellow certainly did come through against, uh…" Ash couldn't really remember who his Swellow battled, truth be told.

"Against Gastrodon," affirmed the Professor.

"Yeah, against him," Ash replied, still not really recalling the battle.

"Ash, you're not here to just say 'hi', are you?" Asked the Professor as he motioned for Ash to take a seat across from him in front of his fireplace.

"No. No, I'm here because I know you're a high-ranking member of the Pokémon League Board and -"

"And you have some questions that weren't answered in that letter of Cynthia's, right?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Ash was relieved that Oak already knew why he was there. That probably meant he knew some of the things Ash wanted to know.

"Well go ahead and ask me. I've actually been waiting for this moment since the day you left Pallet. I mean, I knew Gary had great potential, but I saw before he did that his real passion was studying Pokémon, not battling them. However, that day you came to me and received that little runt of your's, I knew your life's passion was raising Pokémon."

Slightly embarrassed by the Professor's kind remarks, Ash decided to go ahead with the questioning. "Well, first I want to know about having to catch all these Pokémon. Is that true, or is it more like a figure of speech thing?" Ash once again prayed that it was the latter.

"I'm sorry Ash, but it is indeed true that you must catch all non-legendary Pokémon to attain Master Rank. Why do you think I've pushed you so hard throughout your journey to 'catch lots of Pokémon'?"

"I guess I never really paid attention," Ash mumbled, slightly dispirited once again by his naivety as an aspiring Master.

"Well, you have as much time as you need. As long as you remain Champ of Sinnoh, you are eligible for the title. So what're your other questions?"

Ash decided to ask the big one next. "Can I bring my friends with me?" He dreaded the answer because he feared the Professor would say that he had to keep his goals secret to _every_body, and he didn't know if he could do this long journey alone.

"Oh, of course you can Ash. I was afraid Cynthia wouldn't explain that rule very well. The reason we at the PLB keep the rules for Master Rank secret until one becomes a Champion is because we believe if someone-"

"Really wants to become a Master, then they would naturally become a Champion to get closer to this goal," interrupted Ash. He didn't mean to be rude, but he had read the letter a thousand times by this point, and he wanted answers, not facts he already knew.

"Right, but we also have this rule because of the commercial problems."

"Commercial problems?" asked a confused Ash.

"Yes. You see, if we allow a trainer to go completely public with his Master goals, then suddenly catching all those Pokémon wouldn't be so hard. Companies would invest in a trainer's success."

"Invest?" Ash was feeling slightly more dense than usual, but he couldn't help but sound stupid. The Professor wasn't making any sense.

"Yes Ash. We at the PLB fear that certain companies, or Team Rocket, might give a trainer several Pokémon they need in order to get them to Master level sooner. They would then benefit because the trainer might agree to help them out by advertising their products for free, or they might give them a certain percentage of the money they reap in with the title. Therefore, we like to keep candidates for Master Rank secret until they finally battle the current Master. By that point, no one can interfere with them, even if they want to."

"Well, that does make more sense than Cynthia's explanation," Ash stated. He and the Professor then began to wean off the subject of the Master Journey and drifted more into small talk. After talking about the weather, and Gary's studies, and Ash's studies, and a little politics, Ash said he needed to get back to his mom before she got too angry. The real truth was however, that Ash really just didn't like small talk with Oak because he could ramble for hours about anything.

As he reached the door and was walking out however, the Professor suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around. "Ash, I almost forgot. I have taken the liberty of finding you a worthy opponent to battle to meet the requirement for the Master Rank."

"Really? Wow, that's great! I was wondering how I was going to find somebody. So who'd you pick? Do I know them?" Ash asked inquisitively.

"Oh, I'd say you know him very well. It's Gary."

"What???!!!" cried Ash as if in pain. He couldn't believe it; his childhood rival, one of the biggest stumbling blocks throughout his Pokémon career, had just become one of the biggest stumbling blocks in his Master career!

"What's the matter, Ash?" asked the Professor. "I thought you would have loved to battle Gary."

"It's not that. It's just…" Ash began to drift off in mid-sentence.

"Just what?"

"It's just that if he wins, he'll always have the pride of knowing he's what stopped me from attaining my dream, while he lives his."

"Oh Ash, you worry too much. Personally my money's on you," as he said this, he nodded at Ash, trying to give him some confidence. "Besides, you can battle Gary whenever you want, however many times you want. You only have to win once."

Although this was not very reassuring since he hated losing to Gary no matter what, Ash nodded and thanked the Professor. Suddenly what Gary had said that night when Ash called home after he became Champion made sense; _But remember that you'll have to go through me to reach your dream._

As Ash bid the Professor goodbye, he decided a few things. He decided he would first grab a bite to eat from the fridge. He then decided to get a nice, hot shower. After this, he determined that he would sit in his room for a while and try and believe this was all happening. He had just become Champion, but he couldn't rest for more than a week? How was he supposed to beat Gary? True, he had beaten him at the Silver Conference, but Ash knew from his mom, Oak, and Gary himself, that the young man had never quit training. As a matter of fact, the last time they battled was when Gary battled his newly acquired Electivire against Pikachu, and won. This was not going to be easy at all, but at least he had a nice, quiet room to contemplate in.

He sighed as he reached the front door of his house, and began to take out his key. He then noticed something strange. The front door was slightly ajar. Ash started to worry a little, because he knew his mom never left the door open. _What if someone broke in?_ Ash was growing more anxious with every millisecond that passed. In a rush of passion he burst through the door holding Charizard's pokeball in his left hand. However, as soon as his eyes adjusted to the lighting, he was in shock.

Over the living room was a banner that stated "Congratulations!" and he saw almost all of his friends and mom there waiting for him. All at once, they shouted "SURPRISE" and he was immediately overwhelmed with people shaking his hand, giving him hugs, and patting him on the back.

_Well, I have all tomorrow to strategize_, he thought, giving into the sudden temptation to procrastinate as he saw a giant Pikachu cake being carried into the room by none other than his greatest of friends, Misty. _Tonight, I'm just gonna enjoy!_

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, like I said above, I'm really tired, so I won't say much, but I do hope y'all review it if you like it, and cuss me out if you didn't. Just review, please! I'd also like to give a quick shout-out to my loyal readers, who've reviewed both chapters, and hopefully this one too: MoltresFeather (who's writing a great pokeshipping fic if anyone's interested), and SecretAgent99 (who wants to become trilingual). I also need to mention Shenguin, dbzgtfan2004, charmander-freak, and Dramione x3 for reviewing a chapter of my story too. Please keep it up you guys, and encourage any friends you have on here to read and review too, please! Thank you and good night!


	4. The Party

**Hello everybody!** Well, here y'all go! Believe it or not, I came very close to not being able to publish chapter four today again because of some problems at home. Our internet was disconnected a few days ago, and we are not completely sure when we are getting it back, so although I had the chapter done, I had no way of sending it off. Fortunately, I was able to convince my parents (without actually telling them why) to bring me to the library, which has wi-fi, for a few hours since I don't have a license of my own here in Italy. I actually do have some work that I need to get done with though, because I have a project due tomorrow for AP US History, and I haven't been able to research much without the help of my laptop, so I guess I'll let y'all go read the story and get to work myself. As always, please REVIEW! Why bother tricking my parents into coming to the library on a Sunday after Church if no one's reading, right?

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

The party really was a treat. Although Brock had not known about it until after Ash left the house that afternoon (it was meant to be a party for both of them after such a long journey), he still managed to take the Professor's place in decorating the house with balloons and streamers while Ash was gone visiting.

Ash, for his part, had been completely oblivious to the idea of a party in his honor. He had expected his return home to be more or less the same as any other time he came back from a long trip. He'd probably see his mom, and the Professor, and maybe Misty, but that was the biggest welcome wagon he anticipated. However, this did not mean he was upset about the surprise awaiting him. Instead, he was quite enthralled with the jovial spirit the party seemed to possess from the moment of his arrival. As he walked through the den and into the kitchen, increasing numbers of familiar faces greeted him with a warm smile, and a "congratulations".

The Pikachu cake which Misty had brought out was after mere minutes nothing, but crumbs on a silver platter, much to Ash's disappointment. "You become Champ, but you can't get cake at your own party," he murmured to himself. However, unbeknownst to him, he had an audience as he said this.

"Oh, Ash, quit your whining would'ya?" inquired a very familiar voice. As Ash looked up from the empty platter, he saw the smiling face of someone whom he thought of as his best friend, and biggest pest; Misty Waterflower.

"Really, _I'm_ whining?" teased Ash. "Every time we talk on the phone all I hear is how _hard_ it is to run the gym alone, or how _difficult_ it is to keep thirty water Pokémon in top condition, or how unbelievably _complicated_ it is to-"

"Shut up!" exclaimed Misty while laughing, "At least I have a job. I don't just sit around-"

"Sit around winning regional championships? Yeah, that was a breeze, Mist."

"I bet it is compared to trying to teach a Gyrados Hyper Beam," as she said this, she slightly stuck her tongue out at him, but was caught off-guard when he suddenly leaned across the platter, and his arms encircled her body. Ash was hugging her, almost to the point of suffocation, but she didn't mind really.

"I missed ya a lot Mist," Ash said, seemingly trying to explain why he was so reluctant to let go of her after their embrace lasted longer than usual.

"I missed you too Ash," replied Misty almost in a whisper. Somehow, amongst all the noise and action going on at the party, she suddenly felt like only he and she were in the room together. However, her immature demeanor quickly returned, and she asked, "If you missed me so much, then why didn't you call for three months before your big victory in Sinnoh?"

Pulling away from the hug, Ash simply shrugged. "I don't really know. I was real busy training, and I didn't think to call anyone, even my mom, during that period of time. Besides, if I had called you, I probably wouldn't be Champion right now."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked an insulted Misty.

"I'm just saying that you don't tend to give the best advice for battles," Ash explained hesitantly. He had meant the last comment as a joke, but he was unsure of whether or not Misty would see it as such. She had always been very sensitive about his opinion of her.

"_I_ don't give the best advice?" incredulously asked Misty. "At least in my first gym battle, I didn't pit a Pikachu against an Onix…twice!"

"So what? I got the badge, didn't I?"

"Only 'cause Brock's a nice guy," however, as she said this she winked at Ash. That was a great reassurance to Ash, who had become less sure of whether this fight was real or not up to that point. Then, much to his joy, she pulled a big slice of cake from behind her back. The slice was Pikachu's tail, and as Ash greedily grabbed the plate and began stuffing his face (without the help of utensils), she murmured a "you're welcome" under her breath. She honestly didn't know how she could ever have had a crush on this boy when they were younger. He was so immature and overly-confident, and as she gazed at him now she realized not much had changed in that respect.

"So how's everything going, Mist?" Ash inquired between large mouthfuls of cake, breaking Misty from her silent contemplation.

"Actually, I have some big news that I haven't told anyone yet!" exclaimed the newly-excited girl. She had been waiting to spill her big secret for a while, but didn't want anyone to know until she told her best friend first. However, as she was about to continue with her news, a lean, young man about six feet tall (Ash's height) with spiky brown hair came and tapped Ash on the back.

"Hiya Squirt!" greeted Gary Oak, wearing a nice grey suit and a large grin. Looking at Misty, he asked to "cut in", and she hesitantly agreed. Even though she was eager to share her news, she realized a busy party probably wasn't the place to tell it.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash and Gary had walked up the stairs and into his room, away from the rest of the party. For a few minutes they dabbled in idle chit-chat while sitting on the bottom bunk of Ash's old bed, but Ash quickly veered from this because like his grandfather, Gary tended to ramble on about anything if not quickly interrupted with a new thought. As they talked, they gazed up at the old posters of the Kanto starter Pokémon that Ash had left hanging in his room over the years. They had become faded with age, and now one could barely make out Bulbasaur's outline in his poster. _I should probably buy new ones_, Ash thought. However, he was broken from his train of thought as Gary cleared his throat.

"So, uh, Ash. I assume Gramps cleared up some of the things you wanted to know, right?"

"Oh yeah, yeah. We had a good discussion," Ash wasn't completely sure what to say in this situation. Usually when he and Gary were about to battle, it was from the passion of the moment, but rarely was it as organized as this, and it never had such high stakes before. Therefore, Ash found himself oblivious as to what he should say.

"So you know who you're battling and everything, right?" pressed Gary, seemingly very curious as to what Ash's reaction would be. Unbeknownst to Ash, Gary was a junior member of the PLB himself, and so had known for quite some time that once Ash made Champion status, they'd find themselves in this predicament.

"Yeah, I know. But I have a question for ya' Gary," Ash stated. He had been wondering this since his little talk with the Professor. "Why do I gotta battle you?"

A little stunned by his question, Gary responded with an inquiry of his own. "Why don't you wanna battle me Ashy?" He didn't mean to sound overconfident, or seem like he was making fun, but his curiosity was peaked by the idea that Ash, his long-time rival, didn't want to battle with him for the Master title.

"I don't know really. It's just that I don't like the idea that my opponent was chosen before I had a choice, you know? I mean, the letter I got from Cynthia said that I could choose an opponent, and that they would be judged for eligibility by the PLB, but I never got to do that. I guess I just feel kind of powerless."

"Ash, do you wanna know why I'm registered as your opponent for your Master rank admission test? It's because I submitted myself for the job. I've become a junior member of the PLB, and when I found out you were challenging Cynthia, I immediately started preparing the papers to send off to the grand marshals to deem my eligibility-"

"Wait a minute man," interrupted Ash as a thought popped into his head, "Why did you start the paperwork before the battle? The odds were pretty high against me by all the experts' analyses."

"That's right," Gary nodded affirmatively, "seven-to-one as a matter of fact, but I knew you'd win."

Ash was embarrassed as he heard this. Since Gary had officially quit his trainer career, their rivalry had become friendlier over the years, but Gary was never one to admit having that much confidence in Ash, _ever_.

"But why did you want to battle me so bad?" asked a still-confounded Ash.

"Don't you get it? Since we were very young, we've been rivals. In kindergarten, we'd see who could color inside the lines best, when we were eight we saw who could eat the most ice cream-"

Ash once again interrupted Gary, but this time it was to laugh. As he chuckled, Gary began to crack up too, thinking fondly of the ice cream eating contest. When they were eight, on a hot June day, they decided to find out who could eat the most ice cream in one sitting. However, they didn't have enough in their freezers combined to make one bowl, let alone have a contest, so Ash snuck out of the house with two spoons and his mother's credit card and driver's license. They went to the mini-mart down the street and ate three whole gallons worth of ice cream there in the aisle. After they had filled themselves to the point of being terminally ill, they took up the empty cartons, along with the credit card and I.D., and waddled over to a cash register. However, when the teenager running the register saw the credit card and license, he simply stated "This doesn't look like you". Ash and Gary had not known you needed to be the person in the license to use the credit card, so they had to call their parents and wait for them to arrive while lying down with stomach aches in the manager's office. They got in a lot of trouble (to say the least) after being given some time to lie down, and a few big swigs of Alka-Seltzer.

Still chuckling, Ash said, "I think we both lost in that deal."

"Yeah, although if we wanna be technical about it, you _did_ win since I threw-up all that night," replied Gary, still laughing hard, almost to the point of tears.

"B-b-but anyway," he continued after a moment, trying to regain his composure, "my point is that we've been rivals for so long in everything, that I thought this would be what you wanted. I mean, c'mon, you can't tell me you'd rather have anyone else as an opponent for one of the biggest battles in your life."

Ash reflected on his statement for a moment and realized that he was right, actually. All these years of fighting and arguing over who was better at something than the other person were finally going to culminate in this battle.

"You're right Gary," said Ash. "Besides, having you as an opponent will definitely make winning a lot easier." As he said this, he laughed a little again, which caused Gary to start to chuckle slightly too, but when Ash got up to leave the room, Gary threw a pillow at Ash from behind, and Ash yelled "HEY!"

"Don't blame me, man," said an innocent-looking Gary. "If you're really ready to be a Master, then you need to be prepared for whatever comes your way, including pillows."

Ash smiled a little at this comment and turned back to go out the door. However, as his hand rested upon the doorknob, he suddenly remembered one last question he had for Gary. "Uh, I almost forgot to ask when we should battle?"

"Oh yeah," Gary replied, seemingly having forgotten this as well. "Well, whenever you want, really. The only rule is you have to do it before you face the master."

"Well, I do wanna do it before I leave on my journey, so how about a week from now?"

"Sounds good to me. We can rent out the Pallet Gym for the day. Something tells me this battle won't be over quickly." Gary smirked as he said this, very much looking forward to the upcoming match with his good friend.

"Wait a minute! Pallet has a gym now?" This was news to Ash, who hadn't seen a gym on his way in.

"Yeah, we are now the fiftieth city in Kanto to hold a gym," Gary stated proudly.

"That's unbelievable!" cried Ash, shocked. "What type specialty do we have?"

"It's a ground gym, and it's a pretty nice one at that," replied Gary.

"Wow. I guess a lot happens when you're away. So why would they let us battle in it? I mean, won't the leader be mad about losing his gym for the entire day?"

"I don't think so for two reasons. First, this is an official Pokémon League match, and this gym is under its jurisdiction, so they have to let us use it. However, I don't think the leader's gonna mind at all, since I'm him."

After a moment of silence, Ash said, "You're who?"

"That's right Ashy-boy, in addition to my studies at the Institute, I am a certified gym leader, and am allowed to bestow the Earthquake Badge to whomever beats me in a battle," Gary stated, once again very proudly.

"Well then, I guess I better be ready for our match. You'll only be using ground-types, right?" Ash asked jokingly.

"Not for you, Ashy-boy," replied Gary mockingly.

"I told you not to call me that!" Ash hollered as he childishly covered his ears and ran out the room.

Gary just sat there and smiled. _This is gonna be a match to remember, _he thought to himself.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As Ash reentered the party, he had only one thing on his mind; find Misty. He remembered how rudely he and her had been interrupted earlier when she was going to tell him her big news, and he wanted to apologize and ask what it was. He searched through the entire house, but there were so many people, he couldn't see her. Finally he stumbled into Brock, who was flirting with someone who he didn't know, but assumed was a distant relative of some kind.

"Brock, quick! Give me your cell phone!" Ash demanded, scaring Brock as he yelled this.

"Gah, Ash! Why'd you go and do that for. Don't you see you scared poor Mallory here?" asked Brock, trying to look unfazed by the sudden shock.

"Nuh-uh, you were the one who was scared silly!" teased the young girl who had been conversing with Brock.

_Wait a minute. Does a girl actually like Brock?_ Ash thought in amazement. However, he quickly remembered his request and asked for the cell phone again.

"Sure, you can borrow it. Just don't break it or anything," Brock told him sternly.

"Brock, I'm not two. I think I can handle a little cell-" Ash stopped mid-sentence as he tripped and let the cell phone go flying from his hands. It landed three feet in front of where he had fallen, and as May walked by, she almost stepped on it and crushed it with her foot.

"MAY WATCH OUT!" Ash screamed at the top of his lungs. May stopped mid-step and screamed, her foot less than an inch away from landing on the cell phone. Ash quickly retrieved the device and then apologized to May and the guests for scaring the daylights out of them.

"Heh, heh. Like I said, I'll be careful," Ash told Brock as he hurried away from the young man before he was told to give back the phone. He quickly went into the hall bathroom for a little quiet. Then he called Misty's cell phone, and to his amazement, she actually picked up.

"Hello?" she inquired as she answered the phone.

"Hey Mist, it's me! I was wondering if we could meet in the kitchen so you could tell me the big news. I looked all over for you, but it's too crowded to see anybody in particular with the house so full."

"Yeah, it's _very_ crowded," replied Misty, apparently weary of having been shoved and pushed the entire night by other guests. "Hey, I have an idea! Let's meet outside on the back patio. It'll be nice and quiet there."

"Sounds good to me! I'll meet you out back in a minute.

Ash quickly moved to the back of the house and quietly slid out the back door and onto the patio. As he stood there in the dark, warm evening, he reflected upon how crazy this day had been. He got up at five-thirty in the morning (which had never happened), he got to Pallet in record-breaking time, talked to the Professor, and found out that he was going to battle Gary in one of the biggest matches of his life. However, as he reflected, he realized one very important fact; he hadn't showered since this morning! _Oh man_, he thought to himself. _What's Misty gonna think?_

He looked at his reflection in the window of the backdoor, using the light that came through the blinds from the party, and saw just how bad it was. His hair was a mess, like usual, but on top of this he had dirt on his face and clothes from the run coming from Viridian, and he smelled like stale sweat.

"Well, this is just great," he mumbled to himself. He thought maybe he could run in and put on some deodorant really quick at least, but as he was about to reenter the house, the doorknob turned and out came Misty.

Ash was stunned as she came out of the door. He didn't really think to look at her when they were in the house, but as she stepped out, he saw just how beautiful she looked. Her hair was down (although he usually preferred it up), she was wearing a light blue dress that came down to her ankles, and she wore high heels that made her look almost as tall as Ash. He quickly turned around though as he saw her examining him, mostly out of embarrassment.

"What's the matter Ash?" she asked sweetly. He had turned around right after she came out.

"Nothing. It's just that I realized I haven't had time to get dressed up nice, or shower, or anything. I'm sorry I hugged you so long inside. If I had known how I looked, and smelled," he made a face as he said this, "I wouldn't have done it."

Misty smiled at him. She thought it was kind of cute that he was so ashamed to be in front of her like he was. The truth was, she enjoyed how he looked right now. There was a full moon in the sky, and the light showed his silhouette perfectly in the night. She could see he was at least six feet tall, if not taller (he had certainly grown from the last time she saw him two years earlier), and with only his black t-shirt on, she could see that he had definitely developed muscularly too. She also like the dirty face, hair, and clothes, because it reminded her of how he looked when they were younger. He never cared what he looked like in front of her then, and the fact that he did now seemed to tell her something.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked. "I would have been insulted if you hadn't hugged me. We're best friends, remember? Never, ever, don't hug me because of appearances. I'm just happy you're here."

Ash blushed at the comment, and said, "You look really nice tonight Mist."

Now it was Misty's turn to blush. She knew of course that the dress she had on was very nice (not to mention the fact that she had filled out quite a bit since their last meeting), but hearing Ash say she looked "really nice" was entirely different from her standing in the mirror and saying it to herself.

They then leaned on the railing that separated the porch from the rest of the backyard, and stared up at the sky. As Ash looked up, he examined the stars shining brightly over the mountains that surrounded Pallet. It was a beautiful landscape, and the reason why so many artists came every summer to visit. There was a saying amongst Kanto citizens that said, "You haven't lived until you've experienced a Pallet summer", and as he gazed at the stars, next to his best friend, Ash believed this statement to be true.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope that was enough Pokeshipping for y'all! This chapter was fun and challenging to write. The truth is, this chapter was originally a lot longer, but I cut off a lot at the end because I'm saving it for chapter five. I felt like I was cramming Ash's and Misty's little romance scene where it didn't belong, so next Sunday expect to find out Misty's big news, and see if anything happens between the two, or not, while they're out there on the patio. Once again, REVIEW PLEASE!

I also want to give a couple of recommendations for anyone out there interested in pokeshipping, made by some of my reviewers:

"Reunited, Happily and Painfully" by MoltresFeather (keep up the good work!)

"Another Chance" by tatewaki2000 (I promise I'll read the rest this next week when I get connectivity back!)

"Pokemon: Master Ash" by Shenguin (this isn't actually pokeshipping, but it is a really great idea for a story, so let's all encourage Shenguin to continue with the premise by giving him or her a lot of reviews!)

Remember, if you review my story, I'll review yours (unless I don't understand it or something), and I may mention it in my story as well (wink).

P.S. REVIEW!


	5. The Surprise

**Hey Everybody!** I'm definitely a little later than usual with my chapter entry today. The internet at my house was still down up until a couple of hours ago, so I have not had time to write any of my reviewers like I usually do, or update by my Sunday deadline (the internet at the library where I updated last week was also out, since there was a construction incident causing widespread telephone/internet failures throughout the area). I hope y'all understand. The good news is that school let out this week for summer, and this Wednesday, tomorrow, I fly off to Houston for about a week, where I'll have a 24-hour gym (I'm just happy about that), and all-access wi-fi to catch up on a few things (including my obligations on this site). Anyway, I definitely hope y'all enjoy this next segment. There's more shipping, and the story's first (but definitely not last) action sequence. I'd also like to thank the reviewers (well, not all of them) for the last round of comments, and I hope that they continue to help me improve the story through their criticism and compliments. I received the most critical feedback from my last chapter, but like I've said in the past, I don't normally care if you liked it or not, just so long as you review it so I can realize what I need to improve upon and what I may need to change. So, REVIEW please!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

Inside the house, Brock was having a great time. He had met Mallory ten minutes ago, and she had yet to call him a name, slap him, or throw her soda in his face. Somehow, unlike other girls, she seemed to really be interested in him despite his corny pick-up lines and bad taste in conversational subjects (moments earlier he had asked which brand of toothpaste she liked the most). _Yep, I finally found a girl who knows a good thing when she sees it,_ Brock thought to himself.

"So you're a gym leader, huh? That is so cool!" stated Mallory, appearing very excited the moment after Brock told her of his former-profession.

"Well, yeah. I am kind of. I mean I'm still a certified leader of the Pewter City Gym and all, but I really wanna be a Pokémon Breeder. Right now I'm working on getting certified through an online course while I travel with Ash."

"A breeder?" she inquired, with a quizzical look on her face. "What do they do exactly?"

More than happy to explain his future career to his future wife, Brock said, "Well, a breeder is just someone who raises Pokémon in a healthy environment. I'm learning different techniques for creating Pokémon food for the specific needs of different types, and I'm learning about certain herbal and pharmaceutical remedies for minor illnesses and wounds inflicted upon Pokémon."

"Wow! That sounds soooooo interesting," Mallory gushed. "So you're kind of like a Pokémon nurse then?"

"No!" Brock exclaimed. He really didn't like it when people mistook his career of choice for being a Nurse Joy. "A breeder doesn't specialize in healing Pokémon. We just learn how to deal with minor infirmities, but Pokémon nurses take care of the bigger stuff. We're more focused on the raising of Pokémon than the healing of them."

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry if I embarrassed you," replied Mallory. She saw him blushing and realized that he obviously took his job very seriously.

Not wanting to mess up the chemistry Brock felt between them, he simply shrugged it off. "Eh, it's no big deal. A lot of people make that mistake. So what do you do exactly Mal?"

When he asked the question, Brock immediately noticed a change in the beautiful girl's demeanor. Her big, blue eyes immediately turned toward the floor, and she started playing with her long, blond hair.

"Well, I uh, I mean that I'm a uh," she stammered, apparently too caught up in her ponytail to think of an answer to Brock's question. Finally, she looked him in the eye and quickly said, "I'm a Pokémon collector."

"A collector?" Brock asked, a little unsure of what that title entailed.

"Yeah! I collect rare and valuable Pokémon," she replied, having regained her composure.

"Well that's cool, but I thought you said you had an apartment and a Corvette. How does collecting Pokémon make a living for you?" as he asked this, he hoped he didn't sound too curious or sound like he didn't respect her profession. He just wanted to understand what she did better.

Once again losing her composure, she stammered and said, "Oh, I-I- find, uh, ways."

Brock could see she was very uncomfortable discussing her job with him, and for a moment he grew suspicious, but she then gave him a big, warm smile, and he forgot all his notions. _Besides_, he thought, _what business is it of mine anyway? She's probably just embarrassed her career isn't as interesting as mine._

"So, uh, do you wanna show me around this big ol' house? You said you've been here plenty of times before, right?" she asked, very much wanting to end his interrogation about her line of work.

"Oh yeah!" Brock said, happy to do anything for her at this point. "I can show you the entire house. Where'd you like to start?"

"Could we start in Ash's room please? I've always wanted to see how a Regional champion lives."

"Okay, but let me warn you. It's not nearly as glamorous as I think you believe it to be. It looks more like a ten year old's room than a champion's." Brock didn't want her to be too disappointed when she saw the room filled with little kid Pokémon action figures and posters.

"Even so, I'd _really_ like to see it." As she said this she lowered her voice, leaned in closer to Brock, and wrapped her arm around his.

"Uh, yeah. Of course! Here we go," and with that, Brock began to lead her up the crowded staircase towards Ash's bedroom. _At the rate this is moving, I might even get a kiss goodnight, _Brock thought with a smile as he led Mallory up the stairs.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Out on the porch, Misty and Ash were reminiscing a bit. They had been out there for an hour, but Misty had yet to tell Ash the news. In all of the nostalgia, they both forgot the reason they came out in the first place. They were still leaning upon the railing, with the high full moon beaming down and illuminating their faces. Misty had begun to perspire slightly on her forehead, and Ash was sweating all over. Although it was night, the temperature didn't seem to care, as it was at least ninety degrees outside. However, they barely noticed the sticky heat as they talked about comrades and adventures long gone.

"And remember when we were in the Orange Islands, and that weird gym leader wanted you to stay with him?" Ash asked, laughing from the joy that can only come from talking with an old friend.

"Hey!" Misty exclaimed, chuckling herself. "He wasn't some weird guy. He was very sweet, and sometimes I wonder why I didn't take him up on that offer."

"Probably since you realized he was gay," Ash answered, really just wanting to stir up controversy. He enjoyed watching Misty get frustrated with him…sometimes.

In a tone of disbelief, Misty replied, "He was not gay! How could you even think that Ketchum? Why would he ask me to live with him if he was gay?"

"Maybe he wanted you for a maid or something."

"A MAID???!!!" Misty was fuming now. Was it really so hard for Ash to believe that someone just enjoyed her company?

Shaking his head, Ash said, "Naw, you're right Mist. Anyone with _any_ sense wouldn't ask someone with your cooking skills to be their maid." Then, looking up at the stars reflectively, he continued, "Of course there's a distinct possibility that he needed a janitor-"

Ash was interrupted mid-sentence with a loud "WHACK" when Misty slapped him hard in the back of the head.

"Ow! That hurt Mist!"

"Really? Oh I'm _so_ sorry," Misty replied sarcastically.

"That's alright. You hit like a girl anyway," Ash smirked impishly as he said this, knowing no good could come from it.

"That's it!" Misty charged at Ash, and in the blink of an eye he had jumped over the railing of the porch and they had begun running around the backyard with Misty hot on Ash's heels.

"Ha, ha. You can't catch me Mist!" Ash mocked as he barely stayed ahead of the furious young woman.

"We'll see about that," and as she said this, she kicked off her heels and lunged through the air, tackling Ash to the ground. She then proceeded to give him the sternest punishment she could think of; she tickled him. Ever since they first met, one of the things Misty knew Ash hated was getting tickled, so for at least a full minute she tortured him in the middle of the backyard, all the while causing both her and Ash to laugh to the point where it hurt.

"P-p-please s-s-s-stop Misty-y-y!!!" Ash pleaded through the tears. He was laughing too hard, and was pretty sure that if she didn't quit soon, he was going to cough up his lung.

"Oh, okay fine, big baby," she chuckled as she climbed off of Ash and laid on her back next to him, gazing up at the stars. She knew that by now she had ruined her beautiful dress, and she felt very hot and sweaty from the experience. She felt her head, and realized her hair (which she had spent hours on) was also a mess, as it was strewn all over the earth beneath her.

Ash, for his part, was not doing much better as far as appearances went. He had already been hot, but now he felt like he was going to fall over from thirst if he didn't get some water to quench it soon. However, after what Misty had told him earlier, he wasn't as worried about her seeing him in this state, and as he lay there catching his breath from what had to be one of the most intense forms of torture known to man, he looked over at Misty, only to find her gazing back at him. He knew she didn't like how she looked now, but he thought she looked great like this. _This_ was the Misty he remembered from his childhood. _This_ was the Misty that had motivated him to do so good for so long. _This_ was the Misty that he loved.

"Oh! I almost forgot to tell you my big news!" Misty broke him from his thoughts with her statement. She had begun to feel a little nervous with them staring at each other for that long, so she decided that now would be the perfect time to deliver her big news.

"Oh yeah, I forgot too," Ash admitted. He felt slightly embarrassed about that little staring contest they had been holding, and was glad to be talking again.

"Okay, well here it is. My sisters, as you know, have been modeling for about five years. Well, even though Lily and Violet are still in the biz, my oldest sister Daisy has quit."

"She has?" This was news to Ash. Personally, he had always considered Daisy the most beautiful of Misty's three sisters, and was surprised to hear of her departure from the life of glamour.

"Yep. Apparently since she turned thirty, jobs have become scarce, and she wants to leave with some dignity, instead of digging around for anyone who'll take her. So anyway, she rang me up a couple of weeks ago and told me that she was gonna leave the business and then gave me some great news! She told me that she wanted to take over the gym!"

Ash was surprised by this. He wasn't exactly sure why this was such great news. "Uh, Mist. No offense or anything, but isn't your sister a little, I dunno, bad at Pokémon battling?"

Smiling, Misty replied, "Oh, not anymore. Apparently her boyfriend's a gym leader over in the Hoenn region for some water gym, and she's been learning from him. When she got home last week we battled, and I gotta say she was a challenge."

"But you beat 'er?" Ash asked, smiling.

"Of course. Did you expect anything less from the world's greatest water Pokémon trainer?"

"No, I guess not."

Misty was a little shocked that Ash didn't take advantage of her last statement to make some smug remark about her battling skills, but she figured he was probably just tired.

However, Ash wasn't really tired, but instead thinking. "So Mist, that's great about your sister and all, but I was wondering why, specifically, it was such great news?"

Realizing she hadn't exactly explained herself, she blushed a little and answered him. "Oh yeah. Well, with my sister coming back to take over the gym, I'm gonna have a couple of free years before I have to worry about college or any of that. So I decided that I'm gonna try to realize my dream of becoming a water Pokémon master!"

"Wow Misty, really? I didn't know that was still your dream," Ash replied.

"It's always been my dream Ash. Why'd you think it changed?"

"I dunno. I guess that with you having been leader for so many years now, I just figured that must have been what you really wanted the whole time."

"Well no, of course not!" Misty replied insulted. She could tell by the look on his face that Ash was surprised by her change in tone, but she was upset by the idea that he thought she just forgot all of her dreams over the years, and decided to live a quiet, secluded life while he went off and pursued his hopes of being Champion. "Just because you had no responsibilities weighing you down, doesn't mean that you were more committed to fulfilling your dreams than I was."

Shaking his head in order to quickly diffuse the situation, Ash replied, "No, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. I know you had responsibilities and all. I guess it's just that it's been so long since we talked like we used to, you know, about our ambitions and goals and stuff, that I really forgot what you wanted. Now that I think about it, I guess since we stopped talking, I kinda forgot what I wanted too."

Misty was thrown off a little by his last statement. "What do you mean you forgot what you wanted? Wasn't your dream to become a champion?"

"No it wasn't. Don't you remember when we were kids and I would always say that I wanted to be a Pokémon Master?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. You used to talk about it all the time, now that I think about it," Misty said, rolling her eyes.

"That's right!" Ash exclaimed, excited. "And for some reason, after you left the group and I started hanging out with May and Max, that dream kind of just fell to the wayside. I used to wanna catch all the Pokémon out there. I wanted to be known as _the_ Master, but after a while that dream just seemed too big, so I guess subconsciously I kind of threw it away and settled for being the Sinnoh Champion instead."

"Wow. It's funny, but now that you say it, it makes a lot of since," Misty told him as she propped her head up with her arm. "So what are you planning on doing now, Mr. Future-Master?"

"Well, I received a letter from Cynthia, you know, the old Champion, after I defeated her, and it provided me with the official Pokémon League Board's requirements for attaining Master status."

Her curiosity piqued, Misty asked, "Why haven't I ever heard of these rules for Master Rank?"

"Professor Oak told me that apparently a lot of people will try and 'help' (he said this using finger quotes) trainers trying to become masters if they know what's necessary to attain the rank. They do this so that they can have the Master, who's the leader of the PLB, do them special 'favors' (once again he said this using finger quotes) once they're in power."

"Wow! I didn't know this whole operation was so covert, or that the Master held so much power!" Misty said in shock. "So then I guess I can't be told the requirements either, huh?"

"Oh no, I can tell you. Oak said that I just can't let anyone outside of my close family and friends know."

"Really? So what are they?" Now Misty was excited to know.

"Well, first I had to become Champion. Now that I've done that, I have to defeat a trainer of equal or higher merit, which Professor Oak already decided to be Gary, and I have to catch all the Pokémon in the four regions, excluding legendaries."

As he finished listing the rules, Ash looked at Misty to see a shocked expression plastered across her face. "What????" she asked in disbelief. "Did you say _all_ the Pokémon in the four regions?"

"Yep. Apparently they take that "Gotta catch 'em all" thing pretty seriously down there in the PLB," Ash replied jokingly.

"So what are you gonna do?"

"Well, Gary and I have a battle scheduled for next week at his gym. By the way, thanks for telling me about his becoming a gym leader."

"Oh, well I couldn't tell you because he begged me not to. He said he had something special in mind when you got back to tell you about his new job. I guess this is what he was talking about."

"Yeah, I guess so," Ash repeated. "Well anyway, so after I battle Gary, I plan on starting my journey here in Kanto and catching all the Pokémon from this region that I missed the first time. I'm also hoping to evolve some of my own Pokémon through a lot of training, so that will hopefully cut down on how many I need to catch, but not by much."

"Wow. Well I don't envy you right now," Misty said, laying back down and staring at the sky again. She couldn't imagine having to do all that. She was going to have a hard enough time catching and training all of the _water_ Pokémon in the world. She couldn't imagine trying to captureall of them. As she thought this however, a thought popped into her head.

"Hey Ash!" she cried excitedly, propping herself back up on her elbow, facing the young man who was still staring at the sky.

Tilting his head over at her, he asked, "What?"

"I just had a great idea! You're trying to catch all the Pokémon in the world, and I'm trying to catch and train a bunch of water types from the different regions! Why don't we go on a journey together?" She practically screamed at him as she said this. "It would be just like old times. We'd stay up late talking, and we could improve each other's battle skills. Not to mention that it's a lot more fun travelling in a group rather than alone."

Ash suddenly propped himself up as well. "Hey, you might have something there, Mist. I mean, I think it'd be great if my last Pokémon journey was with the same people I started it with. I think we'd have a great time!"

"Yeah!" Misty agreed. However, she couldn't help but feel a little pang of resentment when she heard Ash bring up ending his journey with the "same people" as he started it with. It wasn't that she had anything against Brock. As a matter of fact, she considered him to be her second-to-best-friend, but when she thought of the idea moments ago, she imagined, though she didn't know why, it would just be her and Ash together. She decided that she needed to clarify this with Ash immediately.

At the same time, Ash was kicking himself mentally for mentioning Brock, though not specifically, during their chat. He too was not sure why, but he got the feeling that when Misty talked about them continuing their quest together, she was not including Brock in her plans. At the same time, he really liked Brock. After all, they had been together longer than he had been with anyone else, and if anyone deserved to go on this journey with him he thought it should definitely be Brock. Therefore, he didn't correct himself after he said it.

"Ash, I think I need to explain something real quick," Misty said after a moment of silence hung in the air between them. She decided she needed to tell him this now, before she could think of why she was saying it, or how he would think of her saying it.

"What is it Mist?" Ash asked curiously, though in the pit of his stomach he was pretty sure he knew what she was about to tell him.

"Well, when I said we, I really meant-"

BANG.

Having been startled half to death, Ash and Misty looked up to see a giant bird-like object break through Ash's window.

"Fearow!!!" it screeched as it hovered next to his room on the second floor. Ash and Misty watched as a person with long hair jumped onto the bird Pokémon, yelled "FLY" and soared off towards the distant mountains.

"Ash!" yelled Brock through the window pane. "She just took off with all your Pokémon!"

"What?!" screamed Ash, louder even than the Fearow. He realized that he had left his bag (with four of his Pokémon in it) in his room after he talked with Gary earlier that evening. Reaching for his side, he was very much relieved to feel just one last pokéball left. It was Charizard, whom he had kept by his side after he had taken the dragon-like Pokémon from his pack when he thought the house had been broken into earlier.

As he threw the red and white ball, he yelled, "Charizard, I choose you!"

In a brilliant flash of light, the orange beast stood before him, his tail burning brightly, waiting for his master's command.

"Charizard, we gotta fly!" As Ash said this, he jumped on Charizard's back. Right before he took off into the night sky, he looked down at Misty, who still seemed in shock (which was quite believable considering that less than a minute ago, they were lying on the ground discussing their future), and said, "I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Don't worry, and tell my mom what's goin' on." He then ascended into the sky at a rapid pace, and was soon being watched by all the party guests who had run into the backyard to see what was going on. In the distance, they could see the silhouettes of the two flying Pokémon battling in front of the large, harvest moon.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. Chapter six will start off from Ash's point of view, so you'll get a better look at what's going on up in the sky. Like I said above, I just got back internet, so I can't give any recommendations for stories this week. I'm sorry to last week's reviewers for that. Anyway, please remember to REVIEW!


	6. The Battle in the Sky

**Hello everybody!** I have to say that this was one of the hardest chapters for me to write. Not only did I have to research different Pokemon moves and attacks, but I also had to describe a looooooong battle sequence, and had to try and portray the human emotion that accompanied said battle. On top of this, I flew out to Texas Wednesday, and had to fight jet-lag and had to look at colleges this week, so let me say right now that it was a very difficult task getting this story out to y'all this week. However, despite all the problems I encountered, I have to say that it was worth it. This chapter is definitely one of my better works, and I hope that y'all see it as such too. I would also like to point out that my last chapter received a record number of reviews, both good and bad, and I hope to break another record with this chapter. Whether you hated it or loved it, I would like to hear from everybody with an opinion about this chapter. Please continue to review my work, because it definitely makes writing the story feel a lot more like an accomplishment, rather than just some boring hobby that takes up hours that I already don't have.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

Charizard raced towards Fearow with a speed and ferocity that Ash had never seen before. _I definitely made the right choice leaving him in the Charicific Valley_, Ash thought as his eyes welled up with tears from the extraordinary speed and height that he was flying at. Within the first two seconds of flight, he had felt his hat fly off his head, and as he zoomed toward the mysterious thief, he silently prayed that someone had found it. He thought it seemed silly that he was worried about a hat at a time like this, but he really liked it, and they weren't cheap.

Refocusing his attention to the problem at hand, he looked ahead to find that in his valiant effort to catch up with the Fearow and its master, Charizard had actually begun to pass them. "Slow down Charizard, we're not in a race!" Ash yelled, panicking as he realized they were about a hundred feet above the mysterious bandit, and were now passing ahead of them in distance at a growing rate. Heeding its masters remarks, Charizard quickly turned around, nearly throwing Ash off its back in the process. As they headed towards the Fearow in a steady dive, Ash screamed "FLAMETHROWER!" at the top of his lungs. Unlocking his jaw, Charizard opened his mouth and released a great stream of fire.

_Uh, oh_, Ash thought. He was hoping that he accidentally hadn't done more than stopped the Fearow's escape. He had forgotten how powerful Charizard had become over the years, and that Flamethrower attack seemed a lot more lethal than it had been a few years ago. He certainly didn't want to kill anybody; he just wanted his Pokémon back. However, his fears of having killed the Fearow and its pilot were quickly replaced by the fear of what the flying Pokémon was going to do when he saw it using its Whirlwind attack to blow away the oncoming flames in all different directions.

_This is going to be difficult_, Ash thought as he got a better grip around Charizard's long neck and prepared to order the Pokémon to unleash another powerful attack.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

On the ground, the crowd from the party watched on in horror and amazement at the magnificent battle taking place before them. Although the Pokémon and their trainers were at least a half mile away, if not further, the large harvest moon behind the two dueling creatures provided a great view for the battle from below. As they saw the large flames emit from Charizard's mouth, they simultaneously gasped in wonderment, and were soon stunned once again when they saw that the large bird Pokémon had somehow survived the attack and seemed to be charging towards Ash and his battling partner with an assault of its own.

"This is bad Mist," Brock stated as plainly as he could. He knew from experience how dangerous flying on Charizard could be when one was simply having fun, but he estimated the danger of flying on the great orange dragon was probably a hundred times greater when one was flying _and_ battling at the same time.

Feeling her heart rate going at about a thousand beats per second, Misty nervously replied, "Y-Y-Yeah, but he's done this before. Remember Entei?" She was indeed right. About five years earlier, when Ash was battling Entei (or at least the Unown-created replica), he was saved from an eminent death by his loyal Charizard, and proceeded to do battle with the legendary beast while riding on top of the creature. However, this fact did little to calm either of their nerves, as they watched on wondering if Ash was ready for this. It had been a long time since Entei, and although Ash had always come through in the end, they never stopped worrying about their best friend.

"Right. Well, I'm gonna call Officer Jenny," Brock said, slowly backing up, but all the while watching the battle in the sky. "I'm sure they've got some kind of protocol for these kinds of situations." He then turned and ran into the house as fast as he could, all the while bumping into party guests and lawn furniture which were blocking his path. Once he got in the house, he rushed over to the telephone in the house and dialed the police station.

"Hello, Pallet Town Police Force. What is your emergency?" Asked a very familiar voice.

"Officer Jenny, we really need your help!" Exclaimed Brock. "Someone stole our friends Pokémon and tried flying off with them, and now they're both battling in the air! I'm afraid someone's gonna get hurt soon if we can't stop 'em."

"WHAT???" Asked the police officer. She had never heard of a situation quite like this one before. "Are they on Pokémon?"

"Yeah. They're on a Fearow and a Charizard."

"Okay, we'll be right there with our Pidgeot force. Where are you located?"

"Uh, the house is on 805 Bacon Court, but I don't think it's that important since they're battling about a half mile from here."

"Right! We'll be right there. Until then try and remain calm. Are you alone in that house?"

"No, no. We've been having a party."

"Okay, then please try to get everyone in the house to calm down some. We don't need an entire crowd of hysterical people when we arrive."

Nodding understandingly, Brock replied with a quick "alright" before hanging up and heading outside to gather the party guests. It was going to be hard to tear them away from this spectacle, but he knew that if the police were going to be able to help Ash, they would need space and a little quiet.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

About ten minutes into the battle, Ash was sweating a great deal as the heat emanating from Charizard increased as he unleashed wave after wave of flaming fury. He was also beginning to feel a little dizzy from the altitude. Fortunately, up until now he had been able to keep the Fearow and its master, whom he'd still not gotten a decent glimpse of, on the defensive. Anytime that it seemed they were positioning themselves for an offensive move, he quickly ordered Charizard to attack with Flamethrower to quickly diffuse their plans. However, he could see that the major flaw in his strategy was that Charizard, although very powerful, could not keep doing this much longer. His ability to spurt flames from his mouth was a feat of strength, and he was quickly weakening from all the dodging and attacking with the heavy trainer on his back.

"Charizard, watch out!" Ash hollered as he was suddenly caught off guard by a stream of fire blazing towards them from the right. _How the crap did they do that?_ He wondered in panic.

"Fearow, Mirror Move again!" Ash heard a young woman cry in the distance. He realized that she must be the owner of the Fearow, and more importantly, he realized how her bird Pokémon was managing to emit fire from its beak.

"Charizard, dive!" Ash ordered, as he saw another stream of flame head towards him and his Pokémon. "Why haven't they been doing that the entire time?" he asked to no one in particular. However, he soon realized the reason when he heard his tired Pokémon wheezing slightly as he descended in altitude.

_She's been tiring us out_, Ash thought. _She knew that a Fearow couldn't win against my Charizard in a head-on battle of strength, so she's been playing Charizard's greatest advantage against him_. Smirking, he realized he now knew how to beat this apparently very skilled trainer.

"Charizard, hover right here!" Ash demanded. As the next Flamethrower attack sped towards them, he lightly kicked Charizard on the right-hand side of his chest, causing Charizard to instinctively move a little to the right. The flames then rushed by the two of them, leaving them both unharmed. _Now I've got you_.

"Charizard, Tackle!" He ordered.

At his command, the fire Pokémon began to fly towards its opponent and when he tried to perform the attack, the Fearow simply backed away slightly, and Ash heard the woman cry out, "Now we've got 'em. Fearow, Mirror Move!"

However, instead of being engulfed in flames, as Ash suspected the other trainer expected to happen, the Fearow simply started flying towards him and Charizard slowly, to which Charizard responded by waiting a second before he got too close, and then simply flying a few feet above the Fearow. Ash had remembered reading that bird Pokémon who used Mirror Move were not smart enough to remember the move they were imitating after witnessing a different one. Therefore, ordering Charizard to use Tackle took away Fearow's firepower.

"Looks like Flamethrower's not an option anymore, huh?" Ash teased as he looked below at the mysterious burglar.

"Shut up! I have other ways of dealing with morons like you." She replied haughtily. Despite this setback, Ash noticed, she didn't seem too discouraged.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Meanwhile, Officer Jenny and the Pallet police force were in the backyard where minutes ago the party guests had been. They were organizing how they were going to handle this situation.

"Pidgeot, I choose you!" yelled Officer Jenny as she threw a blue and white pokeball from her grasp. A second later, in a brilliant flash of light, the great brown and white bird Pokémon stood before her. Stretching its wings, it screeched a loud "PIDGEOT", and bowed down before its master. Officer Jenny quickly jumped on, and ordered the other officers to do the same. Soon, the entire police force had mounted their large bird Pokémon and was waiting for the Officer's orders.

"Remember everybody," Jenny called out to the police unit. "I've been informed that one combatant is riding a Charizard, which is typically used by members of Team Magma for flight operations, but I was also told that the other was riding a Fearow, which we know is used by Team Rocket for their operations. So we'll need to take both of them in for questioning. We seem to be dealing with an experienced agent, from either organization, so if worst comes to worst I want you to put into effect Operation HB."

"Yes ma'am!" cried out the rest of the force in unison. With that, they all took to the sky to apprehend the suspects.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Charizard move a little to the right!" Ash ordered, as the Fearow came whizzing by again, spinning rapidly while using its Drill Peck attack. _How is she holding on to that thing?_ He wondered in astonishment as he watched the bird and its owner go flying by them for about the twelfth time in the last two minutes. His strategy now was simply to do what the young woman had been doing earlier; tire her Pokémon out. Fearow didn't know any powerful moves that weren't physical, so it had to approach Charizard to attack them. Therefore, even though Ash could no longer use powerful moves (out of fear that Fearow would manage to imitate them), he _was_ able to easily maneuver Charizard out of danger's way, and thus weaken the bird Pokémon. The only thing he hadn't figured out by this point was why the trainer hadn't just tried to escape. She seemed intent on finishing him off, despite the risk to her own life and the fact that she already had four of his six championship-winning Pokémon in her possession. _Maybe she's just not that bright_, he thought as he saw the Fearow preparing to mount another attack.

"Cease and desist immediately!"

That command instantly shook both Ash and the mystery battler out of their fight and turned their attention to Ash's left, where they saw a flock of Pidgeot approaching them. As they got closer, Ash realized that the Pidgeot were actually carrying the police force on their backs.

"You are both under arrest!" Cried another commanding voice. Ash recognized it immediately as belonging to Officer Jenny.

"Looks like it's over, whoever you are," Ash said to the young woman who was no more than ten feet in front of him.

"As if," she replied non-chalantly. "C'mon Fearow, let's get out of here. Use Agility!" In an instant Ash saw the two of them fly off at a tremendous speed, leaving behind nothing, but a few feathers.

_Why didn't she use that to escape in the first place?_ He wondered as he began to order Charizard to follow. _Did she want me to catch up with her before?_

He then ordered Charizard to fly after them, which the obedient Pokémon did, although at a noticeably slower rate than he had before. _The poor guy must be tired,_ Ash thought as Charizard continued in the same path that the Fearow had taken.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Brock, why does it look like the police are trying to catch up with Ash?" Misty inquired as she and the other party guests returned to the backyard to witness how the police would handle the situation.

"I'm not sure Mist," replied Brock honestly. "They probably just want him to go back down and let them take care of Mallory."

"No, no. I don't think that's it," stated a now even more concerned Misty. "Look at them up there. They've surrounded him and Charizard. You did tell them who was riding which Pokémon, right?"

Jerking his head up, Brock instantly realized his mistake. "N-N-NO!" He cried in fear. He had completely forgotten to tell Jenny who the culprit was.

"YOU FORGOT TO TELL JENNY WHO THE THIEF WAS???!!!" Screamed Misty at the top of her lungs. This statement automatically shook the crowd out of their trance from watching the sky, and brought their attention back down to Earth, specifically at Brock and Misty.

"WHAT???!!!" Brock heard Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak cry at the same time. Rushing towards Brock, Delia quickly took a deep breath and asked Brock if she had heard Misty correctly, which she prayed she had not.

"I-I-I-I am soooo sorry Mrs. Ketchum. I didn't even-"

He was quickly interrupted by Mrs. Ketchum, who began to sob. "Oh my gosh! My poor baby! What if they think he's the criminal?"

"It's alright, Delia," stated Oak as calmly as he could, although he himself was very worried about where the situation was heading. "I'm sure Ash will quickly be able to explain what's really going on, and nothing will happen. The police won't do anything rash until they're sure they've got the right man."

_I sure hope you're right,_ Misty thought silently as she nodded in agreement with the Professor's last statement. However, in the pit of their stomachs, both she and Brock felt that the situation probably wouldn't turn out as they were praying it would.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Up in the air, things were turning out the exact way everyone on the ground feared. Ash had been completely stunned by the fact that the police didn't recognize him immediately as the young trainer from Pallet who was the new Sinnoh Champion. He knew it was fairly dark, but he had hoped that the moon would have given enough light to prove his identity. As the police force swarmed around him, he tried again to explain for a third time what was really happening, although he was beginning to grow annoyed with the fact that they weren't listening. "Listen! You have the wrong guy. The girl who took off with my Pokémon is headed in that direction right now! You're gonna let her get away if you don't stop being idiots and begin chasing after her!"

_Uh, oh,_ he thought to himself. _It might not have been the smartest move to call them idiots._

"Really? We're the dumb ones?" Inquired Officer Jenny. Out of the fourteen Pidgeot-riding police officers surrounding Ash, she was the one sitting directly in front of him. "Obviously you're the idiot if you think we're gonna run off and let you escape." As she said this, she pointed an accusative finger at Ash, angering him further.

"Fine! Then leave someone here to watch me, but go after that freakin' Fearow! I swear y'all are acting like the biggest bunch of morons I've ever seen! I've already told y'all that I'm the one whose Pokémon were stolen."

"Officer O'Sullivan, do you have a reading of any Fearow on the GPS?" Inquired Officer Jenny, still glaring angrily at Ash for the flurry of insults she had received in the last two minutes of talking to this kid, and completely ignoring his last comment. The angrier he got, the more certain she felt she was correct in her assumption that he was indeed the bandit.

"No ma'am," replied one of the officers, although Ash couldn't tell which one. "Only this kid and his Charizard."

"I'm not a kid, _officer_," stated Ash angrily. "I'm an adult and I expect to be treated as one, and the reason that stupid Fearow is off your GPS is because you've waited so long. She used Agility right before you arrived, so go after her!"

"I'm so sorry sir, but since we have one suspect in front of us right now, we're gonna have to take you in. If you're really who you say you are, then we'll find this 'criminal' and you'll be free to go." As Jenny said criminal, she used finger quotes, which finally sent Ash reeling in fury. He couldn't believe that they were letting his Pokémon get away, and at the same time accusing _him_ of being the perpetrator.

"Y'know what?" Ash asked, with a glimmer of mixed emotion in his eyes. "No."

With that statement, he ordered Charizard "up" and began flying in the direction that the Fearow went. He knew that the bird Pokémon could not have kept up its Agility this long (it had been about four minutes now), and with that little break Charizard had received as Ash spoke with the police, he was soaring once again at an incredible speed.

"Sir, we command you to stop!" Screamed one of the officers behind him. "If you don't desist immediately, we will shoot!"

_They'd really shoot me?_ Ash thought. When he heard the threat, he realized how crazy this was. Not even an hour ago, he was reminiscing with Misty about good times in his backyard, and now he was being pursued by the police on his Charizard. "How did things get this messed up?" He asked himself aloud.

As what he thought of as a cosmically ironic answer to his rhetoric inquiry, a gunshot cracked behind him. _Oh crap,_ he thought. However, he was unwilling to stop his pursuit of the Fearow and more importantly its master, because he knew if he could just find them, then everything could be resolved. Therefore he ordered his Charizard to, "Go high!"

Immediately after he gave his order, he heard several other gunshots go off behind him. However, he realized that they were never going to be able to hit him or his Pokémon. The distance between them and the police was growing by the second, and despite the little knowledge he had of firearms, he did know that a small revolver like the Pallet Town Police Force used was not going to be very accurate, or go very far at this altitude.

_I think I can hold them off until we reach that Fearow,_ he thought.

"Listen!" He yelled. "Just wait until we reach the Fearow! Then I can explain-"

He was interrupted by the sound of Officer Jenny's voice booming with the assistance of a blow horn. "Pidgeot, initiate Operation HB!"

Suddenly, all the Pidgeot used Agility and were surrounding Ash and his Charizard once again, only this time they were hovering over the two, and were circling them rapidly using Double Team. Then, all at once, the Pidgeot opened their beaks and balls of light began forming from within them.

_They're gonna use Hyper Beam!_ He thought, terrified at the consequences such an act could produce. He realized that he had no other choice at that moment than to fight.

"Charizard, use Blast- AUGGGHHHH!" He was interrupted mid-command by the feeling of searing heat blistering the surface of his skin. He looked around, but all he could see was a bright light…then darkness.

He felt his body falling, and he felt his grip on Charizard's neck dwindle to being non-existent. Somewhere above him he heard screaming, and below he could swear that he heard his mom yelling for him, and then he heard and saw nothing.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"ASH!!!" Shrieked his mother, as she watched her pride and joy, her only child, plummet towards the earth. She couldn't believe that it was happening, yet somehow despite her mind's refusal to take it as the truth, she saw it happening. The world around her melted away, and she simply fell to her knees and began to weep; a long, mournful, horrifying weep that only a mother can make out of fear for her baby.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

While Mrs. Ketchum sat on her knees in front of them, crying herself out, Brock and Misty simply stood with a glazed look in their eyes. Neither felt that they could react to what they had just seen. Was Ash alive? Was he hurt? Paralyzed? They didn't allow themselves to believe the worst had happened, because it couldn't have. This was _Ash_ they were talking about, the one who had always come through. However, they couldn't escape the dreadful feeling once again growing in the pit of their stomachs that something had happened; something they didn't ever want to happen. Then, as if on queue, their eyes welled with tears simultaneously and they silently prayed once more for Ash's safety.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

About an hour later, everyone from the party and the police force were searching for Ash and his beloved Pokémon.

"Man, how hard is it to find someone who fell to the ground riding a Charizard?" Asked Brock to no one in particular.

"I don't know," replied Misty. She was holding the flashlight for the two of them and was lighting every square inch of the forest over which Ash had fallen. "I'm taking this as a good sign, though."

"Really? How so?" Asked a hopeful Brock. Neither of them, or hardly any of the guests (who were all really good friends with Ash) had really talked since they had begun searching for his, hopefully, live body in the clutter of trees. Brock was relieved to finally hear someone's voice, and even happier at the prospect of Ash being okay.

"Well, think about. If Ash or Charizard didn't land directly from the point which he fell at, then that must mean that Charizard was able to fly at least a few extra seconds before losing consciousness. And if that's the truth, then who's to say they weren't able to land safely?"

Not really believing it possible that they landed safely, but at the same time not wanting to refuse any hypothesis that supported Ash's well-being, Brock simply smiled and said, "Yeah!"

"Hey, over here!" They both suddenly heard someone call through the foliage. "We found 'em!"

With their hearts feeling as if they were going to burst from the suspense of knowing Ash's condition, both Brock and Misty raced over to their best friend, hoping for the best.

* * *

Author's note: Well, there you have it. What will happen to Ash? Will he ever play the piano again? Find out next week, same bat-time, same bat-channel. Whatever.

Anyway, like I said this was a very hard chapter to write, so forgive me if it seems a little dry in comparison to previous chapters, but I really believe I did the best I could with this chapter, and truth be told I personally like it a lot. However, whether you do or don't, REVIEW PLEASE!

Also, to keep in accordance with the promise I made y'all a couple of weeks ago, I have a couple of stories I'd like to recommend to anyone out there interested in Pokemon fics!

This week, I'd like to recommend:

"Twelve OneShot AAML Stories iPod Challenge" by licoricejellybean - this is one of three pokeshipping fics that she has, but I haven't had time to read the others yet. It's a very good story.

"No Way But Up" by Flaaffy - this story doesn't have any shipping, but it's a type of fic I've never seen before. It allows the readers to have a participatory role in the story, and even if you aren't interested in getting involved, it's still a very good story idea.

"The Refuge" by SecretAgent99 - this story is just an altogether great fic about a completely new character not mentioned in the show. I've only read the firt chapter, and already I'm hooked on it. I strongly suggest y'all read it and PLEASE REVIEW it! This poor kid's only gotten two reviews (one of them being mine) for this great story, and she won't continue working on it if we don't give her some encouragement (which is, ironically, the same reason you should review mine as well. ha,ha)

Anyway, please read these stories when y'all have the chance and look out for the next installment to my fic next Sunday. Until then, REVIEW!


	7. The Battle in the Mind

**Hello everybody!** I can't believe I got this out on time! This was by far the hardest and longest chapter I've ever written. The actual story itself took up over fifteen pages, which is much longer than any of the previous chapters. However, don't plan on all of them being this long, at least not for right now. This chapter is a little special because of all the different settings that take place in it (you'll see what I mean in a minute). Anyway, the reason I'm so impressed with my getting it out on time, although a little later than usual, is because I continued my college hunt this week (which was a painful ordeal alone), and I had no internet on my laptop for four days. I lucked out fin getting it today, so I think you should all be grateful! (ha,ha) Well, I don't want to give away anything, but I will say that the chapter was also very hard to write because so much is happening, and I had to write and describe a lot of emotions for this segment (which realy isn't my strong suit as an author). I also have several action sequences, my first sequences taking place as official Pokemon battles as a matter of fact, so I spent hours trying to get them to sound write. I hope you like it, although I admit despite all the time I spent working on it, I feel as if my first serious attempt at narrating the battles could have gone a little better. So if anyone has some critiques, I would be glad to hear them, and if someone likes the chapter, I would really like to hear them too. We're at forty-nine reviews now, so let's see if we can bring it up to fifty! REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

Ritchie: 18

* * *

'_Are you ready for this Ash?' asked Ritchie._

'_Of course!' yelled Ash from across the large Pokémon battlefield. Surrounding the field was a large stadium jam-packed with what Ash estimated to be at least a hundred thousand fans. A light evening breeze blew across Ash's face, and as he looked up he saw his face illuminated by the large lights beaming down upon him on the overhead Jumbo-Tron (a large screen used to display the battle and its stats up-close so the audience could grasp what was happening throughout the battle). As he looked down across the field at his long-time friend and rival, although he wasn't sure why, he had a strong feeling that this was much more than a Pokémon battle. _

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Oh my gosh!" whispered Misty under her breath as she saw Ash's body through the thicket of bushes and trees separating her from her best friend. He was lying on top of Charizard, thankfully, but she could not see his chest moving at all from her vantage point, his face and clothes were completely covered in dirt, and she could see blood trickling heavily down his arms and face.

As Misty and Brock rushed over to get a better look of their friend, Ritchie (who had found the young trainer) began elaborating on the little he knew of Ash's condition to the two. "I've checked his pulse, and while it's faint, it is there. Also, he's breathing, shallowly, but regularly. I've been talking to him the past couple of minutes trying to wake 'im up, but he's not responding at all."

"Is that Ash?" asked May, almost inaudibly, as she approached the gaggle of trainers from the shadows.

"Yeah," affirmed Ritchie. "He's still alive, but he's gonna need some serious medical attention soon. I'm gonna go call the paramedics and bring them out here to get Ash."

"No," said May. "I'll go grab Mrs. Ketchum and get the paramedics over here. I know the area better, and I have my Blaziken to keep me safe if there're any problems."

"Alright, be careful May," cautioned Brock as the young woman turned around and began running in the direction from whence she had just come.

_Please be alright,_ Misty begged Ash as she bent down to examine him more carefully. As she watched his unmoving body, she felt herself growing angry. _Why did this happen? Why tonight, of all nights? Just as I was giving him my good news! We were finally gonna have time to hang out and have things be like old times! What if we never get that chance now? What if…? _

She felt her face get hot and a new stream of tears begin to fall down her face as she stopped herself from thinking the unthinkable. She looked up from Ash's body feeling an indescribable rage, and as she lifted her head she took out her fury on the first person she saw; Ritchie.

"Why, _exactly_, is Ash still on Charizard?" she hissed at the slightly older trainer as she narrowed her eyes.

"I was just afraid of moving him right now. That leg looks pretty sensitive, and I've been afraid of messing something up by trying to move him." Ritchie explained. Upon closer examination, Brock realized Ritchie was right about Ash's leg. His jeans were completely torn, and Brock could almost swear that he saw the bone of Ash's kneecap sticking out of the bloody gash on his leg.

"That's ridiculous!" roared an angered Misty. She no longer sounded weak and upset to Ritchie, as she had only a minute ago, but she now appeared rather infuriated. "You're just leaving him lying there on full display like he's some sort of animal! You should be ashamed!"

Embarrassedly, Ritchie quickly murmured an apology and moved out of the way as she quickly walked past him. She came up behind Ash and picked him up under his arms, being careful not to step on Charizard's flame (which was feeble enough without her crushing it) and began dragging him towards a nearby Oak Tree with the help of a few people, including one of the police officers, who had now arrived on the scene.

Sitting down on her knees, she leaned in towards him and quietly whispered, "C'mon Ash. You're gonna be all right!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_C'mon Ash! You're gonna be all right!' cried Misty from one of the stadium seats. Despite the cheers and roars from the crowd, he distinctly heard her voice calling from the audience._

Of course I'll be alright,_ he thought._ I'm gonna win!_ With that thought, he quickly pulled out a pokeball from his side and expanded it from the size of a golf ball to the size of an orange with the push of its center button._

"_Let's do this!" he cried as he flung the red and white ball out into the center of the battlefield._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It's a good thing you called us when you did," explained one of the paramedics as the other two strapped Ash into a stretcher. They were going to have to carry him back to the ambulance because he was too far in the forest to have the ambulance driven out to him. "If you had been a few more minutes, we may have missed our window of opportunity to save him, but I think we'll be able to help now."

Taking a deep breath, Delia felt her muscles loosen slightly from hearing the news. She had literally sprinted with May into the forest, in her slippers, when she received the news of her son's discovery. She had really wanted to go out and look for him herself, but everyone had agreed it was best she stay in her house and wait. The last thing anyone wanted was her getting lost in the expansive forest and not being able to contact her immediately when they found her son. However, she hated the idea of waiting in her nice, quiet house, while she knew at the exact same time that her son was probably lying in the forest floor somewhere, fighting for his life. Because of this, she was more than eager to go out and see her poor baby when she received the big news from Ash's old traveling partner.

However, as she felt the tenseness of waiting to hear of her son's condition begin to diminish, she reflected on what the paramedic had just told her. "What do you mean you _think_?" She asked, starting to feel a bit suspicious of their wording. Was there still some kind of chance Ash could be seriously hurt even though they thought he was okay?

"Well," began the medical professional, "while we believe that the actual physical damage was limited to a few lacerations on the face and arms, and a badly injured right leg, he seems to be developing a bump on his forehead, which may or may not indicate a concussion."

"A concussion?" wheezed out Mrs. Ketchum as she suddenly felt the wind get knocked out of her. Fighting off the urge to break down crying again, she asked "My poor baby may have a concussion?"

"Only possibly," replied the paramedic tentatively. "However, we won't know what's wrong with him, if anything, until we get to the hospital to get him checked. We have to go now."

"Alright then," said Delia, pulling herself together as best she could. She didn't feel like she had any tears left to cry anyway. "I'll go with you in the ambulance."

Having watched the scene unfold before her, Misty felt like crying again too, but hearing that they were going to the hospital replaced her need to cry with a need to be with her friend.

"I'll go too!" cried Misty, startling the paramedic and Delia as they were turning to leave the forest. Feeling a little childish for just barging in and yelling what she wanted rather than pulling Delia aside for a moment to maturely discuss her desire to be with Ash in the hospital, she began to blush. "I, uh, I mean, I'd like to go with you if that's okay Mrs. Ketchum?"

Feeling she understood the anxiety Misty felt about Ash at the moment (mainly because she was experiencing it herself), Delia quickly nodded her approval and began jogging along with the paramedics to the ambulance.

Before she took off with them, Misty turned around to see Brock, who was helping Ritchie explain to everyone who had just arrived at the crash site what was happening with Ash. "Brock, you wanna come?" she inquired.

"Nah! I better stay here and help the guests understand what's going on, and help 'em find their way back to the house. A lot of them are staying for the night, and someone has to get the cots and blankets set up. Besides, Charizard looks like he needs some serious medical attention himself."

With his response, Misty quickly turned back around and sprinted in the direction of the paramedics and Ash's mom.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_Torterra, I choose you!' yelled Ash, as the pokeball lit up and the large ground/grass type Pokémon emerged from within._

'_C'mon out Zippo!'Responded Ritchie as he released his Charmeleon onto the battlefield._

Ha, sucker,_ thought Ash._ Torterra might be weak against fire, but Charmeleon's weak against ground-type moves. This will be a cinch.

_As the referee lowered the red and green flags he held in both hands, Ash ordered Torterra to use his Earthquake attack._

'_Zippo, use your tail to jump in the air and avoid the earthquake!' shouted Ritchie from behind his Pokémon. As the ground began to crack up around the red-hot Pokémon, he quickly sprang into the air using his tail as a spring, causing the Earthquake attack to be completely ineffective. 'Now, use Dig attack!'_

_Charmeleon then, while in mid-air, pointed his body at the earth below and began to rapidly spin, with his large claws in front of his body. As he hit the ground, dirt went flying everywhere, and within seconds he was completely out of sight._

He knows Dig?_ thought a confused Ash. _Oh well. Only a minor setback.

_Once again Ash ordered Torterra to use Earthquake attack. He expected that the battlefield's violent movements would cause Charmeleon to be damaged, even if he was underground. However, after the field stopped shaking, Ash was perplexed as to why he didn't see the starter fire type jumping out of the ground, badly hurt. _

'_Zippo, come up and use Fire Blast!' commanded Ritchie to the unseen Pokémon. Ash didn't even have time to react to what Ritchie had said before he saw the ground beneath Torterra begin to glow a dark red, and then explode beneath him. Suddenly a large flame, in the shape of the Japanese symbol for 'fire', blazed from inside the hole. The huge fireball was so powerful that it lifted Torterra (who was very heavy) off his feet, and leveled him on his back several feet away._

'_Torterra, get up!' cried out Ash. However, it was no use as Torterra was too large and could not flip himself over._

'_Zip, use Flamethrower!' ordered Ritchie as the fire Pokémon sprang out of the hole and began to engulf Torterra in flames._

'_TOOOOOORRRR!' Ash's Pokémon yelled as Ritchie's Charmeleon knocked it out of consciousness._

'_Torterra!' yelled Ash as he watched his comrade disappear in the conflagration. When the flames finally ceased, his friend lied there, completely burnt and unmoving._

'_Torterra is unable to battle, Charmeleon is the winner!' announced the referee as he tilted his green flag towards Ritchie's Pokémon. _

I guess I underestimated him,_ thought Ash as he watched the picture of his Torterra fade from the Jumbo-Tron screen. _I'm gonna have to try harder._ He then withdrew his grass Pokémon back to its pokeball and reached for Totodile._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Excuse me," said Delia to a passing nurse. "Do you know how my child is?"

"What room are they in?" asked the nurse quickly; obviously in a hurry.

"He's in Hallway J, in room 214," replied Delia hopefully.

"I'll see what I can find out," said the nurse, once again hurriedly, but with a tone of sympathy in her voice this time. She could see that these two women had been waiting a while, and the last thing they needed was an unsympathetic nurse.

In fact, Delia and Misty had been sitting in the hospital's waiting room for about three hours, and it was now about four-thirty in the morning. However, to both of the women, it was beginning to feel like they had been there for days. In her exhaustion and frustration at the situation, Delia had begun to ask anyone, be they doctor or patient, if they knew of her son's condition.

Happy with the nurse's promise (she was one of the few people who had bothered to actually acknowledge her question at all) Delia thanked the nurse and returned to the uncomfortable hospital chair next to Misty.

"Man, this is so hard," Misty stated bluntly as she shifted her weight for the hundredth time within the hour. She could not stay still from a combination of the stiff chairs and, more importantly, her worry over Ash's well-being.

_Why are hospitals so inhospitable?_ She thought. It was ironic that the very name of a location could so blatantly contradict what it actually was. She was sitting there, in a cerulean-blue metal chair, waiting to see if her best friend was alive, and throughout the entire ordeal had large, bright white lights beaming down upon her.

"I agree," replied a tired Delia. "Why won't they just let us sit in there while they check on Ash? I mean, it's not like they're operating on him or anything."

"I know," said Misty. She felt so bad for Ash's mom; even more so than she did for Ash, because she couldn't imagine what it must be like to be a mother in this kind of situation. "I'm so sorry Mrs. Ketchum," she whispered.

A little perplexed and surprised by Misty's apology (they hadn't talked to each other almost their entire time in the hospital), Delia gave Misty a weak smile and a hug. "Why are you sorry? You weren't those moron police officers who did this. If anything, they should be the ones having to sit here and apologizing."

"You're right," admitted Misty, "but I still feel sorry for you. I can't imagine how hard this must be right now."

"Well, having someone who cares for Ash almost as much as I do with me _does_ make it a lot easier, believe it or not," kindly replied Mrs. Ketchum. She realized that Misty was a very special girl, both to her and her son.

Blushing a little, Misty thanked Mrs. Ketchum. "Hey, do you want something to eat? I saw a vending machine when we first walked in here."

Sticking her tongue out a little, Delia told Misty, "I better not. My stomach is in knots right now, and I don't think the best treatments are M&M's."

Chuckling slightly, Misty nodded her head understandingly.

"However," continued Delia, "I do think you should grab something to eat. You look skinnier than a pole, and I don't need two kids I care about a great deal in the hospital tonight, or I might have to check myself in."

Flattered by her compliment, and slightly mesmerized by her ability to have even the slightest sense of humor at a time like this, Misty decided to go get a bag of chips. "I'll be right back."

"Alright. Hopefully I won't be here when you get back," replied Delia as Misty walked in the direction of the machine.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_Oh! And another one of Ritchie's Pokémon goes down!' yelled the announcer on the PA system. The battle was beginning to heat up as Ash's Totodile had managed to take down Ritchie's Charmeleon and his Swellow. However, Ash could see that the blue crocodile-like Pokémon was not going to last much longer. Swellow had really hit him hard with a Sky Attack, and he was limping badly._

_Liking his odds against the water-type, Ritchie confidently called Butterfree to the field._

'_C'mon out Happy!' he cried as the purple butterfly-like Pokémon was released from its pokeball. _

_Lowering the flags once again, the referee signaled the start of the next match._

'_Totodile, use Bite!' commanded Ash. He figured his odds of winning with Totodile would improve if he kept Butterfree on the defensive._

'_Butterfree, fly up and use Stun Spore!' yelled Ritchie as he saw Totodile nearing his bug Pokémon. Doing as his master commanded, Butterfree flew just out of Totodiles' jaw's grasp and released a large amount of Stun Spore powder from his wings. _

'_Totodile, jump out of the way!' Ash called out, but he knew it was too late for that. As soon as Totodile inhaled the powder, he stopped moving completely. _This is bad, _Ash thought as he watched his Pokémon and friend struggle to break free from his temporary paralysis._

'_Now Happy, use Psybeam!' _

_Once again following his trainer's wishes, Butterfree formed a multi-colored ball of light between his antennae and shot it at Ash's Pokémon. The powerful beam blew Totodile clear across the battlefield and slammed him into the partisan wall separating the on-looking crowd from the fierce fighting._

'_Totodile is unable to battle. Butterfree is the winner!' announced the referee, once again tilting the green flag at Ritchie's Pokémon._

_Withdrawing his Totodile back into its pokeball, he whispered, 'You did a great job buddy. Thanks.'_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Mrs. Ketchum?" asked a young nurse in pink scrubs.

"That's me," replied Delia, slowly standing up. "What's going on?"

"Well, the doctor wants to talk to you. I'm here to lead you down to your son's room," replied the nurse kindly.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed Delia when she heard the news. It was now six o'clock in the morning and she and Misty had not heard any news about her son in three hours. She had no idea concerning what happened to that nurse that seemed so nice and understanding earlier, but it was apparent to her that she obviously didn't take peoples' feelings into account when she made false promises to update them on the status of their ill children.

_If I see her,_ Delia thought, _I'm going to do more than give her a piece of my mind._

However, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved that she was finally going to see her child, despite the anger that she felt towards the nurse they saw earlier. Getting up, she and Misty began following the nurse down the winding hallways.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_Ooooooooooh! Ash's Donphan couldn't take Butterfree's Mega Drain! He's out of this battle ladies and gentlemen,' the announcer informed the cheering crowd. The battle was in full blaze right now, and Ash couldn't believe that his strategy to take Butterfree out with Donphan's Hyper Beam failed._

This will take care of that bug, _Ash thought as he reached for his next battling partner. _

'_Kingler, I choose you!' yelled Ash as he thrust the ball into the field. As the giant crab-like Pokémon emerged from its captivity, the referee prepared to lower the flags._

'_Let the battle begin!' _

'_Happy, use Sleep Powder!' ordered Ritchie simultaneously with the referee's command. His Pokémon flew swiftly towards Ash's Kingler. _

_Knowing that Ritchie was going to try to immobilize his Kingler before he would attempt an offensive assault, Ash waited until the butterfly Pokémon was within Kingler's claws' long grasp, and then ordered him to "use Guillotine!"_

_In the blink of an eye, if not faster, Kingler reached out towards the oncoming Butterfree, and crushed it within his massive claws._

'_Uh, oh!' the announcer said. 'It looks like Ritchie's Butterfree's in trouble! Can it handle Kingler's bone-crushing power?'_

'_FREE-FREE!' screeched Ritchie's Pokémon as it struggled to escape Kingler's ever-tightening grip. It was obvious that Butterfree had no chance of escaping the water Pokémon's tight grip._

'_I forfeit this match!' announced Ritchie to the referee, who was intently watching the struggle for a possible winner._

_Turning his attention to Ritchie momentarily, he lowered the red flag towards Ash. 'The Green Trainer has forfeited. Kingler is the winner!'_

'_YEAH!' yelled Ash, while pumping his fist in the air in victory. He was glad to see that his strategy had worked._

'_You just got lucky!' teased Ritchie from the other side of the battlefield. 'This is far from over!'_

'_Bring it on!' Ash teased back, while motioning Ritchie to approach him with his hands._

'_You asked for it!' he yelled as he threw out his next Pokémon. With the opening of the pokeball, a large Tentacruel entered the battle arena._

'_CRUUUUUUUUEL!' it roared as it saw its newest opponent. _

_With a bit of apprehension apparent in its tone, Kingler tried its best to sound formidable by loudly shouting 'KINGLER!' and snapping its claws together. _

_Lowering his flags once again, the referee repeated his four-word phrase, and the two water Pokémon began their battle._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Knock-knock," said Ritchie timidly as he opened the door slowly. Ash had been in the hospital for almost two days now, and he hoped that it was safe for him to see his friend again. He had wanted to come the minute Ash had been checked in, but he remembered how angry Misty had been with him after their last "run-in" and he wanted to avoid any awkward situations if he could. However, the curiosity of his friend's health had finally gotten the better of him, so he dressed himself in his nicest khaki slacks, black dress shoes, and polo shirt and went to David Hill Hospital in downtown Pallet.

"Hey Ritchie," said Ash's mother as she saw the newest guest enter her son's hopefully-not-permanent hospital room. She had gotten very little sleep over the past two days and it showed through the dark bags under her eyes. Despite this however, every time she began to drift off she saw Ash and Charizard falling to the ground again, which instantly startled her back into reality.

"Hey Ritchie," repeated Misty a little embarrassedly. Despite all her concern about Ash, she had thought about how she had blown up at him a couple of nights ago, and was now regretting it.

Ritchie nodded at both of them as he approached Ash's bedside. Although he was no longer bleeding, Ritchie could still see many of the scrapes on Ash's arms and head, and he instinctively drew his eyes down to Ash's knee, which he remembered vividly, to find that it had been heavily bandaged. The only good thing he saw on the bed was Pikachu, who was lying on top of his master dozing away peacefully.

_What a loyal little guy, _Ritchie thought as he watched the two sleeping.

Misty hated herself as she watched Ash's counterpart looking at him so sadly. She knew that it was because of her that he was afraid to come visit Ash, and despite her hatred for admitting she ever did anything wrong, she felt that it was only appropriate that she apologize for her behavior.

Standing up from the little metal chair she had been sitting in across from Ash's bed, she nervously walked up to him. "Uh, Ritchie?"

"Yeah?" he asked, taking his gaze off of Ash momentarily.

"Well, I was just wanting to say that I'm sorry. Y'know, about before?" She said this so quickly that she feared he didn't understand and she was going to have to repeat herself, but fortunately she saw a small smile appear on his face after she apologized.

"Hey, it's no problem. Tensions were high, and you and I were both just really worried about Ash. It's nobody's fault." As he said this, he waved his hands as if nothing at all had happened.

"What I'm more concerned about right now," he continued, "is how my buddy is. I've been hearing rumors, but no one has been able to tell me what's really going on with 'im."

Relieved that they were cool again, Misty began to explain the good and bad news about Ash. "Well, it's been a mixed bag of news, really," she began. "To start with, his pulse is normal, and so is his heart rate, so he's very much alive. Also, amazingly, he didn't actually break any bones. Apparently Charizard protected him somewhat when they hit the ground."

Ritchie nodded his head as he awaited the bad news to come forth from Misty's lips.

"However," she said, "he's in a comatose state right now, and frankly the doctors are worried. They say that if he doesn't wake up soon, that there may very well be permanent damage to his brain. He might not be able to walk, or talk, or do anything again really."

Shocked at this news, although not overly-so, Ritchie asked her another question. "But no matter what, he'll wake up, right?"

Feeling her eyes begin to well up with tears for about the hundredth time over the past forty-eight hours, Misty shook her head.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_Wow! What a match!' declared the battle commentator. The Tentacruel-Kingler battle had been long and strenuous, but unfortunately for Ash, Kingler had been outmatched by Tentacruel. _

'_It's okay,' Ash said to the pokeball containing the crab Pokémon. 'You weakened him and now you deserve a rest.' Putting Kingler's ball back in its rightful place by his side, Ash reached for his last pokeball. _

'_Sceptile, you're up!' he yelled as he threw it onto the battlefield. _

_The green lizard-like Pokémon appeared on the field opposite the large Tentacruel, but unlike Kingler, he was undaunted by the water/poison Pokémon's size and apparent strength. He appeared confident in his ability to take it down._

_After the referee started the match, Ash quickly took control of the battle by using Leaf Blade attack. The Tentacruel, although strong, found itself unable to move quickly enough on land to avoid Ash's Pokémon's attack. Sceptile's leaves on its forearms grew a green glow and as it charged at the massive water Pokémon, it left a streak of light behind it. It then flipped in the air and struck the Tentacruel on the zenith of its skull, resulting in major damage. _

_However, to Ash's amzazement, the squid Pokémon was still standing after taking the damage, and Ritchie ordered his attack. 'Azul, use Poison Sting!' Instantly, hundreds of shiny needles were shot at Sceptile, but the agile Pokémon (although hit by a few) was able to easily avoid most of them by using his Agility attack._

_After the storm of Poison Sting needles ceased, Ash ordered Sceptile to 'use Pound!' Jumping high into the air, Sceptile raced down towards the Tentacruel and hit it directly between the two large red orbs that were on top of its head, which Ash knew was its weak point._

'_CRUUUUUUUUEL!' it shrieked as it wavered back and forth, dizzy from the attack._

'_It's okay!' yelled Ritchie from the sidelines. 'Use Hydro Pump!'_

_Trying to reorient itself, the Tentacruel took aim at the Sceptile as best it could, and then shot a large stream of water. However, Ash was ready for this. 'Sceptile, jump in the air and gather energy!'_

_Jumping out of harm's way a split-second before the onslaught of water came rushing at him, Sceptile's leaves covering his arms and tail began to glow brightly. As Tentacruel ended his attack, Sceptile began his. 'Use Solarbeam, Sceptile!' Ash ordered._

_The grass Pokémon opened his mouth and released a huge amount of solar energy, all the while remaining in the air by using the large leaves surrounding his arms as wings of some sort. The Tentacruel was unable to move quickly enough, and all it and Ritchie could do was watch as he was suddenly surrounded by the bright light._

_As Sceptile returned to the ground, Tentacruel fell over on its side, and the referee declared Ash the winner of the match. _

'_Good job Azul!' cried Ritchie as he withdrew the exhausted squid Pokémon. Ash could see that he was a little nervous by the look on his face, but at the same time Ash felt the same way. He couldn't rid himself of this feeling that this battle was going to decide much more than who was a better trainer._

'_Cruise, come out!' yelled Ritchie as he sent out his Tyranitar. The large, green, dinosaur-type Pokémon let out a mighty roar as it approached the center of the battlefield, and although Ash knew he had the type advantage over this ground-type Pokémon, the apparent sheer strength it possessed made him feel a little doubtful of his Sceptile's chances._

'_Let the battle begin!' the referee announced, beginning yet another match._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

In the real world, Delia and Misty had now continued their routine of going to the Ketchum residence at about eleven each night, not getting any sleep, returning to the hospital at six in the morning, and explaining again and again Ash's condition to the hundreds of friends Ash had made over the years, for the past five days. Neither let their mind wander far from the apparently very much loved trainer.

Brock, for his part, was also very worried about Ash, but someone had to keep the house clean, and cook meals to bring to the girls at the hospital daily, so he decided to carry out this burden himself. Also, although he would never say it out loud, he felt that the girls still held him partially responsible for the accident, and he felt awkward being around them for too long.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As they sat in the hospital room once again for the fifth day, Misty heard Delia sigh loudly as she sat on a chair next to Ash's bed.

"What is it Mrs. Ketchum?" inquired Misty, slightly from boredom.

"I was just thinking how ironic all of this is," Delia replied. "I mean, just seventeen years ago, I gave birth to a little miracle right here in this hospital, and now I'm sitting here next to him hoping he'll live."

Feeling that there really wasn't a way to respond to a dark and depressing statement like that, Misty simply nodded her head in agreement. She was doing the best she could to console Delia, but the truth was that both of them needed a shoulder to cry on at the moment, but neither was strong enough to bare that responsibility. _Please wake up, Ash,_ she mentally begged once again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_Sceptile, use Bullet Seed!' commanded Ash to his tired Pokémon._

_Opening his mouth, Sceptile shot out several seeds at the charging Tyranitar, but they did little, but temporarily slow him down._

_Ritchie had ordered his Pokémon to use Thrash, and for the past few minutes it had been charging around the stadium in a frenzy of anger and hostility. _

'_Sceptile, jump out of the way!' Ash ordered as Tyranitar got within striking distance yet again. _For such a large Pokémon, _Ash observed, _it sure is fast! _The Tyranitar had already gotten away with many big blows to Ash's Sceptile, while at the same time the grass Pokémon had gotten in massive damage against the large Pokémon itself. Both were tired, and Ash estimated that the battle would be over soon, though he wasn't sure who was going to be the last one standing. _

_As the Tyranitar turned around for another assault after Sceptile had dodged its last charge, it began to slow down to a halt. _

'_What's this?' asked the commentator. 'It seems that Tyranitar has stopped its Thrash attack, but why?'_

_Ash already knew the reason. His past battles had taught him that Thrash, although very powerful, was also harmful to the Pokémon using it. When a Pokémon used the attack, they were unleashing a great deal of inner-anger and aggression, which led to them eventually becoming confused. _

'_Cruise!' called out Ritchie. 'Listen to me! Use Hyper Beam to finish of Sceptile!'_

_However, Ash saw the Tyranitar's pupils dilate as it lost its ability to comprehend its master, and instead of finishing off his Pokémon, it instead used Mega Punch on itself._

Perfect, _Ash thought. _

'_Sceptile, use Pound to send Tyranitar flying!' Ash ordered. His Pokémon obediently turned around and used its tail to hit Tyranitar hard in the stomach, lifting him off the ground and throwing him several feet back. _

'_Now, use Solarbeam to finish him off!' Ash commanded. _

_As Sceptile charged his body (which was taking a little longer than before due to all the damage he had received during the battle), Ritchie began calling out to his Pokémon._

'_Listen Cruise!' he cried out, desperately trying to snap his Pokémon out of its confusion. 'You gotta listen to me! Just close your eyes for a moment and focus your energy! I need you to close your eyes!' _

_Ash worriedly looked over at the dinosaur-like Pokémon, and to his amazement, and disappointment, he saw that Tyranitar was listening to its master. _

'_Sceptile,' yelled Ash, 'you gotta hurry up with that Solarbeam!'_

_However, despite his pleas, Sceptile was too weak to hurry up the process of gathering up his energy for one final grass type attack. He knew that if he didn't hurry, then his opponent was going to snap out of his confusion, but there was nothing he could do other than wait right now._

'_Now Cruise, open your eyes!' demanded Ritchie. _

_Opening his eyes, Tyranitar seemed to have calmed down, and to Ash's fear, his pupils seemed to have returned to their normal size. _

'_Great job, man!' cried out Ritchie excitedly. 'Now use Hyper Beam!'_

_As the large Pokémon charged a large orb of light in its mouth, Ritchie looked over to see that, unfortunately, it appeared that Sceptile was done charging his attack._

'_Now Sceptile, use Solarbeam!' hollered Ash as he saw Tyranitar preparing to attack._

'_Hyper Beam now Cruise!' Ritchie responded as loudly as he could._

_Both Pokémon shot out their attacks with a force Ash hardly ever saw. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to knock him off his feet, and for the next several seconds, he couldn't even see through the large mass of smoke that resulted from the two gigantic attacks._

'_WOW!' screamed the announcer into the microphone. 'I have never seen such power. However, the question on both trainers' minds right now has to be whose Pokémon are still standing?'_

_As the smoke cleared, an audible gasp could be heard throughout the stadium, and from both trainers. Both Sceptile and Tyranitar were lying on the ground, unmoving. _

_Waiting a few seconds to see if either Pokémon would rise back up, the referee finally broke the deafening silence in the stadium by making his judgment. 'Both Sceptile and Tyranitar are unable to battle! The match is a draw!' With that declaration, the stadium erupted in a roar of hooting and hollering for both sides. After all this, both trainers had only one Pokémon left._

'_Well Ash,' said Ritchie, 'it looks like this will decide the whole thing.'_

'_I guess so,' replied Ash. He still wasn't sure what this battle would decide, but he knew that he had to win it._

'_Wait a minute,' Ash said to himself. 'Who's my last Pokémon?' As he asked this, he realized that he had no more pokeballs at his side._

'_Pika, pika,' came a little voice from below in response to his question._

_Looking down to find Pikachu waiting at his feet, Ash felt both concerned and relieved. _Why hadn't I seen him there before?

_Whatever the reason, Ash decided now was not the time to psycho-analyze his forgetfulness, and instead ordered Pikachu out onto the battlefield._

'_Ash has chosen his starter Pokémon, Pikachu!' came the announcer's voice over the intercom. 'This may be the last battle he has, so I hope he made the right choice.'_

'_Huh?' said Ash, puzzled, as he heard the commentator. It was odd enough that the man knew Pikachu was his starter Pokémon without him telling, but even odder than that, he thought, was his last statement. _

Why would this be my last battle? _he once again asked himself mentally. _The stress from this battle must be getting to me. I'm hearing things now.

'_So Ash, you ready for the biggest battle of your life?' asked Ritchie from across the field. 'For your sake, I hope you are. Go Sparky!'_

_As he threw his pokeball into the field, his own Pikachu, who looked almost identical to Ash's except for the fact that its fur was slightly ruffled, jumped out of the pokeball._

'_What are you talking about?' Ash asked, suddenly feeling uneasy as he heard Ritchie's last comment. He knew he wasn't just hearing things. He needed to know what this battle was for._

'_Don't worry about it,' replied Ritchie in the same friendly tone he had used throughout the battle. 'Just don't lose and you'll be fine.'_

This is weird_. _

'_Let the battle begin!' the referee shouted as he lowered the flags for the final match. _

* * *

Author's Notes: In case any of y'all are wondering; yeah, Ash is in a coma and the italicized parts are him dreaming a battle against Ritchie. The reason he's battling Ritchie is because Ritchie mentions that he tried talking to Ash when he found him in the forest, attempting to wake him up. Therefore, Ritchie's voice was the first one Ash heard after he became comatose, and that's why he's battling him in the dream. I tried to make it pretty self-explanatory in the chapter, but when I read this after I had finished it, I realized it was really quite confusing.

Anyway, like I say, if you liked it or hated it, or have some ways to improve it, let me know.

Also, I wanna give my recommendations for this week:

"The Refuge" by SecretAgent99 - I want to thank those of y'all who have read this story all ready, and I ask that everyone who gets a chance take a look at it (it is very well-written) and leave a comment or two to encourage SA99 to continue working on it. I like it a lot, and I'm sure if y'all give it a chance, you'll be hooked too.

"Friendship, Love and Rivalry" by PrincesSTiger - Once again want to recommend this one too. It's a pokeshipping fic that I've yet to finish reading, but I promise to do so in the near future, after my fingers heal from all the typing. Anyway, it's really good and I personally can't wait to see how it ends.

"Accidentally in Love" by licoricejellybean - This is another one-shot by this author (I recommended a different one of her stories last week), however, even though they say its a one-shot, I think it has possibilities for a sequel if they wanted to write one. It's also a pokeshipping fic, and it's well-written with good detail (just how I like my fics to be written). Please read and review it when you get a chance.

REVIEW PLEASE!


	8. The Confrontation

**Hey Everybody!** Boy, I am glad to have this chapter done! I mean, it's a very good chapter, but I'm excited because I'm getting closer to the fun part (at least in my opinion) of the story! As for this installment, I can't say much about it because I would end up giving everything away, but I will say that it should satisfy at least some of you (though probably not all). I also wanted to say that this week I travel to Mississippi for about five days to visit my family there. I have to say that while I love them and everything, they annoy me slightly; and one of the biggest things that annoys me about them is that they don't have wi-fi. Therefore, unfortunately I will be unable to update this story next Sunday. I hope y'all understand, and I want to say that I will have chapter nine out by July 19, if not earlier. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter. It wasn't nearly as hard to write as some of the others have been, but it was still difficult. If you like it, please tell me in a review, and if you don't, then still tell me. We blew past fifty reviews for the last chapter, and I am hoping we can get to seventy-five (if not higher) with this one.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

Ritchie: 18

* * *

'_Pikachu, use Quick Attack!' ordered Ash as the referee lowered the flags, signaling the beginning of the final battle. Adhering to the command, Pikachu began sprinting towards Sparky, leaving behind a streak of light._

_Realizing the need for a rapid response, Ritchie formulated a plan. 'Sparky, Discharge!'_

_Sparky instantly surrounded himself with an electrical charge, and as Pikachu drew near (he was going too fast to stop now), Sparky unleashed the voltage, sending Pikachu flying backwards. As Pikachu rolled across the battlefield, unable to get back on his feet, Ritchie began his assault._

'_Great! Now use Double Team!' After the request was given, Sparky suddenly seemed to multiply on the field, running so fast that it appeared that there were twenty of him surrounding Ash's Pokémon. As Pikachu got back to his feet and saw the twenty or so look-alikes covering him, he awaited, with bated breath, his master's orders._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Um, Mrs. Ketchum?" asked a nurse as she entered the hospital room. Ash was now into day seven of his comatose state, but both Misty and Delia had yet to give up even the slightest amount of hope that their loved one would awaken soon.

"Yes," answered Mrs. Ketchum. She began to feel worried as she saw a look of confusion on the nurse's face. With growing concern in her voice, she asked, "What's the problem?"

Opening her eyes widely, the nurse put a hand to her mouth, apparently embarrassed. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that. It's just that Officer Jenny is in the hallway and is requesting permission to see you."

Feeling anger beginning to swell inside her, Misty took over as Mrs. Ketchum donned a look of confusion not too different to the one the nurse had had only moments earlier. "What do you mean, she wants to see us?" inquired Misty, obviously terrifying the nurse by asking her in such a low, growling voice.

"Uh, I-I don't know exactly, but she says that it's urgent," said the nurse. "Apparently she sent you an e-mail a week ago that was never responded to." As she had said "you" she pointed at Delia.

"Well, you can just go tell _Officer_ Jenny that if she takes one step in this room I'll personally rip out -"

"Bring her in," interrupted Delia in a quiet, whisper-like, voice.

"What?" asked Misty. Now it was her turn to feel confused._ Why would Mrs. Ketchum want to see the woman who started this whole mess?_

"Trust me Misty," said Delia, turning her gaze away from the nurse and looking at her son on the bed. "It's best she see what she did."

Understanding instantly what Mrs. Ketchum meant, Misty silently nodded in agreement, and leaned back into her seat after having almost jumped out of it when she had heard of their newest visitor.

Walking out of the room and into the hallway, Delia heard the nurse talk to the officer. "You can go in now, but I caution you to be careful. These women have been through a great ordeal over the past week because of you, and I've seen many relatives in almost this same situation go berserk at the slightest annoyance, let alone the person who caused their grief in the first place."

Frankly, Delia wasn't surprised by the nurse's knowledge of the case. Ever since that morning when Ash had arrived in the hospital, reporters had been swarming the outside of the hospital (they were never allowed to enter) and the Ketchum residence. Although neither of the women had spoken to the reporters for obvious reasons, Delia had been telling Brock every morning what he could say to the reporters when they came to the house. She allowed him to update them on Ash's status, and she told Brock to only give the basic outline of what had happened that night.

However, the media was pretty smart and they had been able to piece together a lot of what Brock had told them to figure out the whole story. Of course, they also got a lot of help from those who had been at the party at the time of the incident. Even though Delia had personally called the hundreds of guests and asked that they not discuss what had happened, she knew that the story was ultimately going to prove impossible to contain. Now, every night she would find on the news (both local and international) "The Ketchum Update" or "Champion Status". Her son had already been very well known by the masses because of his placing in the four regional leagues, but because he had not even two weeks earlier been crowned the Sinnoh Champion before the incident, he was gathering attention from around the world. While it was nice to know that her son was cared for by so many people, Delia secretly wished they would stop making such a big deal out of it. She really just wanted peace around her so she could focus on the most important thing; her son's well-being.

Despite all of this though, she had come to enjoy one aspect of the media attention. Ever since it was leaked that the Pallet Town Police was responsible for Ash's condition, every night on the news the small force received a thorough tongue-lashing for their rash behavior. Delia had seen Jenny on the air at least three dozen times now trying to explain why she ordered an attack on the latest Sinnoh regional champion when he was trying to retrieve his Pokémon from a bandit. Each time she was questioned, she always seemed flustered and upset, and every time said she "deeply regretted" what had happened in the air.

_I bet you regret what happened, _thought Delia bitterly._ If you hadn't been caught being an idiot you wouldn't care, but now you have to._

The sound of someone clearing their throat behind the angered woman snapped her out of her thoughts. She turned around in her seat to find Officer Jenny standing there, staring at her shoes.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_Pikachu!' cried Ash as he tried to navigate his loyal Pokémon away from the dozens of Ritchie's Sparkys surrounding him. 'Jump in the air and use Thunder on all the Pikachu!'_

_Pikachu quickly responded to the command by using his tail to jump high in the air. However, as he prepared to unleash one of his most lethal attacks from the electric pouches on his cheeks, he suddenly felt as if he couldn't move. _

'_Great job Sparky!' yelled Ritchie from his side of the field. 'Keep weakening 'im with Thunder Wave!' The several Sparkys that were circling Ash's buddy were unleashing a blue electric bolt from their bodies, completely paralyzing Pikachu._

'_Pikachu!' Ash screamed as he realized that he was trapped. _

How can I stop the attack? _he pondered. Thinking about Pikachu's known moves, he suddenly thought of one that could get his pal out of this fix. _

'_Pikachu, use Light Screen!' ordered Ash. He knew that Thunder Wave was trapping his Pokémon for the moment, but he also knew that the amount of energy Sparky was using to do both Double Team and Thunder Wave was going to wear him out within a few seconds. _

_Sure enough, moments later Sparky could be heard panting hard. 'Pi-pi-pi,' it wheezed as it began to slow. Within a minute, the several Pikachu who were simultaneously attacking Ash's Pokémon had been reduced to one, and Pikachu found his opening. _

_Sparky's Thunder Wave no longer had the strength to contain Pikachu, so the small mouse Pokémon was able to unleash what appeared to be a shield of electricity in front of his body, completely blocking Sparky's attack from being effective._

'_Alright Pikachu!' yelled Ash happily. 'Now, use Iron Tail!'_

_Running towards Sparky, Pikachu's tail began to glow a bright light. When he was less than three feet in front of his opponent, Pikachu suddenly pivoted on his right foot, swinging the large, metallic tail at Sparky, who the entire time had been catching his breath and was unable to move out of the way._

'_CHUUUUU!' screeched Sparky as he was flown across the battlefield. _

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Now we've got the upper-hand, _thought Ash, smirking._

"Mrs. Ketchum," began Officer Jenny after a few awkward moments of silence. She had grabbed an extra chair, and was now sitting directly across from Delia. "I am sorry about your son."

For a second, Delia simply stared at the officer, seemingly unaware of what to say at a time like this. However, her apparent indifference to the statement suddenly vanished from her face as her eyes grew wide with anger, and she pointed an accusative finger at the policewoman.

"_Sorry_?" she asked, almost in disbelief. Raising her voice she continued, "Here my son is in the hospital, and you come here a week after you put him here to say _sorry_?"

_Crap_, thought the officer. She had never been good at apologies (she didn't usually have to give them), and although she was genuine in her regret, she realized the second her apology slipped from her lips that she had made the wrong choice of words.

"Listen," Jenny said, raising her hands up trying to calm down the now irate mother in front of her. "I-"

"No!" interrupted Delia. "You listen to me!" Her voice was suddenly quieter, but somehow it did not lack any of the menace it contained from when she was screaming.

"I listened to the entire ordeal from when you and your force were in the air with my son," she explained, "and you _disgust _me."

All Kanto police officers were required to wear a recording device while on duty in order to prove in court whether or not they had abused their power in any way. Using the tape recording from that night, Delia had learned exactly what had happened, as had the world. Someone had snuck a copy of the tape out of the police station (tapes were never meant to be heard in public unless they were needed in trial) and had given it to the Kanto News and Service Report, which was one of the largest news stations in the region. Now everyone in the world had heard at least part of Jenny's and Ash's conversation from a week earlier, and it had only worsened the case for the police station (which was fighting allegations that they were secretly working for the person who had stolen the Pokémon).

"I mean, I understand that you didn't know who the criminal was, although you should have been smart enough to recognize Ash from the thousands of pictures of him on all those magazines and television reports," continued Delia. "However, what bothers me is that you didn't even listen to him! He was telling you that he would comply with you, but that wasn't enough! You had to bully him, and harass him until he had no choice. He loves his Pokémon so much, and that night you made him choose between obeying the law and the well-being of his Pokémon."

After Delia finished her speech, she just leaned back into the hospital chair and folded her arms, staring angrily at the woman before her.

The room remained quiet for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a minute or two. Misty just sat in the corner (having moved the chair further away from the feuding women), and watched on as Delia showed more emotion than she had in days.

Breaking the silence, Jenny quietly responded. "I'm so sorry." As she said this, a tear could be seen rolling down her right cheek.

Although she was surprised to find Jenny (whom she did not really believe was repentant for her actions) crying, Delia did not really feel much sympathy. _Why are you crying? _she asked the officer in her head._ I'm the one in pain here, not you._

"I just couldn't see who I was talking to," Jenny went on to explain, all the while letting her tears begin to flow freely. "It was dark, and I had never been put in that situation before. When I saw him there, riding that Charizard, I just assumed he was lying and was part of Team Magma."

"But he wasn't," reminded Delia. She was not about to forgive this woman for what had happened.

"No he wasn't. All this week I've taken a beating from everybody; the town, the news, and even my co-workers at the station. As we speak, the courts are looking at this case wondering if they should pull me off the force for reckless behavior, and you know what?" asked Jenny, looking up from her lap and directly into the eyes of Delia.

"What?"

"I hope they do. This was my first big test as the head of police, since I was just appointed Chief a few weeks ago, and I failed miserably. I let you down, I let Pallet down, and most importantly," she paused for a second to wipe away some of the tears and take a quick breath. "And most importantly I let Ash down. I've listened to that tape a hundred times now, and every time I ask myself 'why didn't I listen?', and I can never answer. I guess my ego was too big to heed your son's words, and now I hope I pay the ultimate price for my foolishness."

"You certainly deserve it," replied Delia coldly as she stared back at Jenny with cool, unwavering eyes. She did not feel remorse for having been hard on the policewoman. Until her son woke up, if he ever did, she could not imagine herself feeling even the slightest compassion for the young lady's problems. The only thing she regretted right now was that she was not the one to file for Jenny's dismissal from the force.

Understanding that the hurt mother was not going to forgive her, and knowing she could do or say nothing else, Jenny began to get up and walk towards the door. However, when she reached for the handle, she suddenly remembered one of the reasons she had come in the first place.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" As she said this, Delia and Misty quickly turned their heads toward the woman wondering what in the world she wanted to say so badly that it made her decide to remain in this awkward situation any longer.

Reaching into a purse she had brought with her, she scooped out four pokeballs. "I found these."

Her eyes widening in surprise, Delia quickly got up from her seat and went to collect the small red and white balls. "How did you get these?" she asked, temporarily replacing her rage at the officer with curiosity.

"Well, I've felt so terrible this past week that I've committed all the free time I've had to searching for the whereabouts of the Pokémon. I was just lucky. I knew that the thief had been riding a Fearow, which is commonly used by Team Rocket for any aerial missions they need done, so I used one of our undercover agents to find out if any of the local Rocket hideouts had received new Pokémon, and sure enough the one in South Pallet had received four the very night of the, er, incident." explained Officer Jenny, feeling slightly proud of herself. "The Pokémon in the balls are Ivysaur, Buizel, Glalie, and Heracross. Those are the ones that he was missing, correct?"

"Y-Yes," replied Delia. She did not feel sorry for what she had said earlier, but she self-admittedly felt a little better knowing that Jenny had dedicated so much time towards finding her son's Championship-winning Pokémon.

Remembering something important, Delia asked another question, hoping she would get a good answer. "Does this mean you found Mallory?"

"No," Jenny replied, bowing her head. "Our agent was able to find the Pokémon at the hideout, but she was nowhere to be seen in the surrounding area. We presume that with all the attention she had garnered that night, she probably just completed her mission and flew away as fast as she could before we realized that we had made a mistake."

Feeling her spirits drop again, Delia murmured a "thanks" and closed the door on the officer. She then carefully placed the pokeballs on the little nightstand next to Ash's bedside.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_As Sparky got back on his feet after receiving huge damage from Pikachu's Iron Tail, Ritchie formulated another strategy. 'Spark, use Dig!'_

Dig again? _thought Ash, as he remembered Ritchie's Charmeleon using the same move earlier. _He must have taught them with a TM or something.

_As Sparky went underground, Pikachu grew nervous on the field while waiting for his opponent to appear. Ash knew that if Sparky was able to get a good hit at Pikachu, then Dig would be very effective and his Pokémon might not have enough health to continue the battle. _

_Looking at Pikachu's feet, Ash noticed the ground beginning to tremble slightly. 'Pikachu, stand on your tail and use Iron Tail!' ordered Ash, knowing that Sparky would emerge soon._

_Pikachu immediately obeyed, and a split-second later, Sparky broke through the ground. However, when he came up, he hit his head with a loud "THUD" against Pikachu's iron tail. _

'_CHAAAA!' it cried as it fell back into the hole it had dug. _

_Not wanting him to have time to recover, Ash quickly ordered Pikachu to follow Sparky into the hole. _

_Pikachu quickly dove into the dark opening, and for a few moments no sound could be heard at all. Then, electricity began raging out from under the ground, completely destroying the battlefield and causing Ash to be temporarily blinded by all the light. _

_A minute later all the noise from the intense blast ceased and Ash looked up to find a large, smoldering crater in the middle of the field._

'_Pikachu!' he cried, as he neither saw nor heard anything from his old friend. However, his fears subsided as he saw the little yellow mouse poke its head out of the crater while struggling to get out. _

'_Sparky!' cried Ritchie, appearing more distressed after he saw that Ash's Pokémon was still conscious. However, like Pikachu, Sparky soon jumped out of the crater, though both were badly bruised and beaten. _

'_Pikachu, do you think you have one more attack in ya?' questioned Ash to his tired Pokémon. He could see that both of the electric Pokémon were hurt, but he believed that Pikachu had more energy left than Sparky_

'_Pi!' replied Pikachu, curling his small fists. He looked determined._

_On the other side of the field, Ritchie had, unknowingly, planned the same strategy as Ash. 'You can do this, right Sparks?' he asked his panting Pikachu._

'_Pi-pi!' replied the small Pokémon, mimicking his opponent's movements. _

'_Volt Tackle, now!' cried both trainers simultaneously. _

_As the attacks were given, both Pokémon began to run at each other in a head-on collision. Growing nearer to each other, their small bodies became engulfed in electrical barriers as they prepared for their final assault. Despite the crater in the middle of the battlefield, both of the electric-types simply continued running towards each other. When they reached the hole's edge, they jumped towards each other using the large amount of momentum they had gained while running._

_As their two heads collided in mid-air, a loud "CRACK" could be heard throughout the stadium. The electricity that they had stored was released upon contact, and for the second time in that match, Ash had to look away because the resulting light emanating from the two was too bright to be looked at directly._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Delia had gone to get a drink of water, leaving Misty alone in the room. The water trainer noticed the remote on the windowsill, so she grabbed it and turned on the television. As Misty flipped through the channels on the small television screen that evening, she wondered what Ash was going to do if he woke up.

_Is he gonna still want to go on his journey with me? _she worriedly asked herself. _What if he doesn't feel up to that challenge, or if he doesn't want me to come with him after all this?_

She didn't really know why she was worrying about that. Ash had always seemed to like Misty's company a lot, and he had never denied her permission to go with him on an adventure before, but with him on that bed all week she had begun to grow pessimistic.

_If we do go, I wonder if he'll still want Brock to go with us. _She remembered the previous night when he had mentioned that the trio should reunite to go on their final journey together. She had intended to tell him immediately that she really wanted their last journey to just be him and her, although she couldn't explain why. However, she was cut off mid-sentence as Mallory and her Fearow broke through Ash's window and flew away, causing her and Ash to completely forget their conversation. Ever since then though, that conversation was all she could think about.

_I guess I just want it to be us because it's been such a long time since I travelled with him that I want some time for just us to hang out together, _she rationalized in her mind. _That's what I'll tell him when he wakes up. That is, _if_ he wakes up and _if _he still wants to go with me._

As she turned off the television (almost every channel was talking about Ash), she looked at her friend and wondered if that really was the reason she wanted them to go alone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_As Ash looked up at the battlefield, all he could see was smoke. Coughing, he wondered who had won the battle._

_As he continued to look in the hazy distance for Pikachu he thought something seemed strange. He noticed that he no longer heard the audience cheering in the background, nor did he hear the commentator speculating about the victor. _

As a matter of fact, _he thought, _I don't hear anything at all.

_As the smoke began to thin he looked around, and to his amazement found that the stadium no longer existed. Beyond the battlefield, everything was pitch-black. Looking across the field, he also noticed that Ritchie was no longer there. _

What happened to everybody? _he silently asked. _Did I win?

'_Pika-pi,' cried Pikachu from within the crater, which he must have fallen into after attacking Sparky._

'_Pikachu? Are you okay?' Ash inquired. He wanted to go see his buddy, but was afraid of being disqualified for stepping onto the battlefield. He thought it seemed ridiculous to care about the battle at this point, with both the referee and the opponent gone, but he couldn't shake the feeling growing inside him by the second that he absolutely had to win this battle._

'_Pi-pi!' yelled the little electric mouse, as he sprang out of the crater. He ran into Ash's opening arms and nestled his head into his trainer's chest._

'_Pikachu, what's goin' on?' Ash asked as he held his Pokémon and watched the battlefield fade from his sight. Now only he and Pikachu remained, and as he stood there, he mused that perhaps the light from the explosion had hurt his eyes. He was shaken from his train of thought however, as he suddenly saw the referee emerge from the darkness with a single sheet of paper in his hand. _

_The referee walked slowly towards the presumed winner and his Pokémon, and when he stood less than six inches in front of Ash, he handed him the paper. He then, without saying a word, turned around and walked back into the darkness._

'_Hey!' yelled Ash at the retreating figure. 'What's goin' on? Where is everybody?' _

_However, the referee simply continued walking until he was out of sight. Not understanding what was going on, Ash remembered the paper in his hand. _

_He turned it over to read what it said, and was confused as he read the short six word message. It stated:_

Congratulations! Good luck on your journey.

'_What?' asked Ash aloud as lifted his head from the letter. Thinking he must have missed something he reread the paper, but realized there was nothing else written on it._

'_What do you think that meant Pikachu?' Ash asked his friend. However as he asked the question, he noticed that he could no longer hear himself. He looked down at the yellow Pokémon in his arms, and saw that both of them were beginning to fade. As he screamed for help, he once again heard no sound emit from his mouth._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ungh," groaned Ash, as his body suddenly came back to life on the hospital bed.

"Huh?" said Misty as she and Delia snapped their attention away from the comedy show they had been watching. They both distinctly heard Ash make a moaning sound.

"Is he waking up???!!!" asked Delia. She was already sitting next to her son, but when he made the noise, she immediately stood up and examined him closer.

"I don't know, but I swear I heard something!" replied Misty excitedly as she watched Ash.

"I'm gonna get the nurse!" shouted Delia as she ran out of the room. She needed to know if there was something they could do to help Ash wake up.

As she left, Misty took a closer look at Ash. "C'mon Ash, wake up!" she yelled. A minute passed and she didn't hear him say anything else. Afraid that maybe what had just happened was a fluke or her imagination, she began to grow nervous.

"Please Ash!" she pleaded. "Wake up!"

Unfortunately, Ash continued to just lie there, and Misty felt her eyes beginning to water at the realization that he wasn't going to move. Leaning closer to Ash, their faces just inches apart, Misty begged her friend one last time, already knowing it wouldn't work.

"Please wake up," she whispered as tears began to cascade down from her cheeks onto Ash's.

At that moment, Ash opened his eyes, and a small smile crept upon his face as he saw Misty staring back at him; a completely shocked expression plastered on her face.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, there you have it! Ash is finally with Misty again and out of the coma. I personally am vey happy about this because writing dual scenes for a story is a lot harder than I first assumed it would be. However, I think I pulled it off rather nicely. If you agree with me then, REVIEW PLEASE, and if not, then still REVIEW PLEASE.

Unfortunately, I am being pressed for time so I cannot give any new recommendations for this week, but I will continue to say that anyone who has time needs to read "The Refuge" by SecretAgent99, "Reunited, Happily and Painfully" by MoltresFeather, and all of Pokeshipper101's fics (they're all one-shots, even though I think PS101 would make a great chapter author if they wanted to be one).

I also wanted to say quickly that I apologize to anyone who has reviewed my story and has not received a "thank you" message from me in return. I like to keep up with everyone who takes the time to review my story, but I was lazy this week (my first real week of vacation) and only wrote a few people. I promise to keep up with those who critique my fic better in the future than I have this past week. Please continue to review my story, and do not think that I don't appreciate it (I really, really do).


	9. Out of the Hospital

**Hello everybody!** Well, I'm back finally! I'm glad to have a new chapter up for y'all, but there is some bad news. Unfortunately, I don't think y'all will like this installment as much as you liked the previous ones. It's ironic because I had been so happy to be done with the dual scenes changing between Ash's coma dream and the real world because it had been so hard to write, but now I'm not as impressed with this "easier to write" chapter. Of course, you must bare in mind that the main purpose of this chapter is to connect Ash getting out of the hospital to him getting on the road again. Therefore, if this chapter seems a little rushed, that's because it is. I did not want to dwell on his time in the hospital any longer than I had to, and I am really really really wanting to get to the fun stuff (which should start next chapter, actually). I want to thank all my reviewers from the past couple of weeks, and I ask that as with last chapter, you REVIEW this chapter too, PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Mi-Misty?" Ash stuttered as he rubbed his eyes. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck.

"You're awake!" Misty exclaimed happily. She reached down and brought Ash into a close embrace. However, she soon realized that he wasn't reciprocating her hug.

Allowing his head to rest once again against the pillow, she looked at him concernedly. "What's the problem Ash?"

"What's the problem?" Ash asked, appearing confounded by the question. "Where am I? Why do I have tubes in my arms? Why don't I have pants on? The fact I can't answer these questions is the problem."

"You don't remember?" Misty asked.

"Remember what?" Ash inquired, intrigued by Misty's sincere look of compassion.

"You're fight with that Fearow," replied Misty, growing worried.

_Did he get amnesia or something? _she asked herself.

However, when she mentioned Fearow, Ash felt the memory hit him like a train. Suddenly the events of that night flashed through his mind; his hat blowing off, Fearow's Mirror Move, the police…the fall.

"Do you mean I passed out after Charizard and I crashed?" he asked hesitantly.

"You more than passed out!" exclaimed the young woman. "You've been in a coma for about a week now! You had me - I mean us - scared sick!"

"You're crazy!" Ash remarked. He couldn't believe that he had been out for a week. "It feels like it just happened moments ago. There's no way that was a week ago."

"Ash," Misty said sympathetically, while reaching for his hand. "You were out, but it's okay. You're awake now, and me and your mom are – Wait a minute!"

Ash jumped back in the bed a little as Misty shifted her voice from one of sympathy and kindness to shock.

"Your mom doesn't know you're awake!" Misty explained with wide eyes. "She went to go get a nurse. I'm gonna grab her real quick."

Before Ash could reply, Misty was already out of the room.

"I was out for a week?" Ash asked himself once Misty had left his bedside. It was too much. Just moments ago he was flying on Charizard, and now he was being told that he had been in a coma.

"Pi, pika!" exclaimed a little voice at the foot of Ash's bed.

Looking down, surprised, Ash saw his little companion staring at him with joy apparent in his face.

"Pikachu!" cried Ash. "Come 'ere buddy!"

At his command, the little yellow mouse bounced on top of his trainer and into his open arms. He gave a small sigh as the young man scratched him behind his right ear (only his master understood that was his favorite place to get scratched).

"So Pikachu, was I really out that long?" Ash asked as he looked down at the electric mouse.

"Pika pi, pi," replied Pikachu in his gravest tone.

"I see," replied Ketchum. He had never been able to "speak" with Pikachu and completely comprehend the little Pokémon's exact words, but he had grown a strong relationship with the electric mouse, and was able to decipher his statements' general meanings.

"Ash!" cried his mother, as she saw her son. Before he could even look up at her she had flown across the small room and was holding him in a tight hug. Unlike with Misty however, he gripped his mom with all his strength. He felt the realization of what happened don on him, and elation to be with the living once more raced through his body. "I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so glad you're okay…" his mom whispered repeatedly in his ear as she began to sob.

"I am too, Ma," he replied.

"Mr. Ketchum?" asked a tall doctor wearing a white lab coat and horn-rimmed glasses after the two had been hugging for several minutes.

"Yes?" replied Ash, releasing his mom and looking to his left, directly at the doctor.

'I am Dr. O'Sullivan," the man said. "I hate to break up what is obviously a big reunion, but unfortunately I have to ask that your mom and girlfriend leave, just for a few minutes, while I check your physical status."

Blushing a little at the comment of Misty being his girlfriend, Ash said, "No problem doc. What do you mean physical status?"

"Well," the doctor began to explain, "We need to see if you have sustained any force trauma, or if any muscles have deteriorated over the week. We also need to make sure that your brain is functioning with a normal response rate, and that you are at no risk for falling back into a comatose state."

Ash felt a little chill go up his back as the doctor stated the last risk. "You mean I could go back into a coma?"

"Not likely, but all the same it has happened before. Sometimes the brain is just too weak to continue living as it once did, but like I said the condition is rare. You should have these two beautiful ladies back within the half-hour." As he made the last remark, he pointed across the bed at Delia and Misty.

"Okay then," said Delia wearily. She really wanted to be with her son right now, but she understood what was most important was to make sure Ash was healthy. "We'll be right outside when you're done."

She then proceeded to scoop Ash one more time into her arms before finally letting him lay back down and heading out the door.

As Misty followed Delia, she suddenly stopped in front of the exit. Turning around, she ran back to Ash and gave him a tight hug. Though he was caught off-guard, he gladly hugged his friend back. However, Ash could feel the eyes of the doctor and nurse on him and the young woman, so he quickly unclasped his arms from around her torso and smiled at her.

"See ya' later, Mist," he said as she began to turn around and walk out the room.

"You too, Ash," she replied with a big smile and tears in her eyes. She closed the door quietly behind her.

"So Mr. Ketchum," began the doctor. He turned his attention not to Ash, but to the clipboard he had in his hands containing the latest information concerning his patient. "I just need to check a few things."

He began by checking Ash's reflexes by hitting his knee with a small hammer, and proceeded to check his temperature, his weight, his pulse, and his heart rate. After this was done (it took about fifteen minutes) he then asked Ash several questions, from as early as when he was four to just two weeks earlier when he won the championship.

"And which Pokémon was your last in your match against Cynthia?" Dr. O'Sullivan asked as he wrapped up the memory quiz.

"Buizel," Ash replied yawning. He knew that he had been in a coma for a week, but he felt very tired as he finished up the question and answer segment of the check-up.

"Correct Mr. Ketchum!" replied the doctor happily. He stood up from the small chair he had been sitting next to Ash on for the past half-hour and shook the trainer's hand. "It looks like you are doing fine."

"That's great!" Ash exclaimed, feeling the tiredness drain from him as he heard the good news. "So can I check out tomorrow?"

"Huh?" asked the doctor, appearing confused. "Oh no, no."

Ash's heart sunk as the doctor shook his head. "Why not?"

"You were unconscious for seven days Mr. Ketchum! We have to keep you here for at least the next two weeks for physical rehabilitation, if not longer," the doctor stated matter-of-factly.

"What? Why?" Ash asked shocked. He had thought he might have needed to stay an extra day, but two _weeks_?

"Over the past week, you lost twenty pounds and you can't stand up for more than three minutes without tiring. I don't think you need a medical degree to realize that a little recuperation time is necessary." The doctor was beginning to sound incredulous. He couldn't believe that someone would think that after being in a coma they could just waltz out of the hospital and have everything normal.

"Do you mean I have to rebuild my muscles?" Ash asked worriedly. He didn't want to have to learn to walk again or anything like that.

"No, of course not," the doctor replied, now appearing slightly amused at the teenagers reaction to losing his physique. "Basically, although you're awake, your muscles are still asleep. So what we'll do is give you specific exercises to help awaken them and bring you back to your former strength. If my prediction is correct, then you'll recover completely in a relatively short time."

Feeling better, Ash simply nodded and thanked the doctor. He then leaned his head back against the pillow.

"Should I send those two in to see you now?" Dr. O'Sullivan asked as he approached the door.

"Sure Doc, thanks!" answered Ash. "Oh, and one more thing!" he called out to the physician right before he allowed the women inside.

"Yes?" the doctor asked, his hand on the doorknob.

"She's just a friend."

Smiling, the doctor nodded. "I understand. I hope I didn't embarrass you right after you came out of a coma."

"No," Ash replied chuckling. "I just didn't want her to be embarrassed. She'd never want people thinking her standards were so low that she would accept _me _as her boyfriend."

Laughing, the doctor nodded and opened the door. Within seconds, the girls were back in the room speaking a million words per minute.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The following two weeks helped Ash realize how big being Champion was. No matter what channel he went to on the television, all he heard were people talking about his recovery. Some of their information was correct, but most of it was just gossip. Some were saying that he hadn't awoken and that his fans had just created the rumor to stir up public interest, and some were saying that he had woken, but was paralyzed. One odd channel even reported that he was not only conscious, but had been seen in a bar outside of Petalburg City with a peg leg.

However, he didn't watch too much television because he, of course, already knew the truth. Instead, he spent most of his time in the hospital working out, and was glad to see that after a week of walking around and doing basic arm and leg maneuvers he had "fully recovered physically", according to Dr. O'Sullivan.

Despite his progress though, the doctor told him that he still could not leave until his two weeks were up because they needed to continue observing him. Although he was frustrated by that fact, he made the most of his time by doing his normal workouts. After he had turned fourteen, Ash had decided that he needed to do more than train to keep in shape, so he had set up for himself a rigorous exercise schedule that he followed religiously. Fortunately for him, the hospital provided all the equipment he needed, and it also provided plenty of young women who seemed very interested in him as they watched the trainer workout through the window that separated the hospital corridors from the gym. Although he certainly wasn't as hormonally-crazed as his good friend Brock, he did secretly enjoy the attention he received as he did his various exercises. Often as he was benching his standard two hundred and twenty-five pounds, he would look out the window to find five or six girls watching him with grins on their faces. That was always a good confidence-booster, and it helped him to finish the sets quicker.

Other than work out, Ash did little but talk with friends. After the news of his awakening had spread, it was hard to find a time when someone _wasn't_ knocking on the hospital door requesting to talk to him. He had already thanked Ritchie for finding him in the woods, and of course Brock apologized repeatedly for messing up the phone call to the police, for which Ash forgave him immediately. All his other friends had just come by to see how he was doing, and he received more than his fair share of "get well soon" cards. However, the most important person he needed to see did not come to visit until the day he was packing up to leave the prison that was his hospital room; Gary.

"Hey, Ash," greeted Gary Oak as he walked into Ash's room. The trainer's mom was going to pick him up in front of the hospital in about thirty minutes, so he was busy packing his things up in a duffel bag. He was mostly packing the gifts people had brought to him since he didn't exactly arrive at the hospital with luggage.

Turning around from his bag full of cards, Ash looked at the aspiring Pokémon researcher.

"Hey Gary," he replied. He was not unhappy that the young leader had taken so long to come and visit him. The day after he awoke, he received a big basket of treats and a phone call from Gary. While on the phone he explained that he was very busy at the gym at the moment so there wasn't a lot of time to talk, but that he was praying for Ash's quick recovery. However, Ash _did_ have to talk with Gary about something important, and he had been wondering when he would get the chance to have a private conversation with him.

"So everything went well, I assume?" Gary asked jokingly.

"Actually no. Turns out I have twelve minutes to live, so I decided to help out the nursing staff by dressing myself for the funeral and packing all my things into this bag," Ash responded sarcastically, holding up the duffel bag.

"Well that's a shame," Gary continued to play along. "I was really looking forward to our battle."

Raising his eyebrows as he remembered what he needed to talk to Gary about, Ash put the bag on the floor and motioned Gary to enter further into his room with his hand.

"Actually, I wanted to talk with you about that," he began.

"So did I," Gary responded, suddenly replacing the grin on his face with a slight frown. "You're still going for the Master title, aren't ya?"

"Of course!" Ash affirmed, nodding his head vigorously. "And I want to battle you as soon as possible. I know I missed the day we were supposed to do the battle, but if you could clear out the gym for a day this week, then -"

"I can't do that Ash," Gary interrupted, looking sympathetic as he watched Ash's face fall.

"Whaddya mean?" asked Ash. If Gary had been able to use the gym for their battle a couple of weeks ago, then why couldn't he now?

"I mean…well, as you probably know the Indigo League started this week."

"Yeah," replied Ash. "The opening ceremonies weren't as exciting as when we were there though." He laughed as he thought back to when he entered the tournament and wound up lighting the Moltres Flame Torch.

"That's the truth," Gary stated while laughing. He remembered that night well.

"So what's the tournament got to do with our battle?" Ash inquired after they took a brief intermission for the laughter to subside.

"Well, because of the tournament starting, all the gyms in Kanto are closed for the next couple of weeks," Gary explained. "I asked the PLB representative from Pallet if they could make an exception for our battle, but they said 'no'."

"So we can't do our battle in the gym then?" Ash asked disappointedly. He had really been looking forward to the rematch.

Looking at the ground, Gary told him "no".

"Well, wait!" Ash exclaimed as his face suddenly lit up. "What if we battled outside of the gym? We could just do it on natural terrain."

Smiling at Ash's eagerness for a battle, Gary shook his head. "I'm sorry Ash, but the League says that the match must take place on a league-certified battlefield, and they are all closed for the tournament."

"I can't believe this," Ash muttered.

"I know Ash," Gary consoled. "Trust me. There's nothing that I would like to do more than beat you in a battle, but it looks like we're just gonna have to wait a couple of weeks for the tournament to end."

"Awwwwwwwww," Ash whined immaturely. However, his head, which had dropped after Gary had finished talking, suddenly popped up as he realized something.

"Wait a minute! You said you were gonna beat _me_?" Ash asked incredulously.

"Of course, Ashy-boy!" Gary said, smirking. "What else could happen?"

Beginning to smile himself, Ash shot a glare at his rival. "I could do what I always do, and win, moron."

"Talk's cheap, Ash," Gary retorted. "Besides, I've won the majority of our battles, remember?"

"So what?" Ash sneered. "_I _won the important battle at the Silver Conference!"

"Whatever," Gary said rather flippantly. "I guess we'll really know who's best soon."

"I guess so, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Ash asked, although he was sure Gary wouldn't have a solution to his dilemma.

"I dunno," Gary responded, not surprising Ash. "I suppose you should just train, and rest some."

"But I feel fine!" Ash protested. "I wanted us to have our battle soon so I could head back out on the road and start catching the Pokémon that I need to complete the League's requirement."

"Well, what's stopping ya?" Gary questioned. "It's not like you have to wait for us to battle to start catching some common Pokémon in the area."

Ash suddenly realized that Gary was right. _Why didn't I think of that? _he asked himself.

"You could head out to go catch some Pokémon, and the next time you come to town, we could have our battle. There's no real order in which you have to follow the guidelines as long as you do them."

"That's a great idea!" Ash practically yelled.

"I know," Gary said tilting his head up. "That's 'cause I thought of it."

Frowning at Gary's attitude, Ash bent down to grab his bag.

"The loser says 'what'," Ash mumbled as he headed out the door with Gary behind him.

Not understanding what Ash had just said, Gary called after Ash. "What?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A few hours later, Ash was in his living room with his mom, Misty, Brock, and the Professor, explaining what was going on. Although he had already told Misty of his new quest, and Professor Oak had known about the requirements for years, he had realized that neither his other best friend, nor his mother had been informed of his plans.

"…so now I've gotta catch all of the Pokémon I don't have registered on my Pokedex," Ash said, summing up.

Both Brock and Delia had listened carefully throughout his brief explanation, and now both felt as if they had a million questions about what he had just told them.

"So you're saying," Delia began, "that you're planning on leaving on another journey?"

Ash nodded his head.

"Well, frankly I don't think I can approve of this. You were just in a coma! How do I know you'll be safe out there on your own?"

Feeling his stomach clench as he heard his mother voice her disapproval, Ash quickly thought up an answer to her question.

"Uh, actually, I was planning on me, Brock and Misty going together," he explained. "That way I'd always have some people with me, and we'd be able to hang out again like we used to."

After hearing this, Delia didn't seem any less nervous, or any more covinced. "But now you're the champion honey. Before, you were just some trainer among thousands of others, but now you're going to have a lot of people, like that Mallory girl, coming after you because they know you've got powerful Pokémon."

"I know Ma," Ash conceded. "But this has been my dream since I was five. There's four Champions in the world, but there's only one Master. I want to be the very best, and I can only do that if you let me go out on this quest."

"Besides," he continued, "you're right. I _do _have some of the most powerful Pokémon. Who's gonna be a challenge for me?"

Frowning at her son's overconfidence, Delia just sat there on her blue sofa, appearing to weigh Ash's feelings against her own. Looking up again, she asked Ash, "But what about college? You were supposed to go in two years tops, remember? We had a deal."

"You're right," Ash agreed. "And I still wanna go. That's why I planned this schedule (as he said this he pulled out an agenda book from his left pocket). I've completely outlined where I need to go and which Pokémon I need to catch for each day. If everything goes according to plan, I can have them all caught within a year and a half."

"A year and a half?" Delia asked, stunned. "It's taken you eight years to catch forty different Pokémon, and you plan on catching the rest in eighteen months?"

"Yep," Ash nodded. "You see, I originally was more focused on quality over quantity because I needed strong Pokémon to win in the tournaments I entered, but I saw plenty of Pokémon that I never considered catching that were very common, like Rattata and Pidgey."

"Well, how do you plan on getting around?" Delia asked. She was looking for any reason to keep her son from leaving her again so soon. "It'll cost way too much to take a train to all those places."

"Actually," Misty interjected, "I told Ash that we could use my car. I bought one last year, and it's in really good condition."

Happy to hear that at least her son wouldn't be walking through forests like a hobo anymore, Delia sighed and reflected for a moment. She didn't like the idea of him leaving, especially after he just got home, but his logic did seem sound. He had obviously done his research before talking to her about this, and she didn't want him to remember her as the person who stood in the way of his dreams. Finally relenting when she saw Ash pleading with her with those big, innocent eyes, she grumbled an "alright".

Jumping up, both Ash and Misty hooted and hollered at the news.

"But," Delia interrupted the small celebration, "you have to call at least every other day, and I want you home occasionally for visits. Now that you have a car, you'll have no excuse for not coming back to Pallet more often than you did growing up." As she said this, she gave her son a stern glare, making sure he understood she was serious.

"Don't worry, Ma," Ash replied cheerily. "Why would I try to avoid coming to a place where my laundry is always washed for me, and there's a free snack bar?"

Smiling a little at her son's charm, Delia just watched on as her son and Misty high-fived each other in victory. However, her attention soon turned to Brock, whom she noticed didn't seem as thrilled at the prospect of the new adventure.

"Brock, why aren't you celebrating?" Delia asked over the yelling of the two trainers.

Turning around, Ash realized his mom was right. "Yeah Brock, why aren't you celebrating with us?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Brock replied in a humdrum tone. "I just have something on my mind, is all."

"What is it Brock?" asked Misty curiously.

"Well, I know that you said you wanted me to come with you, and I can, but there's a problem," Brock informed the group. "You see Ash, while we were on our journey in Sinnoh, I had been working online to get my Breeder's certification. Anyway, I'm supposed to get certified next month and the Professor here (he pointed at the older gentleman sitting next to him on the loveseat) was able to get me an internship at PokeBreeders Inc."

"Oh," replied Ash. "I've seen their commercials on the television. Aren't they like one of the biggest Pokémon breeding centers in the world or something?"

"They are," Brock affirmed, "and with this internship, I might have a chance of getting a job there. That's why I'm not as excited to hear this. I'll be able to go with y'all for a month or so, but in July I have to go to the PokeBreeders Inc. branch over in Jubilife City."

"Well that's not fair," Ash complained. "I was hoping that my last adventure could have been just like our first one together."

"But," Misty added, "we know how important this is to you, and we're glad that you have a shot at reaching your dream too. Aren't we Ash?" As she asked him this, she jabbed him in the side slightly.

"Uh, oh yeah," Ash agreed, trying to appear happy. "I really am glad for ya Brock-o. It's just a little disappointing, but like Mist said, it's important you achieve your dream too."

Knowing that Ash was trying his best to be sincere, Brock smiled. "Thanks guys. You know if I had the choice I'd go with you, but this opportunity's too good to pass up."

"It really is," Professor Oak said. "It took me months to get Brock that internship since PokeBreeders is such an elite organization. I told Brock a few weeks ago that if he impresses the corporate leaders there, he'll be set for life."

"Well, I think we're all happy for you," Delia piped in, feeling left out of the conversation. "I for one am proud that you're going through with this. I always thought that you'd be successful, and now you're starting to prove me right."

Blushing, Brock said "thank you" to everyone.

"And like I said," he repeated, "we still have a month before I gotta head to Jubilife, so we may as well enjoy it!"

"Yeah!" Ash and Misty affirmed in unison.

* * *

Author's note: Well, like I said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I had a hard time with the transitioning from one time to another, and frankly I really rushed certain aspects because I really want this fic to begin. Up till now I've just been building up to when they got on the road, and next chapter I finally will be where I wanted to get to this entire time. I hope you understand. Anyway, although this was a painful chapter to write, I would like to point out that it is also one of my longest, surprisingly, so I do hope y'all don't think that I just threw it together in the last minute. I put a lot of time and effort into, although you may not think so by reading it. I just don't want my readers thinking I'm getting lazy. Next chapter will be better, I promise.

Anyway, in keeping with somewhat of a tradition, here are my story recommendations for the week:

"Topless Trouble" by Cristipotter - It's a really good one-shot. They're very descriptive (which I, of course, like a lot) and the fic itself is pretty humorous. Please take a look at it and review if you have the time.

"All for One" by licoricejellybean - Finally LJB writes a chapter fic, and a frickin' good one at that! However, now I'm worried because they're definitely a better writer than me, so if you don't want to, don't read this fic (ha,ha).

"Canon Rape" by Bittersweet Romanticide - This kid is good! This is just a parody of the different fics on this site concerning Pokemon. She makes fun of different authors and their work by pointing out their flaws. Seriously, I had to stop reading it because I was laughing too hard. Definitely need to read this one.

Anyway, we are now at 85 reviews, so let's see if we can break that 100 review mark! C'mon, y'all can do it! REVIEW PLEASE!


	10. The Journey Begins

**Hello everybody!** Well, here's chapter ten. I know you're all SO excited! (ha,ha) However, seriously, this chapter is much better than last, at least in my opinion. It is also very important because it is the first one documenting Ash's and the group's journey to help him become a Pokemon Master, and to help Misty become a Water Pokemon Master (y'all didn't forget her saying that back in chapter four, did you?). I don't want to say much concerning this chapter as usual because I don't want to give away anything, but I will say that you get to read about his first pokemon that he catches on the road, and you'll get an in-depth description of Misty's appearance which I totally stole from licoricejellybean (read my author's notes at the bottom for the full story). So read and REVIEW PLEASE!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

Characters' Ages:

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Ugh," Ash groaned as he, Misty, and Brock walked through Viridian Forest together. They had been walking since about five that morning to avoid any reporters who still wanted to talk with the champion (he had done most of his interviews while in the hospital, so there weren't many left) and so they could reach Cerulean as soon as possible.

"Ash would you quit groaning?" Misty asked, irked. Ash had done nothing, but make gargling noises for the past hour and she was getting close to choking him.

"I can't help it, Mist," Ash replied. "All of this walking is killing my feet. We have to have been on the road for like twenty hours now!"

"Actually," Brock said, "we've only been out for thirteen hours."

"Ohhhh," Ash said sarcastically. "Only thirteen hours? Well then I definitely have no excuse for being tired."

"Well you were the one who thought we should leave early to get to Cerulean," Misty reminded him.

Glaring over at the young woman, Ash felt the old flame of conflict he shared with Misty reignite. "Will you quit saying that? I had said that I thought we should leave a little early to avoid those tabloid freaks who kept hanging around my house. Brock was the one who woke us up at freakin' four in the morning to 'start this journey right'." As Ash quoted Brock, he made his voice high to imitate that of a little girl's.

"Hey!" Brock shouted behind him. "I was just looking out for you! I thought if we started a little earlier, then we could reach Cerulean quicker, and maybe you'd be able to catch a few extra Pokémon along the way. However, I don't think you've caught anything all day other than a stomach-ache at lunch."

Feeling his face grow a little red at the realization that his friend was right, Ash decided that he had only one option if he wanted to win this argument. "Oh yeah? Well instead of pointing fingers at me Brock-o, why don't you point them at the real person whose fault this is?"

Curious, Brock asked Ash, "Whose fault is it?"

"Misty!" Ash yelled, pointing an accusative finger at the red-head.

It was once again Misty's turn to argue with Ash. "How is it my fault?"

"You left your car in Cerulean!" Ash said, stating the obvious. "Who goes to a city that's like a hundred miles away and doesn't bring their car?"

"Well, I didn't expect to be dragging you with me back home," she answered. "Besides, I told you we could've taken a bus to the train station in Pewter to avoid going through this stupid, bug-filled forest!"

"Yeah, that's a great idea Misty," Ash replied while rolling his eyes. "I'll sneak out of the house early in the morning to avoid reporters, and then clamber onto a bus with thirty people holding magazines with my picture on the front of them."

"Just shut up," Misty replied. "Besides, if you want to avoid people, how exactly are you gonna get on a train without being recognized?"

Realizing that she was right, as usual, Ash followed her advice and shut up.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After the confrontation, the three proceeded through the forest quietly, while sweating heavily. It was now late May, and the blistering Southern Kanto heat was showing no mercy at seven that evening as the sun remained high in the sky, and the temperature exceeded ninety. Deciding that although the sun was not setting yet, they had walked long enough, Ash stopped walking in step with Misty and Brock to make an announcement.

As they turned around to see why he had stopped, he smiled. "I think we've walked long enough, don't you?"

"Pika pika!" Pikachu agreed, atop Ash's head. He hadn't had to walk in several hours, but he felt bad for his master having to travel for so long in this kind of heat.

"But, there's still some daylight left," Brock pointed out.

"I know, but we've been on the road for fourteen hours, and I don't think I can take much more," Ash replied. "How about you Mist? You can't feel like walking more."

"Well, no. Not really," she said this looking at Brock apologetically. She hated to sound like a wimp, but walking in ninety degree weather for several hours was not a small feat for anyone, in her opinion.

"Fine," Brock sighed, giving up. "I'll set up the tents, and you and Misty can see if there's a stream or something where we can get washed up. Also, grab some twigs and brush so I can cook us up something."

"Oh, alright," Ash relented. He had really just wanted to lie down, but he knew Brock wasn't going to relax until he had cooked some food for the weary travelers.

He then turned to the left, and wandered aimlessly through the trees in his search for a stream with Misty by his side. However, as soon as he was sure they were out of sight and earshot of the breeder, he sat down on a tree stump.

"What are you doing?" Misty asked in a scolding voice.

"What does it look like?" Ash replied. "I'm sitting."

"Brock told us to get some brush," Misty reminded him. "So get up and help me grab these twigs and leaves."

"Geez Mist!" Ash exclaimed, appearing peeved at her behavior. "What is he, your mother? I'm tired, so I'm resting a minute. I'll get the stupid sticks in a second. Why don't you join me?"

Realizing that he was right, Misty took a seat next to Ash. He looked over at her and seemed to suddenly realize something as his eyes grew a little and he opened his mouth momentarily before closing it.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing, really," he replied. "I was just wondering why Azurill wasn't with you like it normally is."

"Oh yeah," Misty said, realizing Ash had never heard the news. "She evolved into a Marill a few months ago, and now she's one of the Pokémon my sister and I share for gym battles. Ever since she evolved and got a lot stronger, she's really enjoyed taking on challengers, so it doesn't make sense for me to keep carrying her around."

"Oh," Ash said. After the small-talk, he proceeded to just sit on the stump quietly, gazing out in the distance.

After the explanation, Misty followed Ash's example for several minutes before breaking the silence. "Ash did you hear that?" she whispered nervously, seemingly out of the blue.

"Hear what?" he asked, not sounding too pleased at having someone interrupt his resting time.

He suddenly heard a rustling sound behind one of the large pine trees a few yards away.

"That!" she hissed.

Wondering what was behind the tree, Ash stood up with Pikachu on his shoulder and walked slowly over to it, hoping not scare whatever was making the noise. When he reached the pine, he gradually peered behind it, and when he looked back at Misty she saw that he had a big grin on his face.

"What is it?" she half-whispered.

"It's a Weedle!" he yelled back, not caring who heard him.

"Ugh," Misty groaned, sticking her tongue out disgustedly at him. "Shoo it away or something. The last thing I want is a creepy Weedle bugging me."

"Are you kidding?" Ash asked. "I'm gonna catch it!"

"Why is it that every time we go into this forest, you end up catching something I hate?" she asked him, half-joking and half-seriously.

However, by this point Ash was no longer paying attention to her. Instead, he ordered Pikachu off of his shoulder, and was facing the bug Pokémon while strategizing.

Okay, he thought. This should be simple. It's just a Weedle after all.

Suddenly, the poison bug started to charge towards Pikachu with the point on its head growing dangerously near.

"Jump Pikachu!" Ash ordered. At his command, the mouse jumped over the worm lookalike and landed behind it.

Fast little guy, Ash mused.

"Now, use Thunderbolt!" he ordered. Pikachu's electric pouches began to crackle at the order and soon he was zapping Weedle with a large voltage of electrical power.

"WEEEEEEEEEE!" the bug cried as it was overpowered.

After Pikachu ended his electric assault, Weedle lied no more than five feet in front of Ash, unconscious. "Now let's catch it!" he yelled as he pulled an unused pokeball from his side and expanded it. He threw it at the Weedle, and in a flash of red light the insect-like creature was captured.

"Wow," Ash said to Pikachu. "He didn't even try to break free. Good job buddy!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu replied, giving Ash a thumbs-up.

However, as Ash began to shrink the pokeball, it suddenly disappeared from his hand.

"Wha-?" he exclaimed, confused.

"Don't tell me we have to go over this again," Misty said, coming up behind Ash. He hadn't noticed that she had come over to watch the battle. "You already have six Pokémon in your party, so you can't carry anymore with you."

"Oh yeah," Ash said in realization. "Well, did you see that battle?"

"I saw it," Misty replied nonchalantly.

"Why don't you sound more impressed?" asked Ash. Usually when he caught a Pokémon, Misty acted a little happy for him.

"Because," Misty said exasperatedly, "it was just a Weedle! It's not like you just captured a Mew or something."

"Still, this is my first step to fame!" he exclaimed cheerily while holding up the pokeball proudly. "With this little Weedle, I begin my journey to becoming a Pokémon master!"

"Whatever," said Misty, irritated. However, despite her outwardly cool appearance, inside she couldn't help, but smile at the trainer in front of her. He was acting just like he had when he caught his first Pokémon, which happened, ironically, in the same forest.

"What are you doing?" both trainers heard Brock yell from behind them.

Looking back nervously, Ash could see that Brock's face was red with anger and he had his fists tightened into balls. Gulping, Ash sheepishly lifted the pokeball in front of him to show Brock.

"S-See Brock?" he asked, feeling his heart pound. "I-I-I caught, a, uh, a Weedle."

Staring at the two with an agitated expression on his face, he sighed. "I was waiting for y'all for almost a half-hour now. I assume neither of you at least managed to pick up some brush for the fire?"

Embarrassed, the two dejectedly lowered their heads and shook them.

"Well then hurry up," Brock said in a tone much like that of Misty's moments ago. "I'm making some soup tonight."

"Alright!" Ash yelled happily, his fear of Brock's mood replaced by his joy at the thought of eating.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Well, we're finally here," Misty noted as she and the two young men stepped up to the front of her gym in Cerulean.

"Yeah, and it only took us three days to get through that forest," Brock added, obviously displeased at the delay.

"But," Ash chided him, "it was worth it. I caught all of the Pokémon I needed from Viridian."

"I'm not so sure having no electricity or running water was worth a Pidgey, an Ekans, and a Rattata ," Misty said while yawning. She had been hurt most by the delay in getting home. She realized that she was no longer the little twelve year old girl who could stay out in the forest for days at a time without the luxuries she had come to love at home. As much as she hated to admit it, she had become more like her sisters in that she liked to take hour-long showers everyday, and always look her best. However, she refused to acknowledge, even to herself, that she was as vain as they were. She had just grown a little more concerned about how she conveyed herself, and she felt especially self-conscious now that she was travelling with Ash and Brock again.

"It was totally worth it," Ash rebutted. "Every Pokémon I catch gets me-"

"We know, we know," Brock interrupted. "Gets you closer to your dream of being a Pokémon master. You must have told us that at least a million times these past few days."

"Exactly," replied Ash happily. "I'm glad to see that you've been paying attention."

"I don't know about you guys," Misty said, having lost interest in the conversation between Brock and Ash, "but I sure could go for some air-conditioning right about now."

Suddenly being made aware of the pressing heat and mugginess that was surrounding them, Ash and Brock hastily agreed with the water trainer, and all three of them hurried inside through the sliding glass doors.

As they walked in, Ash gasped. "Wow Misty!" he exclaimed, looking around the gym. "You sure renovated!"

"It's true," Misty said, pride seeping through her voice. "Over the past few years the gym has done very well under me. The Pokémon League Board has set up a system where gyms are given compensatory award for their success in battles."

Gaping at Misty, Ash felt like an idiot.

"R-Right! Compulsory awards! That explains it." he said, hoping she wouldn't notice he had no idea what she was talking about.

Rolling her eyes, Misty smiled a little at Ash's misunderstanding. She had to admit he was a little cute when he allowed his pride to make him look like a fool.

"Not compulsory, Ash! Compensatory. It means that we get cash allowance from the PLB for every win we get against a challenger. As you can see from all the renovations, we haven't given out a badge in quite some time."

Ash was impressed as he began to follow Misty, who said she would lead him and Brock to their rooms where they would be staying for the night. As they walked by the indoor salt water pool (which was necessary for the various water Pokémon that lived in it), Ash noticed that it seemed to have grown from the last time he saw it, and was now at least eighty feet long and seventy feet wide, while the bleachers where spectators could witness the battles had also been expanded. He also noticed a new, large jumbo-tron screen that hung high above the battlefield. As they approached the rooms, he observed that the gym was noticeably cleaner than the last time he had seen it as well. Curious, he decided to ask Misty about that.

"Misty?" he asked, as she came to the end of the hallway.

"Hm?" she responded, still walking.

"Why is it so much cleaner in here than before? Have you hired maids or something?"

"What?" she asked, looking confused at first. "Oh, no, no. The League now sends a janitorial service over here once a week to clean up for us. Apparently some gyms were festering with mold and asbestos that no one knew about, so the League, out of fear of a lawsuit, now spends a few bucks to clean all of the gyms weekly."

"Huh," stated Ash. He was amazed at how well the League had started taking care of their gym leaders. In his opinion though, it was about time.

As they reached the end of the hallway, Misty pointed at two doors on opposite sides.

"Here you are," she said, opening the door on the left, and then on the right with a flourish. "Waterflower Suites. We hope you enjoy your stay." She then giggled a little at how convincing she sounded, before heading back up the hallway.

"I'll see you guys in a little while. I'm gonna go get cleaned up!" she called back as she practically ran towards the stairway which led to her room.

"She sure seems happy to be back," Brock noted as he entered his room.

"Yeah," Ash agreed as he flipped the lights on in his room. "Well, I'll see you in a little while Brock-o."

"Yeah, see ya," he said, shutting the door.

As Ash turned around to observe his room, his mouth dropped. He had a fourty-two inch television screen, a kitchenette with a microwave, stove, and fridge, and a queen size bed with a blue comforter before him.

How many battles has she won? he asked himself in wonderment.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A couple of hours later, Ash was lying on his bed watching television. He had gotten showered and had put on a blue t-shirt and some jeans. Unfortunately, his favorite outfit that he had been wearing around Sinnoh had been torn up after his fall, and he had promised his mom that he would buy some new clothes (with his prize money, of course) once he reached Cerulean. However, right now he just wanted to lay on the bed in the air-conditioned room and rest off the last three days of travel.

As he laid there watching a re-run of a sitcom he really enjoyed, a phone which he hadn't noticed before suddenly started ringing on the nightstand next to his bed.

Groaning, he reached over to get it. "Hello?" he asked, wondering who had his number.

"Ash?" the voice on the other line asked. It was Misty.

"Hey Mist!" he said, surprised. "Pretty fancy place you got here."

"Heh, thanks. It is pretty sweet, isn't it?" she asked, enjoying Ash's compliment.

"Yeah! I'm watching 'King of the World' in high-def right now," he said, almost in wonderment.

"Well, I hate to interrupt that," she said jokingly, "but I thought you might be hungry."

"Uh, yeah!" Ash said, startled that he hadn't thought of this himself. "You got someplace in mind?"

"Well, I don't think after three days on the road we should eat in, so I thought we could go to this burger place that's down the road." When she said "burger" however, Ash had stopped listening and instead began to feel his mouth water.

"Sounds good to me!" he cried happily.

"Alright, I'll see you in front of the gym in five minutes!" she said excitedly, and then hung up.

Hurriedly, Ash put on some socks and his sneakers. He then stood in front of the mirror, and for five minutes straight tried to get his hair to stay down, but it was to no avail. His dark hair simply refused to flatten unless given no alternative under the weight of some serious hair gel, which he had none of at the moment. Frustrated, he quickly grabbed a burnt-orange cap that he had brought with him to replace the one he lost that night at the party, and sprinted out the door.

Seeing Misty at the door, he couldn't help, but gape a little. Ever since he first saw her at the party, he knew that she had grown, but he hadn't realized until now exactly how much she had grown. At the party, it had been too dark for him to appreciate her beauty, and ever since he woke up at the hospital she had seemed haggard and tired from her constant worry over him. Although even then he considered her pretty, he now got an eyeful of what he believed to be a beautiful woman. Her long, flame colored waves of hair fell about her like a lion's mane, reaching almost to her waist. She was wearing a ruffled white shirt with a short sleeved yellow cropped jacket over the top, a blue flared mini-skirt, white knee socks which covered two long legs, and a pair of little blue shoes.

This is definitely a big change from the long t-shirts and jeans she's been wearing the past couple of weeks, Ash thought to himself as he looked at her amazed.

"So you ready to go?" she asked him with a smirk on her face. With horror, Ash realized that she had caught him staring at her.

"Uh, y-yeah," he stuttered, feeling his face grow red as he realized that he was about three seconds late in a reply.

Grabbing the keys from the counter that was used for selling tickets to watch battles usually, Misty chuckled a little, and Ash felt himself blush even more.

Is she laughing because of me? he thought worriedly. I need to make sure I don't gawk at her like that anymore. I just need to remember that she's still annoying ol' Misty, despite her appearance.

As she finished chuckling, she looked up at him.

"Do you know what's holding up Brock?" she asked, suddenly looking a bit impatient. "I called him about twenty minutes before you 'cause I knew he would take forever to get ready, but I guess I still didn't give him enough time."

Glad to be talking normally with his friend again, Ash agreed. "Yeah, I know. He can't ever go anyplace without first checking to make sure that his hair's perfect, and he has on cologne, and everything else."

"The sad part is he still doesn't have a girlfriend," Misty noted, although she actually sounded more amused than disappointed for her friend. "You'd think with all the attention that boy pays to his appearances, he'd have a horde of shallow girls following him around by now."

"You'd think," Ash replied, with a smile on his face.

However, both trainers quit their conversation instantly when they heard the door to the guestroom down the hallway close. Just as Misty and Ash had predicted, as Brock approached them the strong smell of "Lust" cologne reached their noses. Also, Brock had dressed himself in a tucked in, collar, button-down red shirt and khaki pants with white tennis shoes.

"Wow Brock," Ash commented. "Pretty fancy get-up for a burger place, don't you think?"

"Well, you never know," he replied with a dreamy look on his face. "The girl of my dreams may be ordering a double patty burger as we speak. A guy has to look his best if he wants any chance of finding a woman." As he said this, he looked at Ash's t-shirt and jeans flippantly.

"Of course," he continued, "I'm sure you could find some ladies interested in the sloppy appearance too."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked, incensed.

"Nothing, nothing," Brock murmured. "Should we get going then?" He asked casually, still receiving death glares from Ash.

"Oh yeah, I'll pull up the car," Misty said. "You two wait out front."

Agreeing, Ash and Brock stepped out to the front of the gym as Misty went to the back where she said the garage was located to bring around her automobile. As the two stood there waiting for her, Ash seized the opportunity to find out what Brock thought concerning Misty's new look.

"So what do you think about Misty?" he asked, trying to act casual, although the curiosity was clear in his tone.

"Whaddya mean?" Brock asked with a truly confused look on his face.

"You know, the new clothes and hair thing," he chided the breeder.

"Huh," said Brock, shrugging. "I guess I didn't notice, but thanks for telling me. Girls hate it if they change something about themselves and then you don't compliment them on it. You may have saved me from a bloody nose."

"No problem," Ash replied, completely dumbfounded by Brock's unawareness. Of all the people to notice a change in a girl's appearance, Brock was the master. He could even differentiate between all the Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, so Ash had figured noticing Misty's "growth" would have been no problem.

I thought he would've been drooling over himself by now, Ash thought, surprised. He even figured Brock may have asked her out after seeing her like that.

Shrugging, Ash decided to change the subject.

"So after tomorrow, I thought we'd head over to Vermillion City. They've got a lot of water types that I need, and I thought we could see Surge if we have time."

"Sounds good to me," Brock said, giving Ash a thumbs-up. "I have to admit that I'm impressed Ash."

"What do you mean?" he asked, unsure of what he had done to earn his friend's admiration.

"Well, no offense, but you've always seemed a little overconfident. I mean, over the years you've definitely matured, but I've always gotten the feeling that you expected things to just work out for you, but now you're being responsible. Some trainers would just wander around the countryside looking for any Pokémon they didn't already have, but you've mapped out a schedule for how long you need to be in certain places, and what Pokémon you need to find there. It's really something."

Grinning at the compliment, Ash felt his ego grow a little. "Yeah, well it was pretty hard, but I find that it helps to be prepared when attaining the highest rank a Pokémon trainer can have."

"Really?" Brock asked. "So that's why you used Pikachu when you battled me for the Boulder Badge? Because you were prepared?" He laughed as he said this, knowing Ash would be embarrassed.

"Hey!" Ash exclaimed. "I was young then. I'm saying now I'm prepared."

"Oh, okay," Brock said between laughs. "Now, you're prepared. I get it."

Before Ash could say anything else about Brock's smart-alecky attitude though, he heard a car horn beeping behind him. Turning around, he saw a vehicle that made his jaw drop for the second time that day. Misty was driving what he considered to be one of the ugliest cars he had seen. It was a station wagon that was covered in rusted and chipped-off green paint, with wooden paneling on the side.

She may look nice, but her car sure doesn't, Ash thought to himself while smiling.

He looked over at Brock to see his reaction, and wasn't surprised to see that it was similar to his moments ago.

"Nice ride, huh?" he asked his dazed friend.

Suddenly, Brock looked at Ash seriously.

"Look, no matter what we cannot let her know how we feel about her car," he instructed Ash in a whisper. "Trust me, you know how violent Misty is."

However, Ash didn't listen to his friend's advice, and instead slowly strolled over to the driver's seat where Misty sat with a dumbfounded expression upon her face.

Why do they look so goofy? she wondered.

"So," Ash said, retaining a laugh, "I see you decided to go for that worn-out, ugly looking car, instead of those over-valued, nice cars they sell nowadays, huh?"

Suddenly realizing why Ash and Brock had looked so stupid earlier, Misty felt her temper flare.

"At least I have a car!" she shot back. "Unlike certain people."

"Hey!" Ash retaliated. "I could buy any car I want. I just thought with all that money you're getting from the League, you could at least afford something that was built within the last three decades!"

"Well shows what you know! I can only use that money on the gym, and unlike you Ketchum, I adhere to the rules!"

"Hey, I adhere to the rules as much as you do," Ash pointed out. "I've never even gotten a speeding ticket, although I see you have from that note on the dashboard there," said Ash triumphantly.

Shocked that he had actually made a valid point, Misty said nothing else, but instead called over to Brock.

"Hey Brock, you ready to go get some food?" she yelled to him.

"Yeah!" he said as he began heading towards the car. He had known better than to enter that conflict.

Getting into the car, he told Ash to hurry up. However as Ash was about to get in, Misty stopped him.

"No way," Misty said, right before the trainer sat down. "I'm not gonna let someone who doesn't like my taste in cars to ride in mine.

"Aw, c'mon Mist," Brock pleaded with the upset girl. "He didn't mean anything, he was just being an idiot.

"Hey!" Ash said. "I can hear you, you know!"

"I agree with you on that," Misty said to Brock, completely ignoring Ash's existence. "However, should that really be an excuse? Maybe if we let him stay here and starve, then he'll learn his lesson, and he'll be a little less of an idiot."

"C'mon Misty," Ash said, climbing back into the car. However, when he was about halfway in, Misty suddenly drove the car forward a little, causing him to fall back and hit the ground with a "thud".

"Not until you apologize for what you said," she told him, not sure if he would do it or not. Usually Ash wouldn't say he was sorry for anything, but since this concerned food, she figured it could go either way.

"Never!" he yelled. "This was one of the first times I've won an argument, and I'm not going to give it up." He then turned his head away from the car, acting as if he didn't care if Misty sped away right then and there.

"Fine," Misty said, pushing on the accelerator a little. Despite what he had said only moments ago though, Ash suddenly started to yell at her.

"Okay Mist, okay!" he said while running back up to the vehicle. "Fine, it's not an ugly car, but I still won the argument about who follows rules better." He knew he shouldn't have thrown in that last part, but his stubborn side simply wouldn't allow him to admit defeat so easily.

Rolling her eyes, Misty figured that was as close as she was going to get to an apology. She knew that if she wanted she could force him to say that he was wrong about the entire ordeal, but the truth was she was very hungry and didn't want to delay their meal any longer. Also, she could tell that Brock was growing sick of their childishness more by the second. Sighing, she allowed Ash to clamber into the backseat with Brock.

"I call shotgun on the way back!" Ash declared childishly as he closed the door after he had buckled in.

I shouldn't have told him about the car, Misty thought as she turned on her left blinker.

* * *

Author's note: There you go! I hope that you didn't think that I was seriously going to make Ash and Misty start falling in love with each other this early in the story. Just because she's prettier certainly doesn't mean how they feel about their relationship is instantly going to change. I changed her appearance because I knew that it had been a while since Ash had last seen her, and frankly if she were still wearing the clothes at eighteen that she had been when she was twelve, that would make her either very unhygienic, or a tramp, or both. So yeah, I decided to change her attire.

However, as I said above, the description of her appearance was certainly not my idea and I have to give licoricejellybean all the credit for how I described Misty in this chapter. If you go to LJB's fic "Accidentally in Love AAMRN" you will find almost the exact same description of her appearance. Of course, I wrote and asked LJB for permission to write up Misty as I did, and fortunately she said yes. So thank you very much LJB for allowing me to borrow some of your talent so I could act like I was a better writer than I really am.

Once again keeping in tradition, here are my weekly recommendations:

"The Refuge" by SecretAgent99 - I'm recommending this once again for two reasons. 1) I've been lazy and haven't read many new fics this week. 2) She updates regularly and the story is so superbly done by any standard that I can't resist telling y'all (the readers) about it. Seriously, I'm hooked on it and if you give it a chance, I'm sure you will be too.

"Who You Belong With" by cristipotter - This is just a very well-written one-shot. As you might tell from my recommendations, I really like one-shots when they're written with as much fluidity and description as this one, and although it may not have a certain "plot" the story itself is just intriguing. Honestly, everything I read from this girl reminds me of a Hemingway novel.

"All For One" by licoricejellybean - Once again my greatest enemy has published another chapter of her (yes, now I know they're a girl) flawlessly written story. However, if you're more like me and like boring, descriptive fics that are only updated a week at a time, stick with this one. Her fic is more of a "fun", and "interesting" story, and we all know how overrated those are. (Also, ignore any of the reviews I gave that story. I was drunk at the time, so I didn't mean to be nice)

Well that's it. PLEASE REVIEW! For some reason, about half of my regular reviewers seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth last week, so I didn't reach my 100 review mark like I had hoped. However, since I only need three, I'm pretty sure we can do it this week. However, I don't want anyone thinking I'm mad, since I'm not. Honestly, this fic is just a hobby, so please anyone who didn't review last week don't say you're sorry or anything. I promise it's not a problem; this is just a story. I can't stand it when authors try to guilt their readers into feeling bad for not reviewing every freaking installment. I know y'all have lives, and I just ask that if you find the time, then PLEASE REVIEW this fic. Alrighty then...Bye


	11. Trouble on the Water

**Hello everybody!** Well, it seems I have no choice. In light of recent events, I am going to have to dedicate this chapter to licoricejellybean for several reasons beyond my control. First and foremost, she dedicated the latest chapter of her great fic (she's my greatest foe, but it really is an unbelieveable story) to me because I cheated off of her story and used her description of Misty in my last chapter...seriously. I really don't think this kid (I know she's older than me) understands what plagiarism means, but anyways the other reason I am dedicating this chapter to her is because I have a hunch that beneath that nice, kind outward appearance, she's really just trying to look like a better person than me. Therefore, in order to prevent her from stealing my readers with her unbelieveable (and confusing) niceness, I am not only dedicating this story to her, but also the Author's Notes. Ha! Take that LJB! Anyways, this chapter was kind of weird, but fun to write. I put a lot of effort into trying to change the dynamic of the story from Ash preparing to go on his journey, to Ash actually _going _on his journey, and I think I did pretty well. However, I also feel like there were several places where I could have improved the story, but just didn't know how. So if any of y'all have suggestions on how to improve my writing in the future, I am open to all opinions. Remember, I'm writing this story for y'all, not myself, and as always REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Woah! I caught another one!" Ash cried happily as he felt a tug on the line he had cast into the Vermillion River. It had been one week since he and his friends had left Cerulean and for the past two days they had rented a boat so Ash and Misty could capture the various water-type Pokémon that lived near the beach of the city.

"Great Ash," said Brock. "Now could you come over here and have a bite to eat? Me and Misty have been waiting for five minutes." They had been waiting under a small umbrella Misty had brought to keep them shaded on the opposite side of the boat from the fisherman, all the while greedily eyeing the picnic basket Brock had brought with him, waiting for Ash to take a break. However, the last couple of days Ash had been much too preoccupied with all the water Pokémon surrounding him to notice the great meals Brock had been cooking.

"Just a sec," Ash groaned as he pulled the rod against the struggling prey. "This guy's really hanging in there. It must be a Pokémon!"

"I can't believe we're having to bargain to get Ash to eat," Misty noted in surprise to her travelling companions. "Usually he won't shut up about food unless you put some in his mouth."

"Hey!" cried Ash, as Brock nodded in agreement. "It just so happens that- Whoa!"

Suddenly, the trio felt the boat lurch and begin to move forward.

"Whaaaat theeee craaaaaap???!!!" Ash hollered as the boat picked up its pace and bounced against the surface of the water. Unsure of what was pulling them along with such force, Ash quickly reached for his pokedex in his right pocket, while leaning back and holding on to the rod with his left hand. He hurriedly flipped the trusted encyclopedia open as he watched his reel spinning out of control and quickly losing string.

_It's amazing the rod hasn't broken yet, _he thought to himself as he pointed the dex toward the unknown object just below the surface of the water.

The pokedex pinged a second after Ash flipped it open, and it provided him with the name of his prey.

"Gyarados, the atrocious Pokémon," the pokedex began. "This Pokémon has a vicious temperament, so use extreme caution. Its fangs can crush stones and its scales are harder than steel."

"Yes!" cheered Ash happily as he heard the news.

"Why are you happy, Ash? We're about to die!" cried Misty as she held on to the wooden seat of the boat with a death-grip.

"I was needing a Gyarados!" Ash yelled back happily. However, he quickly turned his attention back to the matter at hand. He could see that he only had maybe two feet of line left on the reel, despite his feeble attempts to conserve the string by reeling in. In light of that fact, he formulated a plan.

"Pikachu!" he yelled to the little mouse that was gripping his shoulder for dear life. "Use Thunderbolt."

Focusing his energies, Pikachu ejected a large amount of electricity from its body onto the water in front of the boat.

"CHUUUUUUUU!" it cried as it tried its best to hit the Pokémon. However, when Pikachu had completed its assault, it was evident that the boat was no closer to slowing down.

_In fact, _Ash thought, _I think we're moving faster._

As he looked down to see how much line he had left, he was horrified to see that he was down to his last inch.

"Hang on!" he yelled to his terrified comrades as he felt the reel and string separate, and his body begin to fly backward.

_This is gonna hurt, _he thought as he pressed his eyes closed in preparation of feeling his back break against the hard wooden benches of the boat. However, to his surprise he felt nothing, but air as he sped back.

Opening his eyes slightly, he was relieved to see that the boat had continued moving forward with the momentum the Gyarados had provided, but was less happy when he realized that he was about to hit the water.

SPLASH!

Panting for breath, Ash kicked his feet and flailed his arms to keep his head above the water.

"Chu! Pikachu!" he heard his friend cry out near him. He couldn't see his Pokémon immediately, but turning around he saw that the little yellow mouse was fighting a losing battle to keep its body from being totally submerged.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, "I'm here!" He then swam over to his friend and placed him on top of his head.

As he felt his loyal Pokémon breathing hard for oxygen while resting on his cap, Ash looked over in the distance to find that the boat appeared to have stopped, and saw that Misty was releasing her own Gyarados from its pokeball. Several seconds later, she and her Pokémon had arrived next to Ash and Pikachu.

"Are you alright?" she asked, as she helped pull Ash from the river.

"I-I think so," he stammered as he felt a sudden chill go through his body when a gust of wind whipped against his soaked, green t-shirt.

"How's Pikachu?" she asked, looking worriedly up at the electric Pokémon.

"He'll be okay," Ash stated, lifting Pikachu off of him and holding him in his arms. "But I don't think he's in any condition to battle."

"Battle what?" Misty asked, confused. "The Gyarados is gone."

"Not really," Ash said, pointing to his left. Underneath the surface of the river, they could see the shadow of the Gyarados approaching them.

"Don't worry Ash," Misty said. "We'll take care of him." As she said this, she nodded over at Gyarados.

"No, don't!" Ash yelled, halting her before she could order an attack. "I wanna catch it still."

"How are you gonna do that?" Misty asked, aggravated that her friend wouldn't let her help him out, and scared as she watched the blue dragon loom ever closer to where they were standing.

"Watch and learn," Ash said, smirking. He grabbed a pokeball from his belt and threw it at the water. "I choose you Buizel!"

As the pokeball opened, the weasel-looking Pokémon jumped into the water.

"Bui, bui," it stated as it saw the Gyarados coming towards it.

"Buizel, wait until the Gyarados gets a littles closer," Ash commanded to the waiting Pokémon.

Nodding its head, Buizel simply floated in the water, waiting for its master's next command.

_It sure trusts Ash, _Misty noted as she waited to see what Ash was planning.

As the Gyarados got within ten feet of Ash's battling partner, Ash unleashed his strategy.

"Now Buizel, use Waterfall to get up in the air!" As Ash gave the order, Buizel shot a large stream of water below its body that forced it up into the air. As it did this, the Gyarados finally brought its head above water, seeing that its prey, Ash and Misty, were near.

As it began to open its massive jaw, Ash implemented the next phase of his plan.

"Use Ice Jet!" he ordered, as his eyes locked with those of his opponent.

"Ash," Misty said confused. "Ice Jet isn't an-"

She was interrupted as she saw Buizel suddenly rush toward the Gyarados, completely covered in ice.

As Buizel made contact with the Gyarados, the ice shattered and the blue Pokémon appeared dazed as it rose from the water, towering over the trainers and their Pokémon, and then fell backwards.

"Now use Ice Beam Buizel!" Ash ordered, knowing he had only seconds before the giant Pokémon would be back on the attack.

Obeying its trainer once again, Buizel quickly shot off a large jet of ice while remaining above water by rapidly spinning its tail. The Ice Beam was very effective, and completely covered the upper-half of the Gyarados' body.

As the once-strong dragon-looking Pokémon flailed its tail about, Ash knew it was time.

"I've got you now!" he cried as he threw a net pokeball at the Gyarados. In a flash of brilliant red light, the Pokémon was captured inside the blue and black ball. While floating on the river, the ball rocked a few times back and forth as the wild Pokémon struggled to break free. However, after a couple of seconds, the red light in the center of the device faded, and the pokeball automatically teleported to Professor Oak's lab. At the site of the teleportation, Ash leapt in victory.

"I caught 'im!" Ash celebrated.

"Good job Ash," Misty congratulated, slapping him on the back. "I hate to admit, but that was pretty impressive."

"_Pretty _impressive?" Ash asked, shocked. "That was single-handedly the best performance of Pokémon-capturing anyone has ever seen! What are you talking about it being _pretty _impressive?"

Feeling herself grow frustrated at his over-confidence, Misty had an idea.

"Why, fifty years from now, you'll be telling you're grandchildren about that capture. Professor Oak will write poetry about-"

Ash was suddenly silenced as he felt Misty give him a shove from behind.

"Ah!" he cried as he fell face-first towards the water below. Looking up from the river's surface, he saw Misty leaning against her water Pokémon's long neck, laughing uncontrollably, and was surprised to even see his Pikachu chuckling slightly at the prank.

"Hmph!" Ash said, swimming back over to Misty, who helped him upon Gyarados once again.

"You know," he stated, withdrawing Buizel into its pokeball, "that wasn't necessary."

Still giggling, Misty replied. "Yeah, but it was fun. You should have seen the look on your face when you looked up at me!"

"Just bring us back to the boat," Ash said, put out with Misty's behavior and the cold which was gripping him like a vice. Despite the scorching sun, the winds upon the river were still very strong, and he felt like he was catching pneumonia.

"Oh fine, you spoil-sport," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "C'mon Gyarados, let's go back to Brock."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A few hours later, Ash, Brock, and Misty had returned to their hotel.

"Man, it sure is nice not having to hang out at those crummy Pokémon Centers anymore," Brock said, contentedly, while stretching out on the sofa in Ash's room.

"I know," Ash said, while putting on his sneakers. "We practically grew up in Centers, but now that I've got some money, I'm more than happy to leave them behind. Remember how grungy they always were?"

"Yeah," Brock agreed, "but you can't really blame them. I mean, the PCs usually hold like fifty or sixty trainers a night."

"I guess so, but it still would've been nice if they could have kept their rooms a little cleaner," Ash stated.

As he finished tying up his shoe, he heard a knock at the door.

"That must be Mist," Brock said, getting up to answer the door. As he opened it, Ash noticed that Misty was in a similar get-up to the one she wore a week earlier, except now she wore a blue-ruffled shirt, and no jacket over it.

Purposely avoiding making a mockery of himself as he had last week when he saw her dolled up, he kept his head down facing his sneakers until she had come in and was sitting across from him in an empty chair.

"So what are we gonna do tonight?" she asked inquisitively, wondering why Ash was suddenly so interested in his shoes.

"Uh, I dunno," he replied, slowly facing Misty.

_Remember what she did to you earlier today, _Ash told himself. He found that the only way he could stop from gawking at his travelling companion was to remember some cruel joke she had played on him. As he thought back to being shoved into the water earlier in the afternoon, he began seeing her as the young girl with whom he shared a deep-seated rivalry again, rather than the attractive young woman that she was.

"Well, I was thinking that we could go to this restaurant I heard of, called _The Duke's Palace_," Brock suggested. "I read they make a great Porthouse Steak!"

"You can't wait to blow my money, can you Brock-o?" Ash asked jokingly.

_I probably have enough money to buy _The Duke's Palace_, _he thought to himself proudly.

"Well, you're right," Brock said, smiling, "but that's not the case this evening. I just got my check from PokeBreeders Inc. for my internship in three weeks, and let's just say I'll take care of the bill tonight."

"Wow Brock!" Misty exclaimed, sounding impressed. "I can't believe they're paying you for being an intern!"

"Well, that's just part of the deal the professor was able to work out for me," Brock said, sounding grateful. "I don't know what I would've done if it hadn't been for him."

"You'd probably be a stupid gym leader again," Ash blurted out without thinking. Realizing what he had said the moment it left his throat, he tried to apologize to Misty, but he could tell by her ever-reddening face that it was too late.

"What's the problem with gym leaders, Ketchum?" she asked in an angry whisper. "You jealous because you know you could never be one?"

Incensed by her insult, Ash scoffed, temporarily forgetting his fear of the red-head.

"Call me crazy, Mist, but I think that owning thirty-six badges and seven Frontier Symbols proves that I'm more than capable of being a gym leader."

"Oh yeah?" Misty asked, angered that Ash's fear of her hadn't stopped him from being a jerk. "How about we battle right now to find out if you're good enough to be a leader then?"

Grinning at the challenge to a battle, Ash quickly nodded his head, and both trainers rushed outside the hotel before they could hear Brock complain about their overly-competitive attitudes.

"Three on three?" Misty asked when they had reached the coastline of Vermillion (which was several feet away from the hotel in which they were staying).

"You got it!" Ash responded. "For my first Pokémon, I'll-"

"Wait!" Brock cried in the distance. "You can't do this!"

"Don't try and stop us Brock!" ordered Misty to the breeder. "I'm gonna put this smart-alek in his place once and for all!"

"Yeah Brock!" Ash chimed in. "It's time someone show this kid that she's not all that great!"

"No," Brock said, finally within talking distance of the two angry trainers. "I mean you really can't do this. Check your belts."

Looking down, Ash and Misty were both shocked when they saw that their Pokémon were no longer by their side. They had both completely forgotten in their frustration that they had left their Pokémon at the Center before they had gone back to the hotel about an hour ago.

"Whoops," Ash said, rubbing the back of his head. "I forgot about that."

"Y-yeah, me too," Misty stuttered embarrassedly. She felt grateful that the sun was setting over the water, because there was not enough light for Ash and Brock to see that she was growing red. Unlike earlier however, she was now blushing out of humiliation, not fury.

"Yeah, you did, morons," Brock muttered.

"Hey!" Ash cried. "We were just excited, that's all!"

"Yeah!" Misty agreed. She didn't like anyone, especially girl-crazy Brock, telling her she wasn't smart.

"Fine, whatever," Brock said, hoping not to kindle any anger against him. "Can we go eat now? Ash, you can't tell me you're not starving. We haven't eaten since breakfast."

Feeling his stomach growl, Ash knew Brock was right. After the incident with the Gyarados, the trio was upset to find that the picnic basket containing all of their food had been tossed overboard. However, despite their pleas, Ash refused to go until he had caught the last Pokémon on his list that he needed from Vermillion; a Shellder. Fortunately, the Shellder caused a lot less damage than the previous Pokémon had, but unfortunately it had taken a lot longer than expected to catch, and now it had been about ten hours since any of them had eaten.

"He's right!" Ash hollered. "I'm about to keel over! Let's go to that place. I'm gonna get the biggest steak they have."

"Me too!" Misty agreed excitedly, running towards the parking lot where her car was parked. Ash was hot on her trail.

Brock remained on the beach a second later than his companions as he struggled to understand how food had so quickly resolved the conflict between the three of them, but then sprinted to catch up with them.

"Hey, not too big guys!" he yelled from behind them. "Remember, I'm buying!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Two hours later, the three travelers were stuffed to the rafters in good food. The place that Brock had chosen was very nice, and the portions of the meals they had each chosen were remarkably large.

"Ugh," Ash groaned, trying to sit up straight in the booth. He had the whole side of the table to himself, so he had laid down for a minute after such vigorous eating. "I can't believe I just ate twenty ounces of cow." After he said this, he gave up the fight for sitting, and fell back down onto the plush booth seat.

"I know," Brock said, sounding just as sickly as his friend. He and Misty had sat next to each other, and were now leaning against each other for support. "I think my heartbeat stopped."

"That's nothing," Misty said. "I haven't eaten that much in forever."

Temporarily forgetting his aching stomach, Ash propped himself up on his elbow and peered over the table at the water trainer.

"Why are _you _full?" he asked, almost sounding insulted that she should try and join in the conversation with the guys after they had eaten so much. "You had a salad!"

"Yeah, but did you see how big it was?" Misty responded.

"I did," said Ash, "but that's 'cause I ate half of it for you! Face it Misty, you're a wimp when it comes to eating."

"Oh yeah, that's a contest I wanna win," Misty shot back sarcastically. "I don't need an electric scooter after every meal. I guess I lose."

Suddenly remembering his full stomach again, Ash groaned and laid back down on the booth.

"Where's that waiter?" Brock asked looking around. He couldn't wait to get back to the hotel and lay down.

"I dunno," replied Ash, already half-asleep, "but when he comes, can you ask him for an antacid or something?"

"Will do," Brock said, seeing that the waiter was approaching their table.

"I trust you all enjoyed your meals?" the waiter asked, looking at the stuffed teenagers. The restaurant was not really a formal place, but all the staff were dressed in nice tuxedos, and as the waiter stared at her, Misty felt a pang of guilt for appearing so under-dressed in comparison.

"Yes, very much," Brock said, taking out his wallet.

"Would any of you like to see our deserts list before I give the bill?" asked the waiter out of habit. However, he knew their response before they gave it.

"Ugh!" they all cried in unison.

"Right then," the waiter responded, handing Brock the little black book with the receipt in it.

"Thank you very much," Brock said, stuffing the money into the book and handing it back to the waiter. "Keep the change."

"Thank you, sir," the waiter said, bowing slightly before turning around and tending to another table.

As the group slowly got to their feet and began heading out the door, the three of them heard a very familiar voice yell from outside.

"Raichu, use Thunder now!"

"Is that-?" Ash asked, not finishing the question. He ran outside, but did not see anyone there. Confused, he ran in the direction where he saw sparks flying through the air, his full stomach completely replaced by curiosity. Misty and Brock were right behind him.

They ran about a quarter-mile before they turned the corner of a building and saw Lieutenant Surge and his Raichu, in front of the Pokémon Center. Although they could not make out what was going on exactly, it was evident that something big was happening by the large amount of spectators witnessing the scene from above in their apartments and offices.

"Machoke, throw that rat in the air, and Venasaur, use Solarbeam!" Ash heard a woman command. Although he could not see her well, he did see the Machoke use Vital Throw on Raichu and the Venasaur blast it with a strong Solarbeam.

"CHUUUUUU!" it cried as it hit the pavement with a thud.

Running over to help, Ash realized that he didn't have any Pokémon on hand.

"Now use Vine Whip to throw that moron out of the way!" the woman hissed to her Venasaur.

Unsure of how he could help, Ash simply watched on as the vines of the large grass Pokémon wrapped around his old teacher.

"Steelix, Take Down!" Brock suddenly ordered as he threw a pokeball in between the leader and the woman.

Emerging from the ball in a flash of white light, the large metallic Pokémon dove headfirst into the Venasaur, forcing it to release Surge and sending it flying into the Machoke.

"Forget this!" the woman yelled, thrown off by the unanticipated intrusion. As she said this, she threw a pokeball.

As Ash, Misty, and Brock saw the Pokémon emerge from the pokeball, their mouths simultaneously fell open.

"Fearow!" cried the bird Pokémon as it landed on the pavement. Jumping onto the fierce creature, the woman began to fly off.

Knowing that she had his Pokémon (it was a gut instinct), Ash took control of the situation.

"Steelix, use Flash Cannon!" he commanded to the metal snake. Although Steelix did not belong to him, he was good enough friends with its owner to battle with it as if it were his own.

Opening its mouth, Steelix shot a burst of light towards the departing Pokémon and its master.

"Aaaaaah!" cried the woman as she and the Fearow hit the ground. Although they were not high enough to cause serious harm, she was very disoriented and Ash saw a large bag fall to the side of the large bird Pokémon before the two took off to the sky again.

Having lost interest in her after seeing the bag fall, already having a feeling of what was inside, Ash ran over to it and found that it was made of rubber.

_Rubber doesn't conduct electricity, _he thought to himself as he opened the bag and Pikachu sprung out.

"Pikachu!" he cried as he gave his friend a hug. He rummaged through the bag and found five other pokeballs, which he already knew were his.

"Ashy!" he heard Lieutenant Surge call from behind him. "You're back!"

Turning around to greet his old friend, Ash grinned.

"What are you doing here?" Surge asked as he came and shook hands with the trainer.

"I think the more important question is what you were doing here," Ash said. "If it weren't for you, that woman would've taken off with my Pokémon."

"Those were yours?" Surge asked, sounding shocked. "I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years!"

"Yep, we've been here the past couple of days," Ash told him, feeling very grateful for his preventing Mallory from escaping with his Pokémon.

"Well, Nurse Joy over there," as he said this, he motioned to the young nurse with his head, "was yelling for help when I was on my way to my apartment building from the gym. She said that woman had just stolen some Pokémon, and so I decided to help out since the police weren't around."

"Well, it looks like Raichu had his hands full," Ash noted as he looked past Surge's shoulder to find the electric Pokémon still lying half-unconscious in the middle of the street.

"Oh man!" Surge yelled, running back towards his battling partner. "I'm sorry little buddy. Don't worry, we're gonna fix you up nice and good. You did a great job back there."

As he recalled his Raichu back to its respective pokeball, Ash, Misty and Brock walked over to Surge.

"So you know who that creep was?" he asked them when they reached him.

"Yeah," said Brock. "She stole Ash's Pokémon before and put him in a coma."

"Oh man, that's right!" Surge said, his face the epitome of realization. "I read all about that in the paper. That's why I didn't expect to find you here. I would've thought you'd be at home resting still."

"No," Misty answered for Ash, "we're still travelling. We're just doing it a little more discreetly so we can avoid being recognized."

"Wow!" Surge said, sounding genuinely impressed. "I remember when you couldn't reach my shoulder in height, and were just a scrawny little rookie. Now look at ya! You're a big-time Champion tryin' to avoid the paparazzi!"

Laughing at the change himself, Ash nodded his head.

"I guess a lot has changed since I last saw you," he said.

"I guess so," Surge agreed. "Well, I hate to cut this visit short, but I need to get Raichu here to the Pokémon Center. I hope you all understand."

"Of course!" the three trainers said in unison.

"Great," Surge said, turning around.

"Hey Ash!" he suddenly called back as the trio began to walk back the direction they came from.

"Yeah?" he asked quizzically.

"Don't worry about the police report. I'll fill 'em in on the details."

"Thanks a lot!" Ash yelled back sincerely. It was always a hassle trying to tell the police about a Team Rocket theft.

As they continued back towards the restaurant where Misty's car waited for them, Ash was reminded of a question that had popped in his head a few minutes earlier when he saw Brock recall Steelix to its pokeball.

"Hey Brock," he started, " why do you have your Steelix with you? I thought we gave Nurse Joy all of our Pokémon."

"Nah," he replied. "I always keep one Pokémon with me just to be on the safe-side. From the look of things, you'd be smart to do the same from now on."

"Heh, heh. I guess so," Ash replied, feeling a little childish having to be taught such a simple lesson so late in life.

_Why did I forget to keep a Pokémon with me? _he thought to himself in a scolding voice. _It's like Ma said; people are gonna be coming after me. I have to be ready for anything from now on._

"Why do you think that Mallory keeps following us?" asked Misty, breaking Ash from his mental self-beatdown. "I swear, she's worse than Jessie and James. At least they never did any real harm and were easy to get rid of."

"Well, in fairness, she was pretty easy to scare off too," Brock reminded her.

"Yeah, but did Jessie and James ever put Ash in a coma?" Misty asked Brock.

"No, you're right," he consented. "She's definitely trouble. Speaking of Jessie and James though, I wonder why we haven't seen those guys around in so long?"

"I dunno how the Team Rocket operation works," Ash interjected in the conversation, "but I bet that when this Mallory girl started following us, Giovanni moved them to a different mission. Mallory definitely seems a little more skilled than they ever were, even if she did chicken out both times. Last time she even got my Pokémon to the Rocket hideout in Pallet, remember? That's better than anything Jessie or James ever could've done."

"That's right," Misty agreed. "We're all gonna have to be very careful from now on."

"You're right," Ash responded. In the distance he saw Misty's clunker waiting for them in the parking lot of the restaurant.

* * *

Author's Notes: This was definitely a hard chapter to write just because I feel a little like the story is in free-fall mode at the moment. I have a general idea of where I want to take the story, and I know certain plot-twists and other things that I want to happen at certain intervals, but in between those, I am kind of improvising. Just so you know though, many chapters will be more or less like this one (as I had mentioned in my first Author's Notes back in May). I will write certain chapters just about Ash catching a Pokemon, because right now that is what his goal is. However, never fear, because as I said a few sentences ago, I have a long list of plot-twists and sub-plots that will be revealed and resolved while the main plot of the story (Ash achieve Master Rank / Ash and Misty's relationship develops) continues to unfold.

Well, enough of me. Here are my recommendations for this week:

"Can't Get Enough" by MsRainey - It's just a short chaptered AAML fic. I decided to recommend this one because although it is not the most eloquently-written fic I have read, it certainly is a good little read if you're interested in Pokeshipping.

"Misty Returns to DiamondPearl!" by HighQueen - This is a chaptered fic (pretty long too) that is basically about what the title says. I honestly don't want to say much because I haven't had enough time to read the whole thing yet, but it really is a good idea. (HQ, I'll review this soon)

"Friendship, Love and Rivalry" by PrincesSTiger - I had almost forgotten about this fic accidentally because I had not remembered to add it to my favorites list, but now that I have, I am catching up on it, and I want to recommend it again (I haven't done so in a month). It's a story wherein Dawn, Brock, Misty, and Ash, along with a new character, are all brought together to help Ash finish his quest. It's a very good idea, and I recommend everyone read and review it. PST, I'll review this one again soon too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the installment, and like I say; if you liked it, or hated it, REVIEW PLEASE!


	12. Getting Noticed

**Hey Everybody!** Well, here's chapter twelve. I know I said last week like I felt as if the story were in "free fall mode", but this week I feel much better because I have introduced a new sub-plot that will definitely interest most (if not all) of you, and will certainly help develop the main plot of the story and the characters. As per usual, can't really talk much about it, but I will say that this chapter involves battling and khaki jeans, so what more can you ask for from a fic? Anyway, I hope you enjoy it, but even if you don't PLEASE REVIEW! I know I sound spoiled, but last week I had a record number of views for my story in one day (433), but also had a near-record low number of reviews for the chapter (10), when I usually receive about fifteen. I'm not a jerk who says that he won't write anymore until I receive more comments (seriously, I've heard of people who do that…what the crap?), and I understand that many of y'all are busy with lives of your own, but even if you only have time for a one-word compliment or flame, I would love to hear it. As I always say, I'm writing this story for y'all, not myself, so I want to hear what you think! REVIEW PLEASE, and enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokémon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are solely based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Alright, it's my turn!" yelled the determined young trainer as he took his place about sixty feet opposite Ash.

"You're on!" Ash replied, throwing his next pokeball between the two battlers. In a flash of light, Torkoal appeared from the red and white sphere.

"I choose you, Rattata!" screamed the boy. A second later, the purple rat Pokémon was facing Ash's gigantic turtle Pokémon.

"Let the battle begin," announced another young boy standing on a park bench several feet away from where the actual battle was about to take place. He had been refereeing the battles between Ash and the challengers all morning. However, Ash had promised him an autographed photo and six-on-six battle for his cooperation, so he was more than happy to oblige.

"Rattata, use Quick Attack," the ten year old commanded.

Instantly, Rattata disappeared from where he had been standing and was to the right of Torkoal. As he began to charge forward at the fire type, Ash made his move.

"Torkoal, Harden!" he commanded.

THUD

The Rattata had hit his opponent head-first with the Quick Attack, and was now paying the price for it. Torkoal's shell had glistened as it became rock-hard, causing the small rat Pokémon to take serious damage for its attempt at an attack.

"Rat, rat, at," the dazed Pokémon whimpered as it swayed back and forth. Both trainers watched it intently, waiting to see if it could recover for another attack. However, a few moments later, the Pokémon fell to its side with a defeated look in its eye.

"Rattata is unable to battle, Torkoal is the winner!" cried the young boy from his spot on the bench.

"Great job Torkoal," Ash said, approaching his friend and patting its shell.

"Koooooal," it replied happily.

As Ash returned his Pokémon to its pokeball, he went over to his opponent, who was fussing over his injured battling partner.

"Don't worry," Ash comforted as he stole a glance at the beat up Rattata. "He'll be fine. You just need to show him to Nurse Joy over at the Pokémon Center."

"Really?" asked the boy, appearing hopeful as he heard his idol's words of wisdom. "What if he broke his skull?"

"You sound as worried as me when I started out," Ash replied, laughing. "I used to fret over my Pokémon constantly, which is a good thing. But you need to make sure that you don't overreact to an injury your Pokémon gets. Your Rattata really is fine, he just needs a little rest, kay?"

"Okay," the boy replied gratefully. "Thanks for battling with me. I thought that if I could beat you in a one-on-one battle, that would mean I could be Champion someday."

"Don't worry about it," Ash said flippantly. "I've just had experience. If you and your Pokémon keep working hard, I'm sure y'all will be just as strong as me and my team. Heck, you might end up challenging me for my title someday."

"I hope so," said the boy as he recalled the Rattata. "Can I have your autograph before I go?"

"Sure thing," Ash said. "What do you want me to sign?"

"How about my Rattata's pokeball?" asked the boy, sounding excited at the thought.

"Okay!" Ash agreed. He loved giving autographs.

Despite this cheery scene however, in the distance Misty and Brock were not nearly as pleased about what was going on.

"Ugh," Misty said, watching Ash give another autograph. "He just loves being the center of attention, doesn't he?"

"He sure does," Brock agreed tiredly. They had been at the park since six that morning, and as it neared noon both the breeder and leader lost their interest in what their friend was doing.

"This is all Lieutenant Surge's fault," Misty complained as she let her head fall back against the large oak tree she and Brock were lying under.

"How do you figure?" asked Brock.

"How do you think everyone in Vermillion suddenly knew where we were?" asked Misty, sounding angry. "That loud-mouth gym leader is like a rock star around here. I bet that he told everyone he saw that we were hanging around, and that's how they figured it out."

"Well, even if that is true, we shouldn't blame Lieutenant Surge for this," Brock pointed out. "I mean, after all, Ash _is _the one who agreed to take on all challengers and sign autographs."

"You're right," Misty agreed. "I was actually kind of impressed when I first heard he was wanting to avoid attention, but now I think that he just doesn't like talking to reporters. When pretty girls or trainers start admiring him, he suddenly has no problem telling the world his identity."

"That's true," Brock nodded as he said this. "And the worst part of it all is that none of the girls are interested in talking to me!"

All day long, women had been coming up to Ash, obviously very impressed by his fame and notoriety, but every time Brock came near to introduce himself they suddenly sprinted off, not even giving him their names usually.

"Well, at least it looks like he's done now," Brock said, sounding relieved as he saw that the long line of trainers who had wanted to battle Ash had finally dissipated to nonexistence.

"Really?" Misty asked, her head popping up from its relaxed position. "Let's go get him in the car before more people come."

Running over to Ash, both Brock and Misty were happy to see that the coast appeared clear.

_Maybe now we can get back on the road, _Misty thought happily. The drive to Saffron City was going to take a few hours, and she didn't want to get there too late.

"Ash, you ready to go?" asked Brock as they approached their friend.

"Yep," he said, looking happy. "I got to train a lot of the new Pokémon I caught, and I must have signed at least a thousand autographs. I'd say my work here is done."

"Good, then hurry up and get to the car," Misty ordered. She was annoyed at how proud he sounded of himself.

_You just beat a bunch of rookie trainers, _she though. _Whoop-de-doo._

"Wait a minute!" the group heard a young voice call from behind them as they began to walk towards the parking lot.

Turning around, Misty saw the young boy who had been refereeing the battles jump off the bench he had been standing on and run over to Ash.

"You promised if I refereed the battles that we could have our own six-on-six battle," he reminded the champion.

Smacking his head in remembrance, Ash looked apologetically at his friends.

"Uh, he's right guys. I'm sorry, but I did promise him that we'd have a battle."

"What?" Misty asked, growing angry again. "Ketchum, we've been watching you battle for six hours. We're not gonna sit and wait for you to finish up here."

"But guys, I promised," Ash said pleadingly.

"Fine, but I'm going. Whether you come or not is up to you." As she said this, she walked off in a huff towards the car.

"Hold up Mist," Brock said calmly. "I'm sure there's a happy medium we can reach here. Ash, how about this; Misty and I will go to that new mall that we passed by earlier and hang out. When you're done here, you go there and meet up with us."

"Sounds good to me!" Ash agreed, happy to resolve the conflict as painlessly as possible.

"Fine," Misty said, still sounding annoyed. "But you better hurry up Ash! We can't wait forever for you to finish showing off."

"What?" Ash asked, now sounding angry too.

"Nothing, nothing," Brock replied for the redhead as he pushed her towards the parking lot.

"Keep quiet!" he urged in a whisper to the girl as they went further away from Ash.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A couple of hours later, Misty was feeling much better about their decision to stay in Vermillion and walk around the mall some. They had eaten some pizza at the food court, played a few games at the arcade, and had browsed through several stores while enjoying each other's company.

"So then we headed back here," Brock wrapped up. He had been updating Misty on Ash's travels with Dawn and himself as they worked their way through the jungle of sales and restaurants.

"Wow," Misty said, impressed. "A lot happened while I was gone. That Paul guy sounds like a jerk to me."

"Yeah, he was, but the odd thing is that his and Ash's rivalry was very different than the rivalry between Ash and Gary," Brock noted.

"How so?" she asked, mildly intrigued.

"Well, you remember how Ash and Gary were constantly at each other's throats growing up, right?"

"Oh yeah," Misty affirmed, almost laughing as she remembered all the different times the two overconfident trainers had clashed.

"Well, Ash was just different with Paul," Brock explained. "I mean, Paul was a much bigger jerk than Gary in my opinion, but Ash handled their rivalry with a lot more maturity than he had with Gary. Every time they would get into a fight about something, Ash would almost always try and reconcile, although Paul usually ignored him."

"That's odd," Misty said.

"I know, you'd think Paul would wanna make friends, not enemies."

"No, no," Misty replied, shaking her head. "I mean about Ash being mature. That sure doesn't sound like him to me."

"I don't blame you for sounding surprised, but it's true," Brock said. "It's weird because Ash is still a little overconfident and headstrong, but only when he's around you does he act as immature as he did when he was ten."

"Lucky me," Misty murmured.

"Yeah," Brock said, chuckling, "I guess when he's around you, it reminds him of when he was younger, so he just acts like he did back then. Of course, I don't see you acting much more mature around him either."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Misty asked, shooting daggers with her eyes as she looked at Brock. She had now come to a complete halt in the middle of the crowd moving throughout the mall, and Brock had to stop to face her.

"Uh, nothing, I-I didn't say anything," he said, waving his hands as if he hoped to wipe the memory of his statement away.

"I'll have you know that I'm very mature, Brock," Misty hissed as she poked the breeder on the chest. "It's just that Ash is an _idiot_, so I get flustered sometimes when I'm around him."

"Oh, okay," Brock said, easing away from Misty. He was glad to see that she had at least gotten a little less violent as she had grown older.

"Let's go out to the front of the mall and wait for Ash. He should be here pretty soon," she said, suddenly pivoting one hundred and eighty degrees on her left foot and walking towards the exit of the large shopping center.

Sure enough, several minutes later the two saw Ash approaching them, looking as if he had rolled around in a pile of dirt.

"What happened to you?" Brock asked, almost sounding horrified as he saw that Ash's clothes were not only dirty, but also ripped in several places. "Did you have a run-in with a serial killer or something?"

"No," Ash answered, laughing. "It was that battle I had with that kid. I think his name was Darion."

"How could you get this dirty from a Pokémon battle?" Misty inquired. She couldn't believe how darkly-tinted Ash's clothes were by the layers of dirt on top of them.

"Well, it turns out he wasn't just another kid wanting a Pokémon battle," Ash said. "He was actually one of the contenders in the Indigo League, and he was in the top eight of all competitors before he lost."

"Whoa!" Brock exclaimed. "He couldn't have been older than eleven."

"Well, I did pretty well in that tournament when I was eleven," Ash reminded him.

"Yeah, but you didn't make the final eight," Misty told him.

"Whatever," Ash said, casting aside the remark for the moment. "So anyway, he's getting ready to go to the Hoenn region to compete in their League, and he heard that I was in town. He said he wanted to battle me before he left tomorrow so he could improve, but I have to say it was more of a learning experience for me than it was for him."

"Whaddya mean?" Brock asked, now engrossed in the story.

"Well, you see, I thought he was just another rookie, so I didn't switch out any of the Pokémon I had for tougher ones using my pokedex. I just had two trained Pokémon, and then the ones I've caught over the past two weeks."

"No way!" Brock and Misty shouted in unison.

"Yep," Ash nodded, suddenly basking in the warmth of their interest. "So we started the battle and he sent out his Venasaur and I sent out my Horsea."

"That's not a good combination," Brock remarked.

"You're telling me," Ash murmured. "Within no more than thirty seconds, I had lost that battle."

"So what ended up happening?" asked Misty, curious. "Did he win?"

"Well, no, but he barely lost."

"How did you pull it off?" Brock queried.

"I just used all the Pokémon I had recently caught, you know, Horsea, Slowpoke, and Gyarados," Ash explained. "Believe it or not, I actually beat his Venasaur with Slowpoke's psychic attacks, and I took down two more with Gyarados. After he beat those, though, I had to use my trained Pokémon."

"Yeah, yeah," Misty said eagerly, wanting to move the details aside. "But how did you end up looking like _this_?" As she asked him, she indicated his messy clothes with a flourish of her hands.

"Oh yeah," he said, as if he'd forgotten why they had asked him about the battle to begin with. "Well, in the final battle, it was my Staraptor against his Starmie. I used Sand Attack to temporarily blind his Pokémon when-"

"Ash," Misty interrupted, closing her eyelids with her hand, "Starmie don't have eyes. How did you plan on blinding it?"

"Well, I didn't say I had come up with a great plan, did I?" Ash asked.

"No, I guess you didn't," Misty relented. "So all of this dirt on you; it's from that Sand Attack?"

"Yep," Ash answered. "But I won with a Brave Bird attack, so it all worked put for the best."

"Yeah, but how did your clothes end up ripped?" Brock inquired as he stared at the torn up t-shirt and jeans.

"Heh, actually," Ash began, rather sheepishly, "that happened when I tripped on a gravel path in the park on the way out."

Groaning, the two friends rolled their eyes simultaneously as Ash waited to hear what sarcastic comments would protrude from Misty's lips. However, what she said actually caught him off guard.

"I guess we better buy you some new clothes then," she said, in a tone that reminded Ash a lot of his mother.

"Say what?" he asked bewildered.

"You heard her," Brock said. "We need to get you some new clothes."

"What? But why?" the trainer asked in a whining voice.

"Why? Look at you!" Misty said, once again indicating Ash's clothes with a flourish of her hands. "We don't need people thinking your homeless."

"They already do when they see what we're driving in," Ash said under his breath.

"Shut up!" Misty commanded. However, her anger was quickly diverted when she heard a muffled laugh coming from behind her. She turned to see Brock holding a hand over his mouth.

"What, you think that was funny?" she snarled. She gave him a look that dared him to say anything other than "no".

"N-no. It's just that _was _pretty witty. Especially coming from Ash."

"Whatever, I'll deal with you later," she said, pointing at Ash. "But for now, we have to go get some clothes."

"Come _on,_" Ash said. "We can just wash these ones."

"Ash, Misty's right," Brock interjected. "You're not twelve anymore. You have to look nice, and those clothes are beyond repair. Besides, we already promised your mom that we'd buy a new outfit for you once we were in Cerulean, and I completely forgot to do that when we were there. If she calls and sees you still wearing that ratty thing, then she'll have me hung."

"Oh, alright," Ash gave in. "But only because we promised Ma."

"That's more like it," Brock said, in a voice that agitated Ash. It sounded like something his father would say.

"C'mon guys!" Misty called. Ash was surprised to see she was already at the entrance, holding the doors open. "We've got some serious work to do!"

"Wow! She sure got over there fast," Ash remarked as he and Brock headed towards the building.

"Well Ash, there's one thing you should know about women," Brock told him in a lower voice as they got closer to the redhead.

"What?" Ash asked, wondering why his friend was getting quieter.

"Almost all girls love to shop, and Misty is definitely no exception to that rule."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So what do you think about this?" Misty asked Ash for the hundredth time that hour, holding up a pair of blue jeans.

"Looks exactly like the ones you had a minute ago, which looked fine," Ash replied, tired from standing there and looking at identical pieces of clothing.

"These are not the same kind," Misty stated, appearing disgusted by Ash's lack of knowledge. "These have pockets on the sides."

"I thought you were known as the 'Tom boy mermaid'," Ash said. "When did you suddenly become so girly?"

"I'm not girly!" Misty replied, hot-headedly. "I'm still kind of a tom boy. I just like to look nice, which wouldn't be a bad habit for you to pick up on, by the way."

"But I like how I look. Can't we just buy another hood jacket and jeans and get out of here?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "You're a Pokémon Champion now, and you have to look like it."

"What do you think a Champion looks like?" Ash asked, confused.

"Well, you know, like the Kanto Champion, Lance. He's always nicely dressed."

"Yeah, he's always wearing a suit and tie," Ash said, sticking out his tongue. "Mist, if you think I'm gonna dress up in a suit and cape while I try and catch every Pokémon, then you're crazy."

"I'm not saying that," Misty replied while rolling her eyes. "I'm just sayin' that you need to look a little more professional in your attire. You know, like maybe wear khaki jeans instead of blue ones. Also, we should probably get rid of that hat."

"What???!!!" Ash screamed, backing several feet away from Misty. "You touch my hat and I'll kill you."

"What's the big deal?" she asked.

"Are you kidding me? I've worn a hat since the beginning of my journey," Ash said in a voice which reminded Misty of a voice television characters used before having a flashback.

"Fine, but can we at least get rid of that orange one? Here, try this blue one instead." She handed him a navy-colored cap from a nearby rack.

"No way," Ash said, placing his hands on the hat covering his head. "I like this hat. Burnt orange is the color of a team I really like."

"Really?" Misty asked. She couldn't think of a sports team with burnt orange as its color. "Which team is it?"

"Oh, you wouldn't have heard of it," Ash said, obviously not wanting to talk about it.

_Very odd, _she thought to herself.

"Hey guys," Brock said, suddenly walking up behind Ash. "Look at what I found." He held up a plain, black polo shirt.

"Ew, Brock," Misty said, scrunching up her nose. "Can't you find something with a little more color in it?"

"Actually, I like it," Ash told the breeder. "If I'm gonna have to wear a nice shirt, I want it to be that one."

"Oh, fine," Misty said.

_Why should I care anyway? _she asked mentally.

"Now Brock, let's go find some good clothes," Ash said, grabbing his friends arm and walking towards a section of clothing that was labeled "outdoor wear" on a sign hanging from the ceiling.

"What are you talking about, Ash?" Misty asked him as he stopped in his tracks.

"Well, you can't expect me to always look nice," Ash explained. "So me and Brock are gonna look for some clothes that will be easier to wear in the outdoors when I have to be in forests or caves looking for Pokémon."

"I thought you were just gonna wear these clothes," Misty said, holding up the khaki jeans and polo.

"Why would I do that?" Ash inquired. "So I could impress an Ursaring before it tried to eat me?" As he said this, he and Brock both laughed and began to walk towards the outdoor section.

Sighing, Misty stood there for a moment, about to bring his clothes to the register when she suddenly realized something.

"Ash!" she yelled. "I'm not your servant. Get back here and take these stupid clothes now!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As they walked out of the mall, Ash actually looked very pleased with himself.

"I can't wait to try out those new hiking shoes I bought," he announced as they approached the car.

"I know," Brock said, dipping his head down as he got in the backseat. "Those will definitely come in handy when you go to Mount Moon in a few weeks."

"Yeah, I know," he replied excitedly. As he got in the passenger seat, he began to close the door.

"Excuse me!" called a voice from behind the vehicle.

Turning around, Ash was surprised to see it was a young woman. As she approached the passenger-side door, he couldn't recognize who she was.

"Excuse me," she said again, blushing slightly. "I'm sorry, but my friends over there (she pointed to a group of girls who were also standing almost immediately behind the car) and I thought you struck an odd resemblance to Ash Ketchum. Is it really you?"

"Yeah, it's me," Ash replied, smiling. It wasn't the first time today he'd been recognized of course, but this was by far the prettiest woman to approach him. She had long brown hair that was pulled together in a ponytail, and had bangs that almost reached her eyes. She also had brown eyes, and seemed almost as tall as him, although he couldn't be positive from the position she had taken next to the car.

"Wow, okay," she said, suddenly looking as if she hadn't expected the reply. "Well-"

"Well nothing!" Brock suddenly yelled as he jumped out of the backseat and approached the young woman. "You're beautiful!"

"Why, um, thanks," she said, apparently less flattered than bewildered by the strange man who seemingly appeared from nowhere. "I, uh, I mean, you l-look nice too."

"Really?" he asked in a voice of unbelief.

_She just said I was the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen, _he thought to himself. _Better try and play it cool._

"Will you marry me?" he asked. As he did so, he dropped to his knees and took out a ring he kept in his jeans' pocket for such an occasion (which came about every few days).

"Uh, what?" she asked, thinking this was all some kind of weird joke.

"That's enough from you, lover-boy," Misty suddenly said, intervening in the affair by dragging Brock away by the ear.

"But don't you see?" he asked her as she opened the door and shoved him back into his seat. "She loves me!"

"No," Misty replied. "But she will love the judge who approves the restraining order for you if you don't cut this out."

"Sorry about that," Ash said, opening his door and getting out of the car so he didn't have to talk to the mysterious new girl at such an awkward angle.

"Oh, it's alright," she assured him as she began to blush again slightly.

"So did you need something, um-"

"Whitney," the girl told him.

"Right," Ash said, inwardly scolding himself for not asking of her name sooner. "Do you need something Whitney?"

"Oh, uh, no," she told him, beginning to walk away. "Just wanted to say 'hi'." However, as she returned to the group of girls she had apparently been hanging out with, they all started pushing her back towards Ash, and whispering to her in a harsh tone.

_What's going on here? _he asked to himself.

"Okay, okay," Whitney told her friends as she walked back towards the champion.

"Well, there was one thing I wanted to ask you," she confessed to Ash as she approached him once again. She gripped her right forearm tightly with her left hand as she appeared to struggle with her next sentence.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go to dinner sometime?" she asked hurriedly, as if thinking that the quicker it was said, the less painful it would be to ask.

Almost shocked, although not quite, Ash forced himself not to look too overjoyed as he heard her question.

"Sure," he replied coolly. "How about this evening?"

"Oh, uh, okay," Whitney replied, apparently repressing the joy in her wavering voice.

"Are you sure you'll be ready?" As she asked, she examined his torn up clothes and dirty face.

Laughing, Ash gave her a nod.

"Definitely," he said.

"Alright, where are you staying?" she asked.

"At Waltz's Inn and Suites," he informed her. "Is eight good for you?"

"Sure!" she replied, sounding giddier than she wanted. "I'll come pick you up then!"

"Sounds good to me," he told her. "Talk to you later."

"See ya!" she replied as she practically skipped back to her friends and began conversing with all of them simultaneously.

Climbing back in the car, Ash was instantly thrown off of his high horse as he saw both Brock and Misty glaring angrily at them.

"What's the matter?" he asked innocently.

"You stole my fiancé, that's the matter!" Brock accused as the car pulled out of the parking spot and they exited the mall premises.

"I did not Brock," Ash replied, sounding put out with Brock's obsession with women. "You didn't even know her name before I asked."

"Still," Brock said, much quieter now, "I could've sworn I felt a connection."

"What you felt were hormones," Misty corrected him as she drove towards the hotel.

"So what are you angry about?" Ash asked Misty, as he looked at the driver who had now shifted her angry glare from him to the road in front of them.

"I'm not angry!" she shot back, appearing taken aback when he asked her.

"Really?" he asked. "Because you certainly don't look like you're in a good mood."

"I'm not _angry_," she practically hissed at the young man, briefly staring him down before again focusing on the road.

"Oh, alrighty then," he responded, nervously twiddling his thumbs.

_Note to self: stay away from Misty, _he thought as they grew closer to Waltz's.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. This was a fun chapter to write from the perspective of trying to keep Misty kind of a tom-boy while also showing that she's matured over the past six years. Also, for any of you who may say that Ash wouldn't be interested in girls, or that he's too immature, I have to say that I disagree. I don't care how immature you are because a guy's a guy. If the girl is pretty (like I wrote Whitney as), then Ash is going to be attracted to her; it's only natural.

Anyway, in keeping with tradition, here's my recommendations:

"Closure" by Warlordess – Okay, I admit that I haven't looked for any new stories this week. Happy? However, this was one of the first fanfics I read (which was about eight months ago), and I have to say that to date it is one of the best pokeshipping stories I've seen on this site. If you get a chance, read it and its sequel "Possibilities".

Anyways, REVIEW PLEASE if you get the chance.

I also wanted to say that if anyone can point out the slightly obvious reference to the Texas Longhorns football team I kind of unnecessarily placed in this chapter to me, I will personally dedicate the next chapter to you. If there's more than one, then I'll dedicate it to all of y'all, however I'm not sure if you'll catch it or not.


	13. The Date

**Hello everybody!** Well, here's chapter thirteen of my fic (and only two days late). As I mentioned to some of y'all, I had this chapter done by Sunday, but when I reread it for editting purposes I realized I could do so much more than I had with this situation, and so I delayed publishing it until I had rewritten it to my satisfaction. On a bright note, this is my longest chapter yet, and oddly enough, in its original form it was one of my shortest chapters yet. I think you'll all like the romance, comedy, and slight amount of angst I blended in this chapter, and although I can't say much about it without giving away the plot, I personally thought this was one of the most fun installments yet! Anyway I hope you read and REVIEW PLEASE! As I said last week, I am happy to receive just one word comments (if that's all you have time for), but please give me some insight into what you think of the chapter. Without reviewers, this story really isn't worth writing, and I greatly appreciate any and all feedback that y'all are willing to give me.

On an unrelated note, I had several winners to last week's dedication contest. So in keeping with my promise to y'all, chapter thirteen, "The Date" is officially dedicated to: HighQueen, SecretAgent99, Monte-chan, and PerlaNemesis...that's it. Seriously. Quit reading. OKAY, OKAY, FINE! My guilty conciense (is that how you spell it?) is almost eating me alive, so I'll admit this chapter's also dedicated to licoricejellybean. Happy now LJB? I've wasted TWO chapters in dedication to you (and this one's actually good). I hope you can sleep soundly at night with that greedy soul.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Brock, are you sure this is all necessary?" Ash asked his friend as he examined his new outfit in the hotel room's full-length mirror.

"Of course Ash," Brock said, continuing to run the lent brush over the back of Ash's shirt. "I only wish we had gotten you lighter-colored polos than black and navy. You can see every speck of dust on this thing!" Agitated, he ran over the shirt a few more times with the brush before finally shrugging his shoulders and giving Ash a thumbs-up.

"So you think I'm ready?" Ash inquired, turning away from the mirror. He knew Brock had never been too successful at dating, or getting dates, but at the moment he felt like he needed some support.

"Well, you're definitely ready appearance-wise," Brock said, leaning against the room's sofa and rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "but I'm not so sure you're ready for this mentally."

"What do you mean mentally?"

"I mean, do you know what you're gonna talk about?" Brock asked him.

"Uh, well, I guess we're gonna talk about me being Champion, and-"

"Wrong!" Brock interrupted. "You never talk about yourself on a date. All women want to talk about ever, is themselves. You need to make sure that you never, and I mean never, discuss anything other than her!"

Taken aback by this newfound information, Ash struggled to comprehend. "So what should we talk about?" he asked, trying to fathom spending an entire evening listening to a girl talk about herself.

"Well, for starters, you should ask about her family," Brock informed the young trainer. "You know, about how many brothers and sisters she has, if she has a dog, how old is her grandmother, how many uncles does she have, if they enjoy-"

"Brock, I get it!" Ash interjected, now interrupting his friend. "Talk about the family."

"I'm not sure you do Ash," Brock told him, looking concerned. "When you're in that date, you're gonna be nervous. You may freeze up. That's why I made this." As he completed his last sentence, he handed Ash a small note card.

"What's this?" Ash asked, confusedly reading the words on the paper.

"It's a list of discussion topics I came up with if you need help," Brock said, appearing to be quite proud of himself. "If you find the conversation in a lull, just whip this out and the evening will be saved."

"Wow, Brock. Thanks!" Ash then put the note card in his khaki pants, and examined himself one more time in the mirror. "Also, thanks for the help with my hair. I thought we wouldn't ever get it to stay down." The hair had indeed taken forty-five minutes to fix, with the problem mainly due to Ash's incessant hat-wearing. However, they had finally put enough hair gel and spray on it to keep it down in the back and spiked up in the front. Although Ash wasn't sure the look suited him, he hadn't fixed his hair in so long that he was just grateful it was manageable.

"No problem," Brock said, waving his hand as if the hair had been no problem. "I'm happy to pass along any wisdom I have to you."

_Wisdom? _Ash thought to himself. _That guy creeps out women within a ten mile radius._

However, despite his thoughts, Ash gratefully smiled at his friend and said "thanks".

"Well, we need to get you outside of the hotel. It's seven forty, and Whitney seemed excited, so she might be here early," Brock said to him, opening the hotel door for him to walk out of.

"Alright, but I wanna see Mist first," Ash said as he walked out the door.

"Misty? Why?" Brock asked, unsure of the reason Ash needed to see the fiery redhead before going on his first date.

"Because she seemed so down earlier," Ash explained, walking down the long hallway. "I just wanna make sure she's okay."

As he reached Misty's door, which was situated next to the elevator, Brock grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"What is it Brock?" Ash inquired, sounding annoyed as he shoved the breeder's hand off of him.

"After all our time together, I can't believe you haven't learned your lesson, Ash," Brock said, shaking his head at his friend's naivety.

"What lesson?"

"Never irritate an upset Misty," Brock stated. He had a slight undertone of exasperation in his voice. "We all know how, uh…_passionate_ she can get when she's upset and people bug her."

"But I don't wanna bug her," Ash told him as he flailed his arms in frustration. "I wanna talk to her."

"That may be, but somehow your voice seems to bug her."

"So what? We just leave her in there locked up and upset until we leave?" Ash asked, completely irritated.

"No," Brock said, hoping to calm his friend down. "I'll tell you what. When you go off on your date, I'll go talk to Misty. Okay?"

Reluctantly, Ash agreed.

_I don't need to risk messing up my clothes anyway, _he thought as he entered the elevator and pushed the button for the main lobby.

"Good luck," Brock said, giving him another thumbs-up as the elevator door closed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash waited in the lobby for about ten minutes before he saw a red convertible with the top down pull up in front of the hotel lobby. Walking through the sliding glass doors, he greeted Whitney as she pulled the key out of the ignition.

"Hey there Whitney," he said, feeling his heart beat a thousand times per second as he examined his date. She was wearing her long brown hair down to her waist, and had on an elegant, strapless red dress.

_I definitely underdressed, _Ash realized, looking down at his own attire.

"Oh, hey!" she greeted, obviously thrown off by his presence. "I got here a little early, so I was about to go in and wait for you."

"I-I thought you might show up a little early, so I was waiting in the lobby," Ash explained. He felt as if his stomach was crawling into his mouth.

"Alright." She pushed her bangs away from her eyes and giving him a perfect smile. "Well, uh, hop on in!"

Ash did as he was told, grateful for the invitation because he felt as if his legs were about to give out beneath him. As he got in the car he noticed how well-furnished it was. It had tan leather interior, with a beautifully wooden-carved dashboard.

"Wow, nice car," he complimented as he finished his inspection. "It's much better than what I've been driving around in."

"Oh, well your car is lovely," she said, starting the car again and pulling away from the hotel.

"No, really it isn't, but at least it's not mine."

"Well then, whose is it?" she asked.

"Oh, it's my friend's. Her name's Misty," he responded. Suddenly, he remembered how upset his gym leader friend had been earlier, and for a second wondered if she was feeling any better.

"Yes, I remember her," Whitney said thoughtfully. "She was the nice girl who helped get that strange man away from me, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, that was her, alright," Ash replied, wanting to laugh. He wondered how many times women had referred to Brock as "that strange man".

"When you see her again, do please be sure to thank her for me," Whitney requested as they came to a stoplight.

"No problem," Ash replied. "She's been keeping Brock away from women for years now."

"She sounds like a great girl."

"Yeah, she's pretty nice," Ash responded as the light turned green and his date turned the car to the right lane and came onto the highway. He was beginning to feel a little more comfortable as they talked about his friends.

"Are you sure she's just nice?" Whitney asked as she sped past a few cars.

"What?" Ash hollered back at her. The wind was hitting his ears as the car accelerated, and he was having trouble hearing his date.

"Hold on a sec," Whitney told him. She pushed a button next to the power switch for the radio, and the hood extended to cover the car.

"Ah, that's better," Whitney said as the hood locked tight above them. "What I was asking you was whether or not this Misty girl is more than just a friend?"

"What?" Ash asked, though this time he had heard Whitney perfectly. "Of course she's just a friend. Why would I be on a date with you if we were more than that?"

"I guess you're right," Whitney told him, appearing to blush slightly at her own curiosity. "I guess I just am having trouble believing that the Pokémon Champion of Sinnoh is going on a date with me. It feels like there has to be some sort of catch."

"Well there's no catch," Ash told her as reassuringly as he could. "I like you, and that's why I, uh, am going on a date with you." As he heard the words come out of his mouth, he was amazed at his own fluidity.

_I sound as poetic as Shakespeare, _he thought to himself. _Well, maybe not _that _poetic, but I still sound pretty good._

Smiling, Whitney looked over at him and gave him a very quiet "thank you".

They then rode silently for the next few minutes until they reached the restaurant.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_Whoa,_ Ash thought as they pulled into the front of the restaurant. The name of the eatery was "The Green Awning", and as Whitney parked the car, he could immediately tell that this was not a normal restaurant. The restaurant was a large, brick building that took on the appearance of a mansion more than a place for food. The entire structure was supported by five large, Corinthian-style columns and in the front was a large fountain with Cherubim in the center and water shooting out from all sides onto the divine beings.

"May I park your car ma'am?" asked a chauffer in a tuxedo who came from no where.

"Yes please," said Whitney, getting out of the car as the man held the door open for her.

Ash followed her into the restaurant, and was struck by how fancy the place was. As he walked towards the maitre de, he glanced at the ceiling to find that it was made up of large frescos which were held to the ceiling by golden frames. The entire floor was lit up by several chandeliers that appeared to be made of silver bases and diamond jewels.

_This place looks so expensive, I bet those chandeliers really _are _made of silver and diamonds, _Ash thought as he looked down and around at the customers.

If the restaurant itself had not impressed him, which it did very much, the people he saw eating completely shocked him.

Jabbing Whitney in the side lightly, he leaned over and whispered to her. "Hey, is that Lance over there?" he asked, pointing in the direction of the famed Kanto Elite Four member.

"Why yes, I see him here a lot," she whispered back. "Looks like he's eating alone tonight. Should I introduce you?"

"Maybe later," Ash replied. He had always been a big fan of Lance, but he was so nervous in the environment that he wasn't sure he could meet one of his idols without embarrassing himself.

As the two approached the maitre de's podium, the man, who was bald and appeared to be in his mid-fifties, looked at the couple suspiciously.

"Can I help you?" he asked, sounding as if he didn't expect them to ask for a table.

"Yes, I would like a table for two, please," Whitney told the man before Ash got a chance to reply.

"What is your name?" he asked, looking down at the large book of reservations he had in front of him.

"Oh, I didn't make a reservation," Whitney replied, non-chalantly.

"You didn't make a reservation?" Ash and the man asked simultaneously.

"Nope, but that won't be a problem. Will it?" Whitney asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes at the man.

_What's she talking about? _Ash thought. _It's gonna be a huge problem. We should've just gone to that burger place down the road. _

"I'm sorry then Miss, but it is a problem," the man replied. He sounded shocked at the girl's lack of awareness. "I'm afraid we're booked for the next month straight. If you wish to eat, then I suggest you go-"

"Here," Whitney interrupted the man. She was holding her driver's license out to the maitre de, and once again Ash felt lost.

"Whitney, I don't think showing him you can drive is gonna-"

"Not the card silly," she replied to him, while rolling her eyes jokingly. "The name on the card."

"Miss Goodshow?" the man asked, sounding shocked.

As Ash heard the name, it sounded oddly familiar. However, he couldn't place it.

"That's right," she said, giving the maitre de a sweet smile. "Now do you think we could have a table, please?"

"Why, of course," the man replied hurriedly as he grabbed two menus from behind the podium and beckoned for the couple to follow him. "Anything for the daughter of the president of the Pokémon League Competition Committee."

"What???!!!" Ash screamed as he heard the man. "Who are you???!!!"

"I'm Whitney Goodshow, Ash," she replied to him, tilting her head to the side. "Didn't you know that?"

_How was I supposed to know that? _Ash screamed in his head. However, he could tell that he'd already attracted enough attention as it was, and decided to just shake his head and follow his date to their table.

"I'd like to eat outside, if that's alright," she informed the maitre de as they began to climb up a winding marble staircase.

"Absolutely Miss Goodshow," the maitre de replied, sounding much happier than he had before.

As the two reached the top of the staircase, Ash noticed that there were only four large wooden doors on the second floor.

"Right this way," the man directed the young couple, walking to the door furthest to the left. He opened it up and Ash was stunned to see a large balcony with a quaint, small wooden table in the middle of it. Surrounding the guard rail of the balcony were white flowers of some kind. The table itself was already set with silverware, plates, two wine glasses, and a candle in the center.

"Here you are sir and ma'am," the maitre de said, pulling the chair out for Whitney so she could sit down.

"And here are your menus," the man continued, handing them their lists of entrees. "If there is a problem, notify me immediately. Your waiter shall be here momentarily." With that, he promptly turned towards the large door and reentered the restaurant.

Ash took his seat and sat staring across the table at Whitney. The moon was waning now, and despite the candle, he could barely make out the outlines of her face on the dark balcony.

Gulping, he opened his menu and smiled at her.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Misty, are you in there?" Brock asked, knocking on the door to her hotel room. It had been a few minutes since Ash had left, and Brock decided to check up on the young woman before he went out in town to hopefully meet some women.

"Yeah," the girl called back.

_She doesn't sound upset, _Brock thought.

"Mind if I come in?" he asked, hoping he could fulfill his promise to Ash quickly.

"Sure," she said. "Just hold on a sec."

He heard what sounded like a bed creaking, and then her footsteps approach the door. A second later he heard the lock being undone and the door opened. As Misty stood in the doorway, Brock was surprised by her appearance.

"Misty, why are you dressed for bed? It's only eight o'clock," he remarked, sounding surprised by her choice in attire. She was wearing her Togepi, pink button-down shirt and matching shorts which she always wore before going to sleep.

"I dunno, I just feel like going to sleep," she said, sounding more depressed than angry.

"What's the matter with you Misty?" Brock asked the girl. Just a few hours ago, she was acting perfectly normal, but something changed her mood quickly.

"Whaddya mean?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips angrily. "Just because I wanna get some sleep, you assume something's wrong?"

"Now that's the Misty I know," Brock said, grinning. "Always ready for a fight. That's why I don't understand why you've stared acting so mopey the past few hours. When we were at the park you were annoyed, but that was understandable. Then at the mall, you were happy, but on the way back here you suddenly got-"

Brock stopped himself as he realized the obvious dilemma Misty was facing. His face suddenly broke into a smile, and Misty's eyes grew wide as she understood what he was thinking.

"Brock, no!" she shouted. "I would never-"

"It's because Ash is on a date, isn't it?" Brock asked.

"Brock, if you don't shut up this instant, I'll kill you," Misty warned, beginning to blush a little at Brock's comment. "Seriously, wipe that smile off your face before I do it for you."

Although he was usually unnerved by her fiery demeanor, Brock couldn't help, but notice her reddening cheeks, and knew he had figured correctly.

"That is it, right?" he asked, still grinning.

"Wha'?" Misty said, trying her best to look confused at his question, even though she understood it perfectly. "N-no. Of course not. The r-reason I'm upset is because, uh, I never got asked out by a guy." As she heard herself make the comment, she couldn't believe her ears.

_Did I _really _just say that? _she asked herself. _Could I have thought of a girlier reason to be upset?_

However, her answer seemed to do the trick as Brock's grin soon dissipated into a frown.

"Is that really the reason?" Brock asked seriously. He hoped he hadn't hurt Misty's feelings with his incorrect assumptions.

"Uh, yeah, that's it," Misty said, although she was still mad at herself for the lame excuse. The truth was she didn't know why Ash's date was bugging her so badly, but she knew that if she couldn't come up with a legitimate excuse then Brock would instantly assume it was because she loved Ash.

_He can be such a moron at times, _she thought as she waited to hear his response to her fake excuse.

"Well, uh, that's a whole other thing than what I thought," Brock said, feeling a little nervous. He never really discussed love with Misty before.

"Yeah, well that's why I'm sad…so goodnight!" she replied, about to slam the door in his face and escape the situation.

"No, no, no," Brock said, holding the door open with his hand.

"I can't let you go to bed in this condition," he told her in that nurturing tone he had. "I'll tell you what. You get dressed and meet me in the lobby in a few minutes."

"Why?" Misty asked, dreading the answer.

"Because you're coming with me to town to meet some new guys," Brock said to her. "That'll make you feel better. You'll see; Ash isn't the only one who gets asked out in our trio."

"But, I'd really rather go to bed," Misty said, hoping to get out of the situation without arousing Brock's suspicions. If he thought she were lying, then he'd immediately go back to assuming she was upset because of Ash getting a date.

"No, no," Brock said, wagging his finger. "You'll feel much better once you talk to some guys who you like and realize you're every bit as wanted as Ash."

"But, well…fine," Misty finally relented.

_Who knows? _she thought. _Maybe this will help me feel better._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So why didn't you tell me you were Mister Goodshow's daughter when we first met?" Ash asked Whitney as they waited for their meals.

"I don't really know," Whitney responded. "I guess I was just so nervous I didn't think to."

"Well, at least it explains the nice car and the fancy restaurant and everything," Ash told her with a smile. "For a while there, I thought you had stolen the convertible."

"Really?" Whitney asked, suppressing a giggle. "Do I look like the thieving type?"

"No, no," Ash said, suddenly worried he offended her. "I was just joking about that, really."

"Oh, I know," she replied, flashing him another brilliant smile. "Look! Here comes the food."

Ash turned in the direction of the large doors and saw a waiter coming onto the balcony with a large tray. He handed Ash his plate first, which caused the teenager's mouth to water at the sight. He had ordered a medium-rare Porterhouse Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans. As the waiter handed Whitney her meal though, Ash felt a little guilty. All she had ordered was a large Caesar Salad.

"Um, would you like a bite of steak," Ash asked her after the waiter bid them a good evening and returned inside.

"No thank you," she declined. "I try to stay away from carbs."

_What is it with girls and salad? _Ash thought as he remembered Misty's meal from the night before. _You'd think they were all a bunch of Bulbasaurs the way they eat vegetables all the time._

However, he kept these thoughts to himself as he cut up his first bite of steak, and brought it to his mouth.

"So…" Whitney began. She didn't seem to know what to say. "What does it feel like being the Pokémon Champion of a country?"

Hurriedly chewing the piece of meat he had just put in his mouth, Ash raised his hand to signal for her to wait a moment for his reply. Swallowing, he answered her question.

"Well, it's pretty awesome. I get recognized a lot," as he said this, he smiled at Whitney, "and I am known as one of the most powerful trainers in the world."

"That's cool," she said, sounding truly interested. "So are you gonna go for the Master rank?"

"How'd you know about that?" Ash asked, his eyes widening in surprise. "That's supposed to be a secret!"

"You do remember who my father is, don't you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at his forgetfulness. "It's hard to ignore seventeen years of constant Pokémon League discussion."

"Oh yeah," Ash said. "Sorry. Sometimes I talk before I think."

"That's no problem," she said, her smile returning. "Pokémon trainers are supposed to be instinctive. If you weren't, you wouldn't be where you are today."

"That's true," Ash agreed, picking up a spoonful of mashed potatoes. Whitney followed suit and grabbed a fork-full of salad.

_This is going well, _Ash thought. _But Brock said for me to keep the conversation focused on her, so I better stop talking about myself._

After they had both eaten quietly for several minutes, Ash decided to reengage in conversation.

"So what is it like being the daughter to one of the most powerful men in the Pokémon League?" he asked her as she finished swallowing a mouthful of lettuce.

"Well," she said, obviously not sure of what to say, "it's pretty fun. I mean, I get to meet a lot of important people and I've never had any problems with money or anything like that, but my only problem is that it's hard to have fun when people are constantly watching you."

"Is that why you were at the mall today?" Ash asked, thinking back to that afternoon.

"Yes," she answered. "I like hanging out with my friends at the mall because it's so crowded. It's easy for people not to recognize me."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I didn't recognize you even when I did see you," Ash said, jokingly.

"I guess I'm not _that_ well-known," she told him. "However, I do get recognized a lot for being in some commercials for the League, and for being in the closing ceremonies of the Indigo League a few times."

"I think I remember seeing you on some of those commercials growing up," Ash mentioned, thinking back to when he was younger. He remembered the League had started an ad campaign with a little girl who would come on the television and shout "Can you catch 'em all?", while Mr. Goodshow stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

"Yeah, they used me a lot when I was growing up, but now I'm only asked to appear on television for important events," she explained.

"Oh," Ash said. He suddenly realized to his dismay that he couldn't think of anything other than Pokémon to talk to her about, and he could tell that subject wasn't able to carry them through the entire evening.

_C'mon Ash, _he thought to himself as he saw Whitney staring at him from across the table, waiting for him to bring up another topic of discussion.

_Hey, I can us the list! _he thought, remembering the note card of topics Brock had given him in case he ran out of things to talk about during the evening. Reaching into his left pocket as subtly as possible, he pulled the card out and took a quick glance at one of the topics. He then shoved it back in and leaned forward, hoping Brock's knowledge would be useful.

"So what are your favorite cat names?" he asked with a big smile on his face.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Brock, why are we back at the mall?" Misty whined.

"Because, it's a known fact that malls are the best places to meet members of the opposite sex," Brock said, giving a long glance at a passing group of young women.

"I'll be right back, Mist," he said, running over towards the group.

Misty sighed. She had agreed not to pull him away from any women he flirted with tonight, and she had also said she would try and meet a couple of new "friends" while they were there too, although in reality she just wanted to be back in the hotel.

_I wish I could just go to bed, _she thought. It wasn't that Brock had such authority over her that she couldn't leave, but she knew if she did, then he'd grow suspicious as to why she was upset.

_The last thing I need is him thinking I'm upset because Ash is going out with that little nobody tonight._

"Excuse me," a young man said, snapping Misty out of her thoughts. "I just need to see where the ice cream shop is."

"Huh?" she asked, startled. "Oh I'm so sorry." She had been leaning against the large map of the mall, so she stepped to the side so he could have a better view of the layout of the store.

"It's no problem," he said, eyeing the map for a second before he turned his attention to the redhead.

_He's not that bad looking, _Misty silently noted as she examined him. He had neatly-combed brown hair, blue eyes, and wore a brown sports coat with jeans and a button-down green shirt. _He certainly dresses nicer than Ash._

Suddenly she wondered why she even thought to compare him to Ash.

"I'm just bored so I thought I'd go grab a bite," he continued to tell her. "Sad that a twenty year old guy has nothing better to do on a Friday night, huh?"

"Not sadder than a seventeen year old with nothing to do," Misty said, laughing. The young man followed her lead and laughed some too.

"My name's Chip, by the way," the man told her, holding out his hand to shake. "What's yours?"

"Mine's Misty," Misty replied, taking his hand with a firm grip. "Misty Waterflower."

"Whoa, Misty Waterflower?" Chip asked, sounding impressed. "You mean the Misty Waterflower that's leader of the Cerulean Gym?"

"_Was _leader of the Cerulean Gym," she informed him. "I'm on hiatus right now as I continue working towards becoming a Water Pokémon Master."

"Dang," Chip remarked with a smile, "that's awesome. I've always admired trainers for their hard word and persistence. I mean, it's gotta be tough becoming a Water Pokémon Master, right?"

"Yeah, it's kind of hard," Misty said, feeling her ego grow at his comment, "but I've always liked challenges."

"Well that's cool," Chip said. Suddenly, his face changed from displaying excitement to worry.

"Is something the matter?" Misty asked Chip, wondering what could have suddenly changed the man's demeanor so quickly.

"No, not at all," Chip replied, suddenly smiling again. "It's just that I was wondering if you'd like to grab some ice cream with me real quick. I mean, if you're hungry or something."

"I'd love to," Misty replied as she felt her heart skip a beat at his invitation.

_I never thought _I'd_ get asked out, _Misty thought as she began to follow Chip to the ice cream shop on the second floor.

"Misty! Where are you going?" Brock suddenly asked her from behind. Turning around, she could see that he had struck-out once again, and was alone.

"Me and Chip here are just gonna grab a little ice cream," Misty said, indicating who Chip was with her thumb. "I'll meet you back here in an hour, 'kay?"

"I understand," Brock said slyly. A large grin spread across his face.

_Shut up Brock! _Misty silently screamed at the breeder. She hated it when she was proven wrong.

"Are you coming Misty?" Chip called as he turned and saw she was no longer walking with him.

"Oh yeah," Misty said, running up to him. "Coming!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Why do you keep throwing my questions back at me?" Whitney asked Ash. By her tone of voice, it was obvious that she was irritated.

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked, feeling completely innocent.

"What am I talking about?" Whitney almost screamed back at him. "First you start asking me a million weird questions, and then when I try to get you to act normal, you just ask me my own question with different wording!"

"But women are supposed to like talking about themselves!" Ash replied. He felt as if he'd been tricked. "I didn't want to talk about myself!"

"I'm supposed to like talking about myself? How selfish do you think I am?"

"I dunno," Ash said, knowing he'd already lost control of the situation. "I just heard that somewhere and thought that it sounded true."

"I can't believe this," Whitney said, almost hysterical now. "You just put all women into one category? How chauvinistic can you be?"

"Hey, I'm not a chauvinist," Ash responded quickly. "I'm a Kantonian."

"You're a moron!" Whitney screamed. She couldn't believe that an evening that had started so well could end so horribly.

"I didn't mean to insult you," Ash explained. He was hoping to somehow salvage the date, although it seemed impossible at the moment. "See? I had this list of conversation topics that a friend gave me. Those things I said really weren't even my idea." As he told her, he pulled the card out and showed her.

"What?" she asked ripping the list from his hand. Scanning it quickly, she soon turned her attention back to the frightened young man on the other side of the table. "You had someone write out your conversations for you?"

"Yeah, see?" he said, thinking the worst was over. "I was just getting some tips for the date, and my friend thought-"

"What kind of a moron is your friend?" she interrupted. She looked at the list of topics and began to read aloud. "Topic number one: favorite cat names. Topic number three: favorite percussion instrument. Topic number fifty-four: least favorite parent."

"The list is kinda long," Ash quietly admitted.

"You think?" the enraged woman asked. "Next thing I know, you'll be telling me that it was that pervert who tried to marry me in the parking lot that wrote this list!"

"Uh, yeah. That'd be something, huh?" Ash asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

_Probably isn't the best time to bring that up, _he thought to himself.

"I just don't get why you couldn't be yourself on this date," Whitney said, sounding as if she were beginning to cool down.

"I was just nervous," Ash told her. He couldn't believe he had screwed up his first date so badly.

"Well, your nervousness has ruined my evening!" she shot back at him. "I think you should leave."

"How?" Ash asked. It wasn't as if he could just climb into a car and drive off.

"There's a private cab for diners who can't drive themselves home," she informed him. "You can go home in that."

"Alright," he said, taking out his wallet. "How much did this cost?"

"Don't worry about the cost," she told him as she turned her head to the side and rolled her eyes. "They owe my dad a free meal for a favor."

"O-okay," Ash said, standing up. He quietly walked towards the door that led to the inside of the restaurant.

"I really am sorry about all this," he told her before he stepped inside.

"So am I," she responded, still not looking over at him.

He closed the door and explained that he needed a ride to the maitre de, who agreed to let him ride the private cab to the hotel. As he rode back, he felt as if he'd swallowed a brick.

_This feels almost as bad as losing a battle, _he realized.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So Chip gave you his number, eh?" Brock continued to prod as the two began their ascent to the third floor of the hotel.

"Yes Brock," Misty replied, sounding exasperated. "He gave me his number. Is it really that big of a surprise?"

"It is when you think of how you were feeling earlier," Brock said, smiling. "Looks like my diagnosis was right after all. Maybe I should become a psychiatrist instead of a Pokémon breeder, huh?"

"Yeah Brock," Misty said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Then you can cure your girl-craziness."

"Whatever," Brock said flippantly. "The point is I was right."

Misty ignored the comment and looked down at the card Chip had given her. It turned out he was a student at Vermillion College, and was currently interning at a local bank to help him get a job as an accountant when he graduated. She had learned a lot about him over the last hour or so, and she felt glad to have met him.

_Now Ash isn't the only one with a partner, _Misty thought as she smiled to herself. _I guess I really was just feeling undesirable. And here I was thinking it was something else._

As the door to the elevator opened, Brock invited her to his room for some television until Ash got back.

"We'll wanna know how his date went," Brock said, explaining his invitation. "It's only ten-thirty, so he probably won't be back for a while."

However, both Brock and Misty were shocked when they opened the door to Ash's and his room and found that the trainer was not only already home, but packing his bags.

"Ash?" Brock and Misty asked in unison.

"Oh, hey guys!" he greeted, temporarily turning away from his small suitcase to wave to them. "I was wondering where you were."

"We just went to the mall for a while," Brock explained. "Why are you back already?"

"Well Brock-o, let's just say I took your advice."

"Oh my gosh," Misty groaned as she slapped her forehead with her right palm. "You mean Brock gave you dating advice and you actually took it?"

"Yep," Ash replied. "I won't be making that mistake again."

"What?" Brock asked, sounding earnest in his shock. "You mean my conversation topics didn't do the trick?"

"Nope," Ash responded, shaking his head. "Apparently women don't like talking about their favorite dead relative on a first date."

"That's odd," Brock noted. "I thought that she would appreciate an unusual dinner conversation rather than the boring, run-of-the-mill first date chats."

Ash didn't respond, and instead grabbed his new hiking shoes and shoved them into the suitcase.

"So why are you packing Ash?" Misty asked him.

"I've decided that we can leave tonight," Ash told them.

"Tonight?" Brock asked, completely shocked. "But it's almost eleven and Saffron's a good four hour drive."

"Yeah, but I checked the schedule I prepared and realized that in my rush to accept the date invitation, I forgot that we were supposed to leave here today. Tomorrow I'm supposed to meet Sabrina and ask her if I can borrow Haunter for a while."

"But couldn't we just leave tomorrow?" Brock asked. "We could get up really early."

"I'd rather leave tonight," Ash replied simply. "Besides, I don't feel too good sticking around here when there's a chance I'll run into Whitney."

"We can go tonight," Misty interjected. She felt bad for Ash as she watched him pack. It was obvious he was upset. "I'll go get my stuff ready."

"Oh, fine," Brock relented, grabbing his own suitcase from the small closet beside one of the twin beds. "We'll leave tonight."

As Misty returned to her room, she reflected on how hurt Ash looked. Although Brock clearly couldn't see it, she had noticed immediately that something wasn't right.

_Ash must be feeling pretty terrible, _she thought as she unlocked the door to her room. Stepping in, she put the keys back in her pocket and felt a piece of paper. Taking it out, she saw it was Chip's card.

_Guess I won't need this if we're leaving tonight, _she thought. However, strangely, she didn't feel remorse as she tore the card in two and dropped it in the trash can.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope y'all enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it! I think that I did a pretty good job of keeping Ash immature, while also showing that he isn't a _complete _moron. I hate fics that depict him as an idiot who can't tie his own shoes. While I admit that in the show he was proven to be very dense, I don't think that as he gets older he gets stupider, you know? Also, I know Whitney didn't have much character development, but frankly she was barely in two chapters, and I don't plan on incorporating her in the future, so giving her a specific personality seemed like a waste of the reader's time, at least in my opinion. I really just wrote her and Chip in to show that both Misty and Ash aren't thinking "I can't like anyone else because I'm in love with Ash/Misty". The truth is its been a few years, and it's going to take a while for any relationship to advance. I know for a fact that I've lost a few readers now because they've thought that I'm moving their relationship too slowly, but frankly this is the way I believe it is plausible. If I ran into my crush from when I was in Junior High, I wouldn't just start making out with her there on the street, and I think the same rule applies in the Pokemon world (unless there was an episode I missed where they covered it). Anyway, I hope all of y'all can appreciate the several shipping hints I _did_ put in the story and see those as steps forward in Misty and Ash's relationship (albeit they're not leaps). However, if you disagree with my views on the characters, or think I should point the story in a different direction, just REVIEW PLEASE! If you REVIEW then I can hear your opinion and possibly edit my fic to better suit your interests.

Anyway, in keeping with tradition, here's this weeks recommendations:

"One Year Anniversary" by pokeshipper409 - This AAML is a little angsty (which I normally hate), but this author handles even the worst situations with such grace and style that I couldn't tear myself away from this fic. It's a long, chaptered fic, but it's complete now, and definitely worth reading.

"Misty the Matchmaker" by AngelicFairy - Definitely not the type of story I'd normally read, but I started it, and now I'm recommending it to y'all. While this story is a little too "cute" for my personal taste, I think that many of y'all will definitely like this ongoing story of AF's that is very well-written, and pretty true to life.

"Misty Returns to DiamondPearl" by HighQueen - I'm recommending this fic again because now I've started reading it and enjoy it very much. It takes what I consider to be a pretty realistic view at what the show would be like if MIsty returned to the show right now (which, as a pokeshipper, I completely support). I'll definitely be reading the next chapter soon (as soon as I get a little sleep).

I also wanted to mention again that chapter fourteen won't be out until Sunday, August 30 because this week my football team's having Hell Week, and I don't think I can complete a chapter of my fic with as sore as I feel (typing is a painful experience on its own). However, do keep your eyes open for a new fic I am starting that is basically a parody/comedy fic which I think many will like (although I may be wrong). Since I will be writing it just for fun, it definitely won't interfere with "A New Journey" and I may have it published soon because I'm really not putting 100% effort into it (because, as I said, it's just a little parody fic). If you get the chance, read it when I publish it.

Anyway, REVIEW PLEASE and have a nice day.


	14. Ghost Problems

**Hello everybody!** I've only said this about two other chapters, because I hate to disappoint my readers, but I really am not too excited about this chapter. Originally, I had this worked out to be much more exciting than it turned out. However, because of a series of problems, that didn't happen. I'm not saying it's the worst chapter I've ever done, or anything like that, but I will say that you won't find a lot of plot advancement in this chapter. I know it's bad publicity to warn the reader of a bad chapter before they even get to read it, but I want to prepare y'all, and I want y'all to know that I'm not oblivious to my own flaws in my writing. I personally hate it when an author's really bad at writing, but they don't acknowledge it. Anyway, the one good thing I'll say for this chapter is that if you like my battling sequences, then you'll certainly enjoy this chapter because it's full of them. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW this chapter, and tell me if you liked it. If you didn't like it, still write me and give me some constructive critiscm so I'll know how to improve my abilities. If I hadn't already missed last week's deadline because of football, I probably would have re-done this chapter, but I know I've appeared kind of lazy with my lack of updates, and I didn't want to put updating this fic off any longer. On a related note, I would like to mention that school starts for me this Monday, but that will not interfere with next Sunday's update. In fact, expect weekly updates every Sunday for the next two months, as per usual. School is going to be a challenge, but I find working on this story to be a great stress-reliever, so I shouldn't have any problems submitting new chapters. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW and read.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Come on Brock, we gotta go," Ash urged his slumbering friend who was in the twin bed next to his.

"Ugh, not right now Ash," Brock whined, waving his hand at the overly-eager trainer.

"But I wanna get to the Saffron Gym before everyone else starts lining up for battles!" Ash explained. "It's already seven-thirty. If we don't leave now, there's no telling how long it'll be before we get a chance to talk to Sabrina!"

"Seven-thirty?" growled Brock as he lowered his head beneath the covers. "We just got here at four this morning!"

"Aw, c'mon Brock-o," Ash said, hoping to pull his friend out of the bed with persistence. "You're always the one waking me up before I'm ready, so what's up?"

"What's _up_, is that I've gotten less than three hours of sleep, and I'm about to send Croagunk on you to knock that grin off your face," Brock threatened.

"Um, alright, alright," Ash replied calmly, placing his hands in front of him. "No need for that." He could see that his friend was acting very out of character, and obviously was in no mood for joking around.

"At least Pikachu will come with me, right Pikachu?" he asked, turning to look at the little yellow Pokémon sleeping peacefully at the foot of his bed.

However, Pikachu did not respond.

_Better wake 'im up, _Ash decided, walking towards his friend. He reached down and began shaking Pikachu awake.

"Pika, Pikachu!" screeched the mouse Pokémon as its body began to send off sparks at the pest.

"Ow!" cried Ash as he backed away from his Pokémon. Fortunately, he had barely touched Pikachu, but the sparks still gave him quite a jolt. "What was that for?"

"Pika-pika-chu," responded the Pokémon haughtily.

"Fine, whatever," Ash said. "I'll just go by myself." He rarely directly understood what Pikachu was saying to him, but his body language usually gave away the meanings behind the repetitions of his name.

Before he headed out, he went to the safe in the closet of the small motel room and took out his belt with his pokeballs attached to it. Ever since the last incident with Mallory, he had been sure to keep his Pokémon either on his person, or in a safe of some sort to prevent their theft.

Walking out the door, he thought that maybe he would ask Misty to go with him. However, he quickly shot down that idea.

_If Brock was that mad, _he reasoned, _I can't imagine what Misty would be like this morning._

However, if Misty was in a bad mood, it was certainly not carried over from the night before. Although Ash didn't know why, Misty actually seemed quite pleased to get out of Vermilion and back on the road. While Brock and Pikachu tried to get some sleep in the backseat during the four hour drive, she and Ash stayed up and talked. It reminded him a lot of when they used to travel together and would sit at the fire they'd created and chat after Brock and Pikachu had gone to their respective sleeping bags.

_I didn't realize how much I missed talking with her, _Ash thought as he began his descent down the stairs towards the lobby. He walked briskly towards the front door, hoping to make good time to the gym, but was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed something. Misty was sitting in the small eating area looking at a newspaper and eating a bagel.

"Hey Mist!" called Ash from across the lobby.

"Ash, shush!" she ordered quickly. She got up and walked over to him. "Do you know how rude it is to yell in a hotel? There are people trying to sleep!"

"Geez, Misty," Ash said, annoyed at her mature attitude. "No one could have woken up from that!"

"You never know," she replied. "Besides, what are you doing down here so early? I would've figured you'd take advantage of getting to sleep in as late as you wanted."

"Some things are more important than sleep, Mist," Ash reminded her. "And catching a Haunter is definitely one of those things."

"So you're really gonna ask her for Haunter back?" Misty asked, almost in a tone of disbelief. They had discussed the matter last night on the drive over, and Misty thought perhaps Ash was just delirious from lack of sleep.

"Of course," Ash replied. "Why wouldn't I?"

"For the same reason I said yesterday," Misty said, exasperated. "Sabrina tried to kill us-"

"Not last time," Ash interjected.

"What?" Misty asked, aggravated at his stubbornness.

"She didn't try and kill us last time, remember?" Ash said, now sounding put out with Misty's forgetfulness. "If it wasn't for my Haunter, then she'd definitely have murdered us, but because of him we're cool with her."

"That's another thing I mentioned," Misty reminded him. "Remember, you never _caught _Haunter, so technically he's not even yours. How can you just go up to someone and demand that they give you their Pokémon when they were the one to capture it in the first place?"

"Yeah, but I introduced them," Ash explained. "Besides, I only need him for a little while so I can find a Gastly and a Gengar, then I'm gonna return 'im to Sabrina. It's not like I'm gonna run off with him or anything."

"All the same," Misty persisted, "I don't like her that much. Trying to kill us once was more than enough for me.

"Fine," Ash relented. "You stay here. I'm gonna go see Sabrina." He turned around and proceeded to walk out the door.

"Oh no you don't," Misty said, running after him. "If you died, you're mom would never let me live it down."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As they approached the gym, Ash felt the memories of the last time they were here hit him like a ton of bricks. When they first came to the Saffron Gym, Sabrina's dad had warned them about how dangerous it would be to challenge his daughter. However, as Ash looked around, he saw no one coming to tell them they may not survive. In fact, he barely saw anyone.

"Kind of spooky, isn't it?" Ash asked Misty as they approached the gym's entrance. "You know, with no one here and all."

"Yeah, a little," Misty replied. She was trying to sound calm, but inside she felt her heart rate increase and her pulse quicken.

_Something's weird here, _she thought as the doors automatically slid open and she and Ash took their first steps into the gym.

The entrance led to a large hallway, which had several doors on both sides, and then two larger doors at the very end. Ash and Misty both knew from experience that the doors at the end were where they'd find Sabrina.

"Guess we didn't have to worry about the gym being too crowded after all," Ash commented jokingly. He couldn't explain it, but he felt the need to create some humor in such a depressing atmosphere.

"Ash, look over here," Misty quietly hissed at him. She was standing over at one of the doors and peeking through the glass.

"So what?" Ash asked as he went over to her and looked inside. The lights were on, and there was a plain, round table and a metal, fold-out chair in the center of the room, with a chalkboard facing opposite the door. "Class is out of session?"

"No, no," Misty whispered hoarsely. "Look at _that_." Ash followed her gaze and saw that next to the chalkboard, a single piece of chalk was swinging side to side in mid-air.

"What the-?" Ash began to ask. He was suddenly silenced when he saw that the piece of chalk was no longer swaying, but instead at the board and writing.

Ash heard Misty gasp slightly as the piece of chalk quit writing, and the word "Run" was clearly seen in large letters on the chalkboard. Deciding to obey the writing, Misty and Ash simultaneously began sprinting towards the doors. However, before they reached them, Ash could feel his feet leaving the ground. Looking down, he saw that his body was covered in a blue aura, but when he looked for Misty, he saw that she had not noticed what was happening to him, and instead was walking out the door.

"Misty!" Ash called after her as his body continued its climb towards the ceiling.

"Ash, oh no!" Misty cried, after having turned around to see what was troubling the trainer. "Don't worry, I'll help." As she said this, she threw out a pokeball that contained Starmie.

"Starmie, use Psychic to pull Ash back towards us!" she commanded. Ash was beginning to drift towards the large doors of the battle arena, so she knew she didn't have a lot of time.

"Hyaaa!" responded the starfish Pokémon, as its body began to mimic Ash's in appearance. A blue aura surrounded the creature, and as it focused its energies on Ash, he slowly stopped floating towards the doors and began to return to Misty and Starmie.

"You're doing so good, Starmie!" encouraged Misty from the sidelines. She was glad her idea had worked, since Starmie was the only psychic type Pokémon she had.

"Misty, watch out!" cried Ash, as he pointed behind the water trainer.

"Ah!" screamed Misty as she followed Ash's finger to find at least twenty Haunter behind her, blocking the exit.

"Starmie, use Surf!" she quickly commanded, trying to take control of the situation.

"Ouch!" cried Ash as Starmie dropped him from several feet in the air. "Remember me, Mist?"

_Crybaby, _Misty thought as she watched her water Pokémon shoot out a large amount of water from three different points on the top of its body at the growing-closer cluster of ghost Pokémon. Soon, half the hallway was flooded as the deluge covered all of the Haunter.

"Great job Starmie!" Misty congratulated as she saw that the Haunter weren't emerging from the water.

"Go Ivysaur!" she heard Ash yell from behind her. Turning around, she was disappointed and shocked to find that her assumptions of victory over the Haunter were inaccurate, and that they had instead teleported to the other side of the hallway and were now harassing Ash.

"Ivysaur, use Vine Whip!" he ordered as the Haunter surrounded him and his Pokémon and began to eerily draw nearer.

"Saur!" cried his Pokémon as it brought out its large vines. Ash hit the floor on his stomach in order to allow Ivysaur full range with its vines.

The grass Pokémon began swinging its vines like helicopter blades and repelled the incoming ghosts. However, the strategy soon proved impossible to work, because the Haunter simply started bombarding Ivysaur with Shadow Balls, which sent it flying within seconds.

"Ivysaur, return!" Ash commanded, withdrawing the Pokémon into its respective pokeball.

"Starmie!" Ash heard Misty cry. He looked up to see that Starmie had been put to sleep, and several of the Haunter were now using Dream Eater on her Pokémon simultaneously.

"Mist, use Gyarados!" Ash told her from across the hallway, as he reached for another pokeball to deal with the Haunter who were trying to get near him.

"I can't," Misty explained. "I only brought Starmie with me. I left the rest at the Center to rest up."

Ash was about to criticize the girl's poor judgment, but was sidetracked when he felt the wind get knocked out of him, and he began to fly backwards into one of the large doors leading to the battle arena.

"Ash!" Misty cried, trying to withdraw Starmie despite the large number of Haunter blocking her from doing so.

Ash looked up to see one Haunter floating in front of him with a large grin on its face. Its right hand was shrouded in a dark aura, and Ash immediately knew that he had just experienced a Shadow Punch attack.

"Slowpoke, I choose you," he said, trying to regain his breath. He threw the pokeball in front of him, and his new water Pokémon emerged from the ball.

_Slowpoke knows Confusion, which is very effective against Ghost types, _he reasoned in his mind.

"Slowpoke, use Confusion," he commanded.

"Sloooow," responded his Pokémon. For a minute, he simply stood between Ash and Haunter with a blank look upon its face. Haunter seemed to be confused by its vacant stare, and thus temporarily forgot that it was in the middle of a battle.

_Perfect, _thought Ash as he witnessed the battle. _He's too distracted to take advantage of Slowpoke's slowness._

A few seconds passed, and then Slowpoke began to glow a light blue color, similar to Ash and Starmie earlier, and lifted its head at the Haunter.

"Slooow," it said to the Haunter. As it uncurled its tail, Haunter seemed to become aware of what was happening, and began to attack again.

"Haunter, Haunt," it said, bringing its fist back for another Shadow Punch. However, instead of punching the Slowpoke out of the way, it instead turned its fist upon itself and was knocked backward several feet.

"Good Slowpoke," Ash encouraged. "Keep it up."

"Ash!" Misty yelled from the other side of the hallway. "The doors are locked now!"

Ash looked over to see that the Haunter had been too distracted sucking the life out of Starmie to notice Misty, who had tried to open the gym's doors to go get help.

"Poliwag, go!" he shouted, throwing the pokeball in Misty's direction.

"Poli!" cried the little water Pokémon as it emerged.

"Poliwag, use Body Slam to help Misty open the doors," Ash commanded, as he refocused his attention on several Haunter who were approaching to help out their friend, who was still confused.

"A Poliwag?" Misty asked in a tone of shock. "Give me something stronger Ash."

"I can't," Ash explained. "Ivysaur was my only old Pokémon I brought with me. I'm using my new ones so they can train."

_Great, _Misty thought, as she looked back at her Starmie. She honestly didn't know how her poor Pokémon had any energy left to give to those parasitic ghosts, but she wanted them to stop before her friend was permanently injured.

"Poliwag, wait!" she commanded. "Use Water Gun on those Haunter instead."

However, Poliwag just continued to waddle towards the entrance doors, and once there began tackling them in a desperate attempt to make them open.

_She only listens to Ash, _Misty realized. Although any of Ash's older Pokémon would obey her, Poliwag was new and didn't understand the correlation between her master and Misty.

Deciding she needed to do something, Misty joined Poliwag in tackling the entrance doors. They were made of glass, but apparently it was very thick, because neither she nor Poliwag put even a crack in it.

"Uh-oh," Ash said on the other side of the hallway. Slowpoke had just been knocked unconscious by a Haunter that used Thunderpunch.

_How did he know that? _Ash silently pondered.

With Slowpoke and Ivysaur unable to battle, and Poliwag helping Misty, Ash looked at his options.

_I've got Spearow and Weedle, _he realized. _Not a good situation to be in. _As he thought this, the group of Haunter slowly got closer to him, and he suddenly began to feel very drowsy.

"Ash!" Misty yelled, as she looked to check on Ash and saw that the Haunter in front of him were emitting circular waves from their hands, meaning they were using Hypnosis.

"Huh?" he asked, suddenly opening his eyes and looking around. He then looked up at the Haunter just in time to feel his body being lifted from the ground. As he saw his hand covered once more in a blue light, he realized he was again being controlled by Psychic.

"Whoa!" he yelled as they combined their attacks to lift him even higher off the ground. As he rose toward the ceiling, he noticed that they were bringing him towards a chandelier that was placed in the middle of the hallway. He noticed it seemed out of place with the rest of the building, but didn't dwell on this thought long as he felt one of the arms extending from the base of the chandelier go through his belt loop. Instantly, the blue light surrounding his body faded, and he was left suspended thirty feet above the hall, being supported solely by his new khaki jeans.

As Misty looked up at him, she realized that had this been happening at any other time, she would be laughing. Ash looked very funny hanging up there by his pants. However, any humor in the situation was quickly replaced by terror as she noticed that the Haunter had finally grown bored with her Pokémon and were now coming to take care of her.

_Thank goodness they move slowly, _she thought.

"Poliwag," Misty said, looking at the dark blue Pokémon who, although battered and bruised now, was still slamming its body with all its might against the front entrance door. "Poliwag, please listen to me."

However, despite her pleas, the water type continued obeying its master's orders. Fortunately for Misty, Ash was able to see and hear what was going on below him, and so he called out to his Pokémon.

"Poliwag!" he yelled from above.

"Poli?" the Pokémon questioned, turning to look up at her master.

"Use Water Gun on the Haunter, now!" he ordered quickly. The Haunter seemed to enjoy freaking out their victims, so they didn't move too quickly, but Ash could see one near the front preparing a Shadow Ball.

"Poli!" squealed the small Pokémon as it started shooting the Haunter one-by-one with a small, but powerful, blast of water. Although it was evident Poliwag wasn't nearly strong enough to beat the Haunter, it was very effective at catching them off guard. The Haunter Ash saw preparing to use Shadow Ball lost its focus and the ghost attack faded.

"Poliwag, dodge!" Ash commanded as he saw a Haunter sneak up behind his small Pokémon and use Thunderpunch.

"Poliwag!" screamed the Pokémon, as it turned around just in time to have its spiral-patterned belly hit directly by the electric attack.

_Crap, _Ash thought as he watched his newest member fly across the hallway and hit the doors to the battling arena on the opposite side. As opposed to their normal movement, the Haunter were now advancing upon the unconscious Poliwag at an alarming rate.

"Return Poliwag!" cried Ash, as he shot the red beam from his pokeball towards his battling partner. However, he was too far away to aim correctly, and the beam harmlessly landed on the back of one of the approaching ghost Pokémon.

"Poliwag!" Ash and Misty cried simultaneously as they watched what now appeared to be thirty Haunter completely engulf the innocent water Pokémon with their dark bodies.

_I'll have to use Spearow, _Ash thought as he pulled the bird Pokémon's pokeball from his belt. He was reluctant because he knew that the Pokémon would be seriously injured, even if it was just trying to retrieve Poliwag, but he also knew he had no choice.

However, as he was about to throw the ball, he suddenly heard the swishing sound of the glass doors opening, and broke into a large grin when he saw who was entering the gym.

"Alakazam, use Psybeam!" Sabrina commanded as she threw a pokeball towards the group of Haunter on the other side of the hallway. As soon as the large, fox-like, psychic Pokémon emerged from its ball, it put its two spoons in front of its face and began forming a colorful ball of light in front of them.

"Zam!" shouted the Pokémon as the ball began to produce a beam of varying colors that struck several of the Haunter at once. As the light grew brighter, Ash had to shield his eyes, but when he sensed that the luminescence had died down, he uncovered his eyes to find that the Haunter had all disappeared, leaving Poliwag on the floor with a dazed look in his eye.

"S-Sabrina!" Misty called out a little late. She seemed dazed by the sudden appearance of the gym leader.

"What happened?" Sabrina asked in a voice not of anger, but rather confusion.

"There were a bunch of Haunter in here, and we tried to fight them off," Misty explained, afraid of what the leader's reaction might be. Misty was known for her temper, but she knew through first-hand experience that Sabrina's anger was a lot more lethal than her own.

"Those Haunter have been around here before," Sabrina said. "However, what I don't understand is how a Champion couldn't handle a bunch of ghost Pokémon?" As she said this, she still didn't sound mad, but there was certainly no humor inflected in her tone.

"I _was _handling it," Ash replied, mad that she would insult his abilities.

"Apparently," she replied sarcastically. "The hallway has about an inch of water in it, there are two dead Pokémon on the floor, you're hanging from the ceiling by your pants, and your friend here was throwing herself at the door when I arrived. You _obviously _had this taken care of."

After she said this, she silently commanded her Alakazam to bring Ash back to the ground using Psychic. As he landed safely on the wet floor, he mumbled a "thank you" before hurrying over to his Poliwag. To his relief, he found that Sabrina had been wrong and that his Pokémon, although severely injured, was far from dead. Misty discovered the same thing as she held up her Starmie and saw its gem glowing on and off faintly.

Both trainers returned their Pokémon to their respective pokeballs, before going back to talk to Sabrina who was inspecting the damage done to her gym.

"We're really sorry Sabrina," Misty apologized. "We just came in here to talk with you, and those Haunter suddenly ambushed us. We tried to leave, but it locked once we were inside."

"That's alright," Sabrina said, albeit reluctantly. "I guess this isn't totally your fault. Normally I never leave the gym unattended because of those Haunter, but I had to because I had to bring my Pokémon to the Center for their annual check-up."

"You only go to the Center once a year?" Ash asked, surprised. Normally gym leaders went daily to the Pokémon Centers because of all the challengers they took on.

"Pretty much," Sabrina responded with a shrug. "Those Haunter have given this gym a bad reputation. As a matter of fact, they're the reason the Pokémon League's considering closing this place down."

"Closing it down?" Ash asked, surprised. However, Misty didn't seem as shocked.

"Yeah," Sabrina affirmed. "The Pokémon League has a stupid new rule where they pay us for victories, and with the money we can help improve our gyms. However, those ghost Pokémon have been scaring away a large number of potential challengers, and I can't keep this place running correctly on the near-minimum wage salary the Pokémon League pays me."

"That's terrible," Ash commented. However, Misty remained silent.

"Well, you two better go take care of those Pokémon," she stated, indicating the pokeballs in the two trainers' hands. "They looked dead when I first came in here. Nurse Joy may have to keep them overnight."

"Alright," said Ash. "But when we're done, we'll come back to help you clean up this mess."

"No need," Sabrina assured him. "Alakazam, use Teleport and bring the water out to Vermilion Lake."

"Zam!" responded the psychic Pokémon, as it floated in the air and began twirling its spoons at a rapid pace. Soon, both it and the water disappeared in a bright light, and as Ash and Misty examined the hall they realized that it looked just as clean as when they first arrived."

"Wow, that's cool," Ash told Sabrina after they had looked at the cleaned gym.

"It is very convenient," she said. "Anyway, you two go to the Pokémon Center and come back here in a little while to discuss my giving you Haunter."

"Alright," Misty said, grabbing Ash's arm and leading him out of the gym. She was eager to get out of there, and even more eager to get her Starmie examined.

"Wait, Mist!" Ash hollered as she continued dragging him with her.

"What is it now?" she asked him as they approached the street.

"How did she know we wanted to talk with her about getting Haunter back?"

"Duh," Misty replied, rolling her eyes. "She's a psychic, remember? I'm sure she had no problem reading a mind as simple as yours."

"Well, at least I'm not a, uh, a dumb person who forgets to bring more than one Pokémon with them," Ash commented. He knew the comeback was a little lame, but unfortunately it was all he had in his arsenal at the moment.

"Oh yeah," Misty replied sarcastically. "Unlike the brilliant Champion who brings four Pokémon he hasn't even trained yet."

Ash was going to reply, but suddenly Misty began to run towards the Pokémon Center, which was in sight, and he followed after her to get his Ivysaur and Poliwag checked.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So are your Pokémon okay?" Sabrina asked the two when they returned from the Pokémon Center about an hour later.

"Oh yeah," Ash told her. "They said Poliwag and Starmie will have to stay the night for some kind of treatment they give Pokémon who have suffered extensive damage from psychic attacks, but Ivysaur should be ready to go in a couple of hours."

"I'm glad to hear that," Sabrina remarked. "However, if it's okay with you, I would like to get to the matter at hand here."

"That's fine by me," Ash responded. He shifted his weight in the small chair Sabrina made him and Misty sit in while they talked in her office.

_For a psychic, her office sure is ordinary, _Ash noted as he looked at the plain, white room with a desk, computer, and filing cabinets.

"So you need Haunter so he can help you capture ghost Pokémon, huh?" she asked him with an inquisitive smile.

"Yeah, that's right," he affirmed. "But I won't keep him. I just need him until, uh-"

"Until you become a Pokémon Master," Sabrina said, completing his sentence for him.

"Yeah, but could you keep that quiet?" Ash asked her. He was starting to grow concerned about the number of people who were learning this "secret" rule from him. Although he trusted his friends, he didn't really know Sabrina that well.

"Well, I actually would love to let you borrow him, but there's one problem," Sabrina informed the trainer. She could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I don't own Haunter," she informed him.

"What?" Ash and Misty asked at the same time.

"How can you not have him?" Ash asked. "I gave him to you after our gym battle."

"Yes, but you didn't really own him either," Sabrina reminded him. "I'm afraid that after you left, I tried to convince him to join my party, but he was adamant about remaining free. I even tried to capture him through battle, but he beat all three of my psychic Pokémon."

"So do you still see him, or is he gone for good?" Ash asked, hoping she at least knew the whereabouts of the Haunter. Otherwise, his chances of finding the ghost Pokémon were slim.

"Sometimes he still drops by, but as you saw, I have a whole other problem with Haunter now," she said.

"That's right," Ash said, remembering the events from earlier in the day. "What were all those Haunter doing in the gym?"

"Ever since your Haunter stayed with me here, they began showing up," Sabrina explained. "At first I couldn't understand why, but one night I realized the problem. I was working late tutoring some younger trainers in one of our classrooms, when I saw Haunter fly by the door. I sent out Venomoth to follow him, and using my powers, I was able to witness what he was doing through my Pokémon's eyes. I found out that he was meeting up with his friends back in Lavender Town every night, and I guess he told them where he was staying, because even though he doesn't live here anymore, his friends still come by and harass new challengers. Usually, Alakazam here can keep them away, but they must have been waiting for us to leave so they could sneak back in." She took a deep breath after she finished her explanation.

"Wow," Ash simply stated. "I didn't know that Haunter would cause so much trouble."

"Well, I'm not really mad at him," Sabrina explained. "If you hadn't introduced us, I may never have returned to my normal self. However, he was very childish. That was another reason I ended up letting him leave the gym without trying to capture him. I tried using him in battles against other trainers, but usually all he would do is perform little tricks to amuse the other Pokémon."

"Yeah, I remember that about him," Ash said, remembering how much the ghost Pokémon loved making him laugh.

"Besides," Sabrina continued, "it's never him who scares away challengers. It's his friends. He just brought them here."

"So then, you don't know where he is now?" Ash asked wanting to make sure the leader couldn't help him.

"My guess would be he's at Pokémon Tower in Lavender," Sabrina explained. "You know, where you first met him, but I'm not sure."

"Well then, I guess we'll go there," Ash said, standing up. "Thanks for the help Sabrina. I appreciate it."

"No problem," she replied. "I wish you good luck on your journey."

* * *

Author's notes: Like I said, not my best chapter. However, I hope y'all enjoyed the fighting sequence. As you can probably tell by all the loose strings I left in this chapter, Ash and Misty will be visiting Saffron again, but not for a while. I know some of you are disappointed with the lack of shipping in this chapter. However, it's difficult writing this story because of the dueling plots (romance and adventure). Some chapters are going to be made to progress the former, and some the latter, but I can't make every chapter about both because frankly, I don't have the writing skills to incoroporate them fluidly. Anyway, I am excited about next chapter, entitled "Brock's Departure". I won't tell you what it's about, but I think the chapter title's pretty self-explanatory. Also, there's going to be a slight time-skip between this chapter and that one (which I'll explain in the next chapter). However, I realized that I have to progress this fic some, because I keep a log that has all the dates of when each chapter starts, and I realized that since chapter eleven, only two days have passed! Obviously, I'm going to have to move forward with this fic if I'm going to finish it within even two years.

Anyway, in keeping with tradition, here's my one recommendation for the week:

"Reflections" by Yoshi's Kun - I usually try to make three recommendations per chapter, but this one-shot was so good, that I want to really emphasize that you should read it. I know that I say a lot of fics are good, because they are, but this is without a doubt, one of the best one-shots I have read. The author is very vivid in the fic, and I have to say that her ability to use metaphor and symbolism is stunning. I won't say anything else, because I don't want to give it away, but PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW this fic! It only has three reviews, and that's a shame for such a well-written fic.

Like I said, the next chapter will be up next Sunday, and you should expect weekly updates for the next couple of months at least. I hope you also read my parody fic "Pokemon Love" if you get the chance. I've already gotten a few reviews for it, and everyone who's read it so far has really enjoyed it.


	15. Brock's Departure

**Hello everybody!** I'm going to go ahead and be a little boastful; this chapter is good. I mean, I'm not sure if I would say it's the best (frankly I don't know which chapter I would say is best), but I will say that it's a big improvement compared to the past few chapters. While I'm proud of those too, I really think I delved into the main plot of the story again this chapter, and I think that you will all enjoy it. I will also mention that I got several complaints last week that the story was moving too slow, and that the fic seemed to be lacking direction. In response to these claims, this week (despite it being the first week of school), I went to my outline and completely re-vamped it. I'm serious when I say this story is taking a whole new turn and I'm very excited about it! While the goals of the characters will obviously remain the same, I'm no longer going to get in the trenches over every chapter. Instead, I'm going to go over the main highlights of their journeys together, and keep the readers up to speed about what has happened since the previous chapter. This way, I can move forward a little quicker with this fic, and at the same time still tell the story I want to tell. I am glad to announce also that, despite the fact many of them were negative, I had a large number of reviews this last week; 16 to be exact. I am so excited to have all of this input, and it's because of your critiscm that I am re-directing this fic, and why I feel so happy about it again. For a little while there, this was beginning to feel more like a job than a fun hobby, but I can honestly say I had a great time writing this chapter, and I hope y'all have a great time reading. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts, good or bad, so REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"I can't believe it's already been a month since we've started this journey," Misty remarked as the group continued the drive to Celadon City. They had begun their travels early that morning, since they had to make the drive from Pewter.

"I can't believe we're still in this car after six hours," Ash groaned, trying to adjust to a comfortable position as he laid down in the backseat of the car. "Seriously Brock, do you have to go?"

"Ash, we already discussed this," Misty reminded him as she sped along the highway. "You're dream's to become a Pokémon Master, and Brock's is to become an expert Pokémon breeder. What if he begged you to go with him to Hoenn?"

"I'd love that," Ash said. "I need lots of Pokémon from Hoenn anyway.

"Ash," Brock interjected. By this point, he knew when a fight was brewing between the two teenagers. "We need to keep our eyes on the prize. I know that you wanna stay with me, and I'd love you to, but it's just not plausible. You have to catch all the Pokémon in this region and Johto before you head to Hoenn. If you start changing your plans, you'll never meet your year-and-a-half deadline."

"I know," Ash said, folding his arms. As he looked at the floorboard to see Pikachu cozily slumbering away he suddenly wished he could get that comfortable. "I still don't like it though."

"I know, but hey," Brock said in an upbeat tone, "this just means we'll have even more fun when you get to Hoenn. I'm sure by then I'll be able to get a little time off to hang out with you guys, and just as importantly I'm sure I'll have met a great girl by then." As he made the last remark, he pictured the future Mrs. Harrison.

"I'm sure you will," Misty said, lying through her teeth. She had known Brock for a while, and had discovered over their month together that his approach to women had not altered even slightly since they had last seen each other.

"Whatever," mumbled Ash as he lowered his cap and tried to catch a quick nap. They had less than an hour until they reached Celadon International Airport.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow," remarked Brock as the car stopped. He had never been to Celadon's airport before, and he was impressed by its gargantuan size. "Uh, I guess we're here."

He climbed out of the car and popped open the trunk of the car to get his large suitcase and backpack.

"Uh guys, you wanna come with me?" he asked as he came up to the passenger-side of the car, rolling his suitcase behind him. "I mean, we have a couple of minutes before my flight and everything."

"Sure Brock," Misty replied sweetly. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he was a little nervous, though he would never admit it. It was funny to see him stressed out since he had always been somewhat of a big brother to her when they were growing up, but she understood his fright.

_He's about to go work in a foreign country in a new job that will decide his future, _Misty thought as she took the keys from the ignition. _Who wouldn't be a little scared?_

"Alright!" Ash cried happily, as he sprang out of the car. He didn't want to say "goodbye" to his friend just yet. As they left the car and entered the airport, Ash gasped in awe.

"Whoa, look at all these people!" he said. Inside the main entrance were hundreds of people walking in different directions. The airport itself must have been at least ten stories tall.

"Be quiet Ash," Misty ordered, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, the way you talk I'd say you've never been to an airport before."

"I've been to a few airports before, like Kanto Airline, but they've always been so tiny compared to this," Ash replied, apparently too amazed by the sight in front of him to care about Misty's annoyance.

"Well, we gotta get Brock's luggage checked in," Misty reminded, grabbing Brock's suitcase and heading in the direction of the front desks.

Remembering the reason they were there, both Brock and Ash followed after the redhead. As they approached the desks, Ash noticed how long the lines were.

"Aw man," Ash moaned. "Look at those lines! We'll have to wait forever!"

"Shut up," Misty scolded the trainer as she shot him daggers with her eyes. "You're sixteen. You can handle a little line."

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Ash practically yelled back at her. If they hadn't been in such a crowded place, his high tone most certainly would have garnered more attention than it did.

"You're acting like an immature little kid," Misty said, lowering her tone so that no one could hear them fighting. "Straighten up."

Ash didn't really reply, but rather shoved his hands in his pockets and glared angrily at the teenage girl as she turned around and waited patiently in line.

_Why should I have to wait for something that I don't even want? _he inwardly asked himself as they shuffled a little further in the line. He suddenly remembered asking his mom the same question when he was about to start his journey and had to go to the doctor for his shots. As he sat in the waiting room, he'd had the same epiphany.

"Brock, do you have your passport and tickets ready?" Misty asked as they drew closer to the counter.

"Sure do," he affirmed, reaching into his green vest pocket and pulling out the two documents. "I'm all set."

"Good," said Misty, smiling. "The last thing you wanna do is not be prepared."

They waited in line a few more interminable minutes before they were finally able to approach the front desk with Brock's bag, ticket, and passport in hand.

"Where are you headed?" asked a cheerful, slightly overweight woman sitting in front of a small computer.

"Uh, Jubilife, ma'am," he replied, handing her his tickets. "I'm starting a job there."

"Oh, how wonderful," the middle-aged woman replied, swiping his ticket and passport from his hands. She looked over the identification thoroughly before handing it back to him. "Everything seems to be in order. You'll be sitting in row thirty-four, chair D." As she told him this, Brock placed his bag on the scale next to the woman's desk, and the weight was shown to be forty-two pounds.

"Whoa there!" the woman cried out suddenly, scaring the three teenagers.

"What is it?" the trio asked in unison.

"You're over the weight limit there, buddy," the woman replied, dropping her cheery persona for that of an aggravated employee. "Looks like you'll have to pay the extra forty dollars for overweight luggage."

"Forty dollars?" Brock inquired, thoroughly surprised by the large sum. "Two pounds over the limit is forty dollars?"

"'Fraid so, bub," the woman replied, still appearing aggravated at the interruption of what was a smooth transaction. "You can pay in cash, or with credit. We don't take debit cards here."

"Wait a minute!" Brock said, halting his hand as it was midway to his pocket to reach for his wallet. "I almost forgot something." He then took the bag off of the scale and layed it on its side, unzipping the top pocket. When he reached inside, he pulled out two Heavy Pokeballs.

"What are those doing in there?" Ash asked as he observed the pokeballs.

"Ash, do you remember how Kurt gave us pokeballs when we met him back in Johto?" Brock asked as he took out the two pokeballs and pressed their center buttons to enlarge them.

"Yeah, he gave you a Heavy Ball and me and Misty a Lure Ball," Ash said, remembering the occasion.

"That's right," Brock said, nodding. "Well, I didn't use mine until you told me about your new journey. When I found out, I called Kurt and he transported me one more Heavy Ball so I could catch you a couple of Pokémon for your pokedex." As he explained, he handed the balls to Ash.

"Wow!" Ash exclaimed. "Really?"

"Yep," Brock said proudly. "I was hoping you wouldn't catch them before I left so I could give them to you as a goodbye gift."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but what are they?" Misty asked, curious to know what Brock had captured with two pokeballs that were meant to capture fairly heavy Pokémon.

"Oh yeah," Brock said, realizing he'd forgotten the most important part of his story. "I went out early in the morning after our first day of travelling to that mountain we had camped near in Viridian Forest. After looking around a while, I found a wild Onix, and I used one of those to capture it." He nodded towards the pokeball in Ash's left hand as he told him this.

"Whoa, an Onix!" Ash said happily. He'd yet to see one of the gigantic rock Pokémon, let alone capture one.

"Yeah, and then a little later on, when we stopped by Cerulean, I snuck out to Mount Moon and found a Graveler, which is in the other pokeball."

"That's awesome!" Ash cried as he lifted up the pokeballs. "I don't have either of those, although I do have a Geodude."

"Like I said, I was hoping I'd luck out and you wouldn't find them before I left," Brock explained as Ash thanked him.

"But wait," Misty interrupted. "Ash, won't your pokedex not recognize those as your Pokémon?"

"Whaddya mean, Mist?" Ash asked, the happiness in his tone diminishing.

"I mean, your pokedex keeps track of the Pokémon you catch by registering the pokeballs you have in its system," Misty explained. "That way, when you catch a Pokémon, your pokedex will automatically know which pokeball you used and which Pokémon you caught."

"Oh yeah," Ash said, realizing the problem. "I guess these aren't registered under me then." As he said this, he looked apologetically at Brock. However, Brock appeared unfazed by the bad news.

"You don't have to worry about that," he said with a grin. "I already registered those two pokeballs using your pokedex when you were asleep. You can check your pokedex and see they're both listed as yours!"

Smiling once again, Ash was happy that he only brought two of his Pokémon with him so that Brock could hand him his presents rather than tell him they had been transported to Professor Oak's lab.

"Excuse me, but a line's forming," the woman at the desk informed the group of teenagers as they excitedly discussed Ash's newest capture. Embarrassed, Brock quickly re-zipped his suitcase and placed it back on the scale. Without the Heavy Balls, the scale read the weight as only being thirty-nine pounds.

"Well then there's nothing to worry about," cried the woman enthusiastically once again, as she placed a sticker on Brock's luggage and put it on the assembly line behind her. "Now please go through security and head to Gate eighteen."

As the trio walked towards the security lines, where people were being monitored and taking off their shoes, Ash realized that they could no longer go with Brock as he saw security workers asking everyone entering the line to show them their ticket.

"Well, I guess this is it," Misty said, sounding sad. She had hoped to stay upbeat so that Ash and Brock wouldn't be so depressed, but as the time for their separation grew closer, she felt tears beginning to sting her eyes. She wasn't usually a sensitive person, but departures always made her sad.

"Just for now, guys," Brock reassured his two younger peers. "I'll be back with y'all before you realize it." However, as he said this, he began to feel a lump in his stomach as he grew sadder at the thought of leaving.

"I, I just can't believe it," Ash said, pulling his cap down slightly so that his friends wouldn't see that he was beginning to grow emotional. "Brock, I…I wish you wouldn't leave, but I understand."

"Thanks, Ash," Brock replied, smiling. He knew how tough this would be for Ash especially. "I've hung out with you for six years now, and I've watched you go from a scrawny, but funny, wannabe, to a Pokémon Champion. I want you to know that I'm very proud of you and I know you'll become a Master."

"Th-thanks Brock," Ash said, beginning to quiver a little as a teardrop fell from his eye and hit the toe of his shoe. "I, I've always had you with me…well almost always. Anyway, over the years, I g-guess I've just come to s-see you as a big brother or something. It feels like I'm losing my teacher and best friend." As he said this, several more tears fell down his cheek, and he lowered his head further so that no one could see him crying.

Misty too began to cry as she witnessed this heart-wrenching scene. She had never considered how close Ash and Brock must have grown after all their years of travelling together.

"Ash, you're like a brother to me too," Brock said, placing a hand on the trainer's shoulder. "But trust me when I say you're more of a teacher than me." As he said this, Ash actually looked up at him with a confused expression upon his face.

"You've taught me that with a lot of work and determination, anything is possible," Brock explained. "A lot of people in life tell you that, but you showed me it through your journeys. No matter what people said or thought, you pressed on, and you still are to this day."

"Thanks Brock," Ash said quietly. "I know you'll do great."

"Thanks," Brock responded, now turning towards Misty. "I'm gonna miss you a lot too, Misty." As he told her this, she brought him in for a hug.

"Oh, I'll miss you too you hormonally-crazed guy," she replied jokingly. Tears continued to cascade down her cheeks as she hugged her friend tightly. They'd only been travelling together again for a month, but that month had brought back all her old memories of their shared experiences, which made this departure even more upsetting.

"Watch out for Ash, 'kay?" Brock asked, pulling out of the hug.

"Alright," she responded, smiling sadly and wiping away the tears.

"Hey, I don't need a babysitter!" Ash yelled in mock anger. However, he soon began smiling and the three of them shared a last laugh before Brock picked his backpack up and put it on his shoulder.

"Pika, pi," stated Ash's Pokémon sadly as it held its arms out for Brock.

"Oh, I didn't forget about you," Brock said, giving the electric mouse a pat on the head. "I'll miss you a lot too, buddy."

"Well, I think I need to get going," he said, hesitance obvious in his tone.

"I guess you do," Ash said.

"Take good care guys," he said, shaking Ash's hand one last time. Although he knew they would meet again, it was obvious this was the end of his and Ash's journeys together.

"You too," both Ash and Misty said quietly as their friend turned and walked toward the security guards and showed them his passport.

Ash and Misty turned the other way and began to walk away. However, as they almost walked out of earshot, Ash turned around suddenly and yelled at Brock one more time.

"Have a good time Brock! We'll miss you!"

"I'll see you soon!" he yelled back, and then turned around and walked through the metal detector.

"There goes a best friend," Ash muttered sadly as he felt his cheeks grow warm and his eyes fill with tears once more.

"Yeah," Misty replied, equally sad from both Brock's departure and seeing Ash in this mood.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"C'mon Ash, we've gotta catch a Clefairy today!" Misty said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. It had been a day since she and Ash had left Brock at the airport, and although Ash had decided to put off training yesterday, she knew that he could not risk throwing off his schedule by doing the same today.

"I don't really feel like it," replied Ash as he stared at his cold cereal breakfast waiting to be eaten in front of him. They were eating in the hotel lobby. "Maybe I'll just head up to bed."

"Ash, you can't do this," Misty told the depressed teenager. "You did nothing, but lie in bed yesterday, and if you do it again today, then we'll be in big trouble with that agenda of yours."

"I know," Ash replied, sighing, "but it's hard to get enthusiastic when your best friend leaves you."

"Well, what am I?" Misty asked, feeling a little insulted. She had no idea why she had wanted to travel with Ash alone a couple of months ago when they first decided upon this journey. It was obvious he didn't consider her a friend.

"Oh, well you're definitely my best friend too, Mist," he said, weakly trying to make up for his mistake. "I just don't wanna go out today, alright?" With this, he pushed himself away from the table and stood up.

"Okay, okay," Misty relented. "If you wanna fall behind, then that's your problem. All I know is that you've only caught like thirty Pokémon and you need a lot more, but whatever."

Ash only grunted in response to her attitude as he walked towards the elevator to go up to his room.

_I need to cheer him up, _Misty thought as she watched him shuffle into the elevator with his head hung low.

As she sat in the hotel lobby contemplating the situation, an idea formed.

_Why can't I get a Clefairy for him? _she thought. It was a surprise that she hadn't thought of that earlier. She knew where Ash kept his registered pokeballs, and she was confident that Ash wouldn't notice her being gone as long as she returned at a decent hour.

_Yeah, that's a great idea, except I don't have any Pokémon with me, _she suddenly remembered. Going to Mount Moon would be completely worthless if she wasn't able to capture a Clefairy. However, the need to cheer Ash up forced her to rack her brain. She couldn't go to the Pokémon Center and demand her Pokémon back because they were all getting some well-deserved rest after almost an entire month of battling, but Ash's Pokémon had already been healed earlier in the week and he had a couple of them in his room.

She decided that she could get him to lend her at least one of his new Pokémon, so she went on the elevator and straight to Ash's room.

"Who is it?" inquired a groggy voice from inside as she knocked on the door.

"One of your millions of fan girls," Misty replied sarcastically. "Could I have your babies please?"

"Oh, hey Mist," Ash replied from behind the closed door. He didn't seem fazed by her sarcasm. "Hold on a sec." After he said this, Misty heard the springs from the bed groan as Ash lifted himself off of the bed and walk slowly towards the door. As he opened it, Misty could see that he had undressed upon entering his room and now was only in his socks, undershirt, and blue jeans.

"Hey Ash," Misty said, her voice dripping with sweetness. She always used this voice when she was about to ask someone for something important.

"What do you want?" Ash asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow as he heard her tone.

"Well, I'm going into town and I was wondering if I could borrow your Poliwag?"

"My Poliwag?" Ash asked. "Why do you want her?"

"Well, it's been a few weeks since we've seen Mallory, and you never know when she'll pop up on us," Misty answered, halfway sincere. "I just wanna be prepared for the worst-case-scenario."

"I guess you can borrow her," Ash replied, scratching the back of his head. "I just have to remember the combination to the locker." He then went over to the room's closet and opened the doors, revealing a small locker in the corner. He crouched down and started pressing different numbers into the keypad.

"Crud, I forgot the combo," he muttered. However, Misty was no longer paying attention to him. Instead, her eyes were now fixed on his back pack which was lying on display on top of his bed. She knew that was where he kept his pokeballs.

_I only need one, _she assured herself as she slowly walked towards the pack and slipped her hand inside the front pocket.

"I can't believe I don't remember the frickin' combination," Ash growled in frustration as he pushed in another four-digit code. "How hard could this be?"

Misty was just glad to hear that he was still distracted, and as she tried the pocket on the right hand side of his pack, she felt several miniature pokeballs. Reaching her hand further in, she grabbed two, but suddenly turned around when she heard Ash call her name.

"Uh, Mist," he began, the locker open and Poliwag's pokeball in his hand, "why are you reaching inside by backpack?"

"Oh, uh, well, um, I was getting a mint!" Misty replied, remembering the lame response from a television show once. It had worked for the main character of that episode, and she hoped it worked in real life too.

"Okay, then," Ash said, still sounding suspicious.

In order to throw Ash off, Misty quickly popped one of the small pokeballs in her mouth so that he would believe that was all she wanted.

"Mmm, good mint," she replied, her mouth a little full. She was being very careful not to press down on the capsule item because she didn't want to risk pressing the center button and having the object expand in her jaw.

"Whatever," Ash said, rolling his eyes. "Here's Poliwag. She'll probably listen to you now that we've had her on the team a while." He handed Misty the pokeball and returned to the bed, where he proceeded to turn back on the television and lean against the bedpost.

"See you later," Misty said, leaving the room with her mouth still full of pokeball.

"See ya," Ash responded. "Oh, and by the way." As he said this, Misty turned around.

"Yeah?" Misty asked, pressing him forward in his statement.

"I do consider you to be my best friend," he said, blushing slightly from the compliment. He couldn't explain it, but he felt the compulsory need to tell her this before she left for the day. He did not like the idea of Misty thinking she wasn't important to him.

"I know Ash," she said, surprised by his sudden declaration of friendship. "You're my best friend too."

"Alright then," he said, the slight blush from his cheeks retreating. "Be safe!"

"I will," Misty said, her voice still muffled by the pokeball. She quickly closed the door behind her and spat the metal object out of her mouth.

_He can be really sweet when he wants to, _she thought as she felt her pulse quicken just a little.

"Yuck," Misty suddenly said aloud, embarrassed by her thought. She stuck her tongue out and walked towards the elevator.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Whoa, it sure is dark in here, huh Poliwag?" Misty asked the small water Pokémon as they entered Mount Moon. She had been here before several years ago, but back then the place was lit up, and she had her friends with her. Now she was in the dark and only had the consolation of a young water Pokémon.

"Poli," squeaked the tadpole Pokémon in response.

"Good thing I have a flashlight," Misty said, pulling the small flashlight off of her keychain. She kept it with her for emergencies, and it wasn't very big, but she figured she would have to make due.

_I can't believe I forgot to buy some lights in Pewter, _she thought to herself angrily as she turned on the small flashlight and saw that it barely covered the area three feet in front of her.

She and the Poliwag walked straight through the cave for about ten minutes, hearing Pokémon moving somewhere in the background, but not seeing any. There were several adjoining hallways which they could have turned down to search for a Clefairy, but the last thing Misty wanted was to get lost in the expansive mountain. Therefore, she decided to continue walking straight until she hit a dead end.

Suddenly, they heard a loud "thud" behind them, and they both stopped dead in their tracks to see if anything happened.

After a couple of seconds, Misty looked down at Ash's Pokémon and tried to reassure her.

"I think we're-"

"Roooooar!" interrupted a booming voice from behind her.

In response, Misty and Poliwag both shrieked and began to run as fast as they could away from the source of the noise..

_Poliwag's pretty fast, _Misty noted as she saw the short tadpole Pokémon was almost keeping pace with her. They continued running until Misty saw that they were at a dead end.

"I think we lost…whatever that was," Misty said, bending over and catching her breath. Poliwag too was breathing heavily.

"Gravel," responded the cave wall.

Jerking her head up, Misty was shocked to see that the dead end that she and Poliwag had encountered was not a wall at all, but a large Graveler and several Geodude who had pressed their bodies together. In an instant, the Geodude separated and surrounded Misty and Poliwag, and the Graveler lifted itself with its strong legs and spread out its four arms to make itself appear even larger.

"Oh no," Misty gasped as she watched the Geodude hovering around her. She was a strong trainer, and Poliwag did have the type advantage, but the large number of rock Pokémon made Misty feel uneasy about her odds of success.

"Poliwag, use Water Gun!" Misty commanded, as she saw one of the Geodude charging towards her. The water Pokémon quickly shot out a small spurt of water at the oncoming rock and ground type Pokémon, catching it off guard and drenching it simultaneously.

"Great job!" Misty complimented. She knew that if she wanted Poliwag to keep fighting, then she needed to encourage her. "Now use Water Gun on all of them."

"Poli!" squealed the Pokémon as she started releasing burst after burst of water. The Geodude had now gone crazy and were charging at Misty and Poliwag from all directions, but so far Ash's new Pokémon was holding them off splendidly.

"Keep it up," Misty encouraged as she pointed to different Geodude whom Poliwag needed to spray down. "Just a little-Ah!" Misty was interrupted as she was suddenly tackled in the back by one of the Geodude and hit the ground hard.

"Poli!" screamed Poliwag as it shot another burst of water at the Geodude who had hurt her friend.

"I'm alright," Misty assured, getting to her knees. "I don't think these Geodude are very strong."

"Gravel!" roared the large boulder-like Pokémon in front of them suddenly. Misty had almost forgotten that he had been there the entire time, but instantly remembered as he appeared, wanting to join the fight.

"Poliwag, give him a Water Gun!" Misty ordered, pointing her finger at the oncoming rock Pokémon.

"Poli!" Poliwag responded, shooting her enemy, but not appearing to faze him.

_He must be a lot stronger than these Geodude, _Misty assumed as she watched him grow closer. He suddenly grabbed Misty by the abdomen, and threw her. As she flew through the air, she prayed that she wouldn't hit one of the rock walls.

Fortunately, her prayers were answered as she felt her back hit the hard cave floor, but she was upset to find that it still hurt her like crazy. Her head was spinning and as she reached for her flashlight and pointed it at the melee, she saw that Poliwag was surrounded by the rock Pokémon.

_This is just like with those stupid Haunter, _Misty realized. Unfortunately though, this time she didn't expect Sabrina to come and save her. Reaching for the pokeball, she quickly tried to recall Poliwag back to safety.

"Poliwag, return!" she ordered as the red beam shot from the center of the ball and towards the cluster of Pokémon. However, the beam was not able to make contact with Poliwag through all of the Geodude surrounding her, and Misty suddenly felt guilty for dragging the poor Pokémon into this situation.

"Poliwag!" she cried, as she found the strength to get up and rush over to her battling partner. She tried desperately to remove the Geodude, and was successful, but every time she removed one, it would just tackle her in the back and squeeze back into its original place.

_It's like they're trying to imprison her or something, _Misty thought as the Pokémon held onto each other to seal Poliwag in from escaping. Misty knew she was still fighting because she could see small jets of water emanating from within the confines of the rock Pokémon, but it was obvious that she was at a disadvantage.

"Poli-poli!" Misty suddenly heard the small water Pokémon yell, as from inside the prison of Geodude and Graveler, a light could be seen.

_Is she evolving? _Misty wondered in a panic. She had not expected any of this to happen.

"Poliwhirl!" a voice from inside the rock prison responded, to answer her mental question.

"Poliwhirl, use Bubblebeam!" Misty commanded upon hearing Poliwag's voice change. She was shocked, but being the skilled trainer that she was knew that she had to capitalize on this moment. She had once owned a Poliwhirl and knew that upon evolution they learned several new water moves that were more difficult for them to know as Poliwags.

"Whirl!" came the voice from inside, as the sound of a Bubblebeam attack sounded. After a few seconds, several Geodude were shot away from their positions and a jet of bubbles followed them. As Poliwhirl emerged from the rock Pokémon, Misty suddenly felt confident again. Despite the pain in her head and back, she ran over to Poliwhirl and gaver her a hug.

"Now give them all a Bubblebeam!" she ordered, pointing at the remaining Geodude and Graveler.

"Poliwhirl!" growled the Pokémon as it stuck out its fists and released a jet of bubble attacks from them. All of the wild Pokémon, including the Graveler, could not take the impact, and they were all soon running away in different directions.

"You were unbelievable Poliwhirl!" Misty gushed as she hugged the water Pokémon once again. "Wait till Ash sees you _and _his new Clefairy." As she said this, she continued her walk down the cave, this time without fear due to the stronger Pokémon with her.

As the two passed through the long stone corridor, Misty suddenly spotted something that made her heart jump; sunlight. She and Poliwhirl both ran towards the light at the end of the tunnel and saw that at the end of the cave was a large open area, which held a massive stone in the middle of it.

"This is a Moon Stone," Misty remarked as she recognized the area from several years ago when she, Ash, and Brock had followed a certain scientist to this very location to help save the Clefairy's most prized possession. She walked over to it and touched it with her hand, loving how smooth it felt. Although it appeared to just be an average boulder, she knew that this particular rock held a great amount of power.

"I guess we'll wait here for the Clefairy," Misty told her travelling partner. She knew that sooner or later, the Clefairy of the mountain would probably come to greet their newest visitor.

As she and Poliwhirl waited, she reflected upon the last month and all the fun she'd had. It was weird, but despite all that had happened, she was really enjoying herself. What was even odder, though, was the fact that in the pit of her stomach she almost felt glad that only she and Ash would be travelling together. Of course, she didn't allow herself to entertain this thought long, as she dismissed it as nonsense.

_I think I'm just making up problems, _she thought to herself. _I love Brock. I didn't want him to leave._

"Clefairy?" inquired a small voice at her feet.

Shaking her head of her thoughts, she looked down to find a small pink Pokémon looking up at her with big eyes.

"Ooooh, how adorable!" Misty cooed as she picked up the small Clefairy. Poliwhirl seemed to take an interest in it too, as she came over and began to pat the small Pokémon on its head.

A minute later, as Misty held the cute Pokémon, temporarily forgetting her mission, a Clefable came out of the cave and approached Misty and Poliwhirl.

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry," Misty apologized, realizing that the baby Pokémon probably belonged to the pink creature approaching her. "I was just looking at how cute he is!"

"Fable-fable," explained the Clefable as she approached Misty and Poliwhirl. She seemed very happy, and picked the Clefairy up and twirled it around.

"Oh, I see," Misty said, realizing what the Pokémon was trying to communicate to her. "So you're the mother?"

"Fable," replied the Pokémon, nodding its head. She seemed very happy to see Misty as she jumped into the redhead's lap with its baby.

"You're both so cute!" Misty said, hugging the two Pokémon.

_I wonder if they'd wanna come with me? _Misty pondered as she suddenly remembered why she was there. She decided to find out.

"Well, I have to go," she said, standing up. Poliwhirl looked up at her, confused, but followed her lead and stood up. "It was nice meeting you!"

"Fable-Fabe!" cried the mother of the Clefairy as Misty casually made her way to the entrance of the cave.

"What?" Misty asked turning around. She didn't want to force the Clefable and her baby to come with her, but she was certain they didn't wish to stay in a place like this wherein the baby was in constant danger of rock Pokémon and Zubat.

"Fable!" cried the Pokémon as she came towards Misty and latched onto her leg. Her child followed suit with Misty's other leg.

"Oh, of course you can come with me!" Misty squealed, excited that they wanted to join her. "Just jump in!" As she said this, she took out the two pokeballs she had brought with her. Although she had intended to only catch a Clefairy, she had taken two by mistake.

"Fairy!" cried the baby Pokémon happily as its mother held it up to one of the pokeballs.

_She must have met some trainers before, _Misty thought as she was surprised that the mother understood immediately how capturing Pokémon worked.

The Clefairy tapped on the pokeball with its hand, and instantly was transformed into red energy and sucked inside the capsule. The ball rocked a few times in Misty's hand before finally settling down.

"Now it's your turn," Misty said, grinning at how easy this was going.

"Fable!" cried the mother Pokémon as it jumped at the pokeball and knocked on the top half. Once again, the pokeball opened and the Clefable was soon locked safely inside.

"That was awesome!" Misty told Poliwhirl as they turned back towards the cave. This time she felt no apprehension about entering the dark area with only a flashlight.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Misty what happened?" Ash asked, appearing shocked as he opened the door to find Misty standing in front on him with dirt on her face, her skirt torn, and her hair looking greatly disheveled.

"Oh, nothing," Misty replied as coolly as she could. However, the excitement from the news she had was making her voice sound a little high-pitched as she talked to the trainer.

"I thought you were going shopping," Ash explained as she entered his room and sat on his bed. "How did you wind up looking like you got in the ocean with a Sharpedo?"

"Well, I went shopping, but not for clothes," Misty informed him.

"Then what did you go for?" Ash inquired, growing even more curious. "Bear traps?"

"No, no," she said, laughing. His worry over her made this seem funny somehow. "I went looking for a Clefairy."

"A Clefairy?" Ash asked.

Misty then proceeded to tell him the entire story of her day, from stealing his pokeballs to meeting Clefable and her son.

"Whoa," Ash said, mouth agape after she finished her explanation. "So you got me a Poliwhirl, Clefairy, and Clefable today?"

"Uh-huh," Misty affirmed, proudly nodding her head. "And I did it all before suppertime. Pretty impressive, huh?"

"But why did you do that?" Ash asked, not understanding her motivation for helping him.

"Duh," Misty responded, rolling her eyes. "Because you were so down today. I don't like you sad." As she said this, she screamed in her head.

_What did I just say? _she asked inwardly. She knew that what she had said wasn't a big deal, but she was sure that Ash would have a field day with her display of emotion.

"I'm sorry," Ash responded, causing Misty to almost fall over in shock. Of all the things to happen to her that day, this had to have been the biggest surprise.

_Why isn't he laughing at me? _she wondered.

"Why are you sorry?" she asked, ignoring the question on her mind.

"Because I made you go through all this trouble just to cheer me up," he explained. "I know I've been acting like a baby."

"You haven't been acting like a baby," Misty explained as Ash took a seat next to her on the bed. "You lost your best friend, that's understandable."

"But like I said earlier, he's not my only best friend, and I was stupid for not realizing that earlier." As Ash said this, he looked into Misty's eyes, regret apparent.

"Don't worry about it," Misty assured, putting her hand on his shoulder, which she immediately realized sent a jolt of electricity through her body. Ash too seemed to tense slightly at the contact as they held their gaze. "You're my friend no matter what happens."

"Thanks," he said, practically whispering. He could feel his throat become thick as he looked into her green eyes.

_What's happening? _he thought as the silence in the room clamored in his ears. Deciding that the situation was getting a little tense, he took notice of the first thing his eyes met.

"Your arm's bruised!" he said, a little too loud.

Knowing that he was trying to avoid the uncomfortable position they had found themselves in, Misty nodded eagerly as she felt her heart beat slow.

"Y-yeah," she said, still nodding. "When I got thrown, I guess I got a little hurt."

"Hold on," Ash said, getting up and going to the table upon which the television rested. He took the ice bucket, which was situated next to the television, and pulled out the large plastic bag which contained the ice.

"I know it's a little big," he said, laughing slightly as he returned to the bed. He gently placed the bag on Misty's arm, and felt her shiver as the cold bag made contact with her skin. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling at him. "Just a little chilly."

"Well, since we, I mean you, have caught all the Pokémon I needed from Mount Moon, I guess we'll head to Lavender now to catch some ghosts, huh?" Ash asked as he wracked his brain for conversation topics.

"I guess so," Misty said, apprehensively.

"Oh, c'mon, don't be a fraidy-Meowth!" Ash teased her jokingly.

"I'm not scared!" she bantered, laughing a little. "I just don't like Lavender Town that much."

"You don't like it so much that we had to skip going there a couple of weeks ago just because you refused to be near that tower," Ash reminded her with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"That was because I thought it would be more fun to save Lavender Town for later," Misty informed Ash, sticking her tongue at him.

"Oh, that's _very _mature, Mist," Ash noted while rolling his eyes.

"No less mature than watching cartoons all day," Misty rebutted, nodding towards the television screen which was playing a children's show.

"Hey, cartoons are wholesome fun!" Ash said, barely containing his laughter. "They help develop minds."

"You're such a baby," Misty said cracking up. Ash gave in to the temptation to laugh as well and for a full minute they chuckled at how immature they could still act. However, Ash accidentally placed his right hand on Misty's left, and the laughter instantly ceased.

"Oh, sorry," Ash said, quickly withdrawing his hand. "I meant to put it on my lap." He then put his hand behind his back, as if hoping this would make the memory of what just happened disappear, and began to grow a little red in his cheeks.

"It's alright," Misty squeaked as she felt her lily-white cheeks turn slightly red as well.

_What's happening to us? _Misty wondered as she turned her attention to the ice bag on her right forearm.

* * *

Author's note: Like I said, I really enjoyed this chapter, and I hope y'all did too. Honestly, I'm a little tired right now, so I'm going to be brief with my author's notes for this week. All I will say is that I think I did well describing the emotions as Brock left the group, and I hope no one thinks I over-exagerated Ash's depression to Brock's Departure. In all honesty, it would make since for him to be so upset considering how long they've been travelling together at this point. I also hope everyone appreciates the heavy pokeshipping near the end of this chapter. It only gets better from here guys, trust me.

In accordance with prophecy (or tradition), here's my recs for the week:

Okay I admit it, I didn't read any new fics this week. Like I said, it's the first week of school, and I was elected Senior Class Treasurer, so I've got a lot going on at the moment. However, if you want an idea of something to read, please look at the stories I've recommended in the past because I still think any of those are really good and deserve to be read and reviewed whenever possible.

Anyways, I hope y'all liked this. Like I said, I've completely toppled my original outline for this fic and am working on a new one. Although it is not completely finished yet (I'm being really specific with it so I don't get off-track. For instance, I'm keeping dates of when every chapter happens, so I'll know what the weather should be like when they're travelling, and when certain holidays and birthdays will come around) I plan that this fic will probably be completed by March or April (despite what I told some of you in PM's). As I always say, life's like a box of chocolates, and REVIEW PLEASE!


	16. Lavender Town, at Last

**Hello everybody!** It took me two weeks, but I finally got chapter sixteen up! I was less excited about this chapter personally, but I still think it was pretty well-written and doubt that anybody will hate it. I have been very busy at school lately, so getting some free time to write has been difficult, but I am starting to find a dew timesavers with homework (like using my study hall period to actually work instead of goof-off) and so I think these next few weeks will be easier for me. Like always, I don't want to say much about this chapter because it will give away everything, but as you can tell from the title, we're back in Lavender Town, and Ash is going to go Haunter hunting. I want to make this clear for anyone who has not noticed, that now most of my chapters will have a decent time skip between them, thus allowing me to move forward with the fic at a faster pace, and allowing the readers to get to the action a little quicker. I mentioned this last time, but I know it threw some of my readers for a loop, so I just wanted to say it again in case you missed it. Also, due to the time skips, you'll read about Pokemon which Ash has caught that I didn't write about, which is of course because he caught them during the time skip. Therefore, I would really appreciate it if (and I promise I'm not being a jerk here) my commenters wouldn't ask me how he caught every Pokemon that I mention. It's just for the sake of time and my sanity that I've made these time skips, so please don't think I'm being lazy here or anything. As I said last week, I've insured it so that these skips will not take from the substance of the story, and that they will actually be a major help in getting us to the "meat and potatoes" of the fic sooner. Anyway please read and REVIEW.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Finally!" Ash cried as the car entered the small town. It had been five weeks since the two had left Pewter, but they had yet to actually reach Lavender. Although Misty's temper constrained him from saying so aloud, Ash knew she hated going here because she was afraid. Therefore he went along with her suggestion that they "take their time getting back" and make sure they caught all possible Pokémon in the area.

"Will you stop your whining?" Misty asked, irritated. She was aggravated partially because he had complained several times about wanting to go to Lavender, and because she suspected he had picked up on her fear of returning to the area. "If we hadn't followed my advice you wouldn't have caught all those Pokémon, and you'd be behind!"

"I wasn't complaining!" Ash shot back, aggravated at her impatience. "I was just saying that we're finally here!"

"Fine then," she said, forgetting the petty argument as she saw the looming tower which they had visited six years earlier in the distance. Although she hated to admit it, she _did _hate being in this area, both because it scared her and because of what happened the last time they had come.

"You can just drop me off near the front and I'll go in," Ash told her as they drew closer. He cut short from saying "if you're scared" mostly out of fear that she would harm him in some way.

"No way!" Misty replied, pulling the car to the side of the road and taking the key out of the ignition. "I'm not some scared little girl." She also felt slightly emboldened by the fact that it was noon and therefore much brighter outside than it had been the first time they had come.

"Alright," Ash said, getting out of the car. He and Misty then proceeded to get out of the car and walk towards the large mansion together. As they neared the entrance, Ash noticed the lack of people in the area.

_Why is it always so empty around here? _he wondered inwardly, though he suspected the ghost Pokémon probably had something to do with it.

"Well, here we are," Misty said hesitantly as they approached the front doors. She slowly reached for the door, growing increasingly worried as her hand closed the gap, and the split second before she entrapped the knob between her fingers the door flew open, knocking her and Ash back.

"Whoa!" they cried simultaneously as they landed several feet away.

"What's going on?" Misty asked worriedly, looking around, but finding nothing out of the ordinary.

"Pika-pi," responded Pikachu, shrugging. He had been resting on Ash's head before being thrown off by the sudden impact.

"I agree with Pikachu," stated Ash. "I have no idea."

Catching her breath from the sudden adrenaline surging through her body, Misty stood up and made a valiant effort not to appear scared.

"Well, let's get in there guys," she said, marching back towards the open doors. "Those ghost Pokémon can't mess around with me and get away with it!" She proceeded to walk through the doorway, which led to utter darkness inside the mansion.

Ash gaped at her a second as she entered, amazed at how quickly her timidity gave way to her anger at the abuse.

"When she's fired up, she can do anything," Ash told Pikachu, as he placed the electric Pokémon back on his head and ran to catch up with his fiery friend inside of the dark area.

As he ran inside, he noted that the temperature dropped several degrees from what it was outside. He remembered the same sensation the last time they had come to the haunted house.

"Misty?" he called out into the darkness. He had expected to find her immediately inside the mansion, and was surprised to realize that she was not even within ear shot. Growing worried, he called out again, but still to no avail.

"Pikachu-pi," Pikachu stated, above its master.

"I know Pikachu, I'm a little worried too," Ash said, taking a few more steps into the mansion. He felt an odd presence surrounding him and his Pokémon as he continued his slow and cautious trek into the house, and it put his nerves on edge.

_I'm not worried about Haunter, Gastly or Gengar, _he thought to himself. _It's those new Haunter that I'm freaked out about._

As he thought this, he suddenly heard a creaking sound several feet to his right. Deciding that he desperately wanted to see and not just feel about the expansive building, he reached for one of his newest Pokémon, which he had brought in the case the mansion was not lit up.

"Magneton, go!" he yelled. The large metallic Pokémon emerged from the pokeball and Ash gave his order. "Use Flash to light up our path."

"Mag," the Pokémon responded to his request, surrounding its body in electrical sparks and immediately illuminating the surrounding area with a yellow-tinted light that Ash found comforting.

"Good job Magneton," Ash complimented. "Keep up the good work."

Ash and his Pokémon then proceeded to walk through what appeared to him to be a large living room, which he had only partially seen the last time he had come due to his falling unconscious rather quickly upon entering the facility. Because of his nerves, Ash supposed, Pikachu climbed off of his trainer and kept pace with Magneton in front, also sending off sparks to light the way.

_Pikachu senses something, _Ash noted, as Pikachu suddenly stopped and perked its ears.

"Pika," it growled, shooting off larger sparks from its electric sacks. It jerked its head to Ash's left, where he saw a long, dark corridor.

"Pikachu!" the Pokémon cried as it suddenly sprinted off in the direction of the corridor, leaving Ash and Magneton alone.

"Misty must be over there!" Ash told Magneton. He ordered Magneton to follow Pikachu and the two of them ran to the hallway together.

Unfortunately, after about thirty seconds Ash realized that he could no longer see the sparks flying from Pikachu's furry face. Worried, he continued at a jogging pace down the seemingly endless hallway, rushing by countless doors. Though he knew that Pikachu or Misty could have been in any of the rooms, his gut instinct was to continue straight on to find them.

"Magneton!" screeched his steel Pokémon, catching Ash off guard and causing him to scream in response.

"What is it?" he asked, very alert after seeing his Pokémon stop right in front of him and begin to repeat its name.

"Magneton, magneton, magneton," rambled the electric creature.

_Pikachu's difficult to translate, _Ash thought, _but Magneton's impossible._

A second later, Magneton grew silent and ceased shooting sparks from its metallic body. Deciding that things were growing too weird, Ash reached for Magneton's pokeball and pointed it at the now invisible Pokémon.

"Return," he muttered as the red light emerged from the center of the pokeball and hit his Pokémon, withdrawing it into the safety of its capsule. As Ash thought on this, he began to envy the Pokémon.

"Wish I could just be called back into a pokeball," he muttered. He thought of the other new Pokémon he had brought with him, a Staryu and Kangaskhan, and realized that he had no other Pokémon which could use Flash. He had assumed that two would be enough, but unfortunately had been proven wrong.

"Guess I'll go in here," he said to himself. In spite of there being no one within earshot to listen to him, he found it a great comfort to make some noise.

As he creaked the door open, he was both surprised and relieved to find an open window near the back of the room, with curtains swaying to and fro from a lofty breeze outside. Eased by the sight, Ash exhaled and looked about the room for a light switch, but could not find one on the walls.

"Misty! Pikachu!" he cried from inside the room as he grew frustrated with his fruitless attempts to find a source of light in the mansion. "Where are you?"

Suddenly, he heard a noise from within the mansion's hallway, resembling the noise of footsteps on concrete.

"Oh crap!" he cried suddenly as he heard the noise again, this time much closer to the room which he was standing in. Deciding he needed to stay away from whatever, or whoever, was making the noise, he quickly shut the door and ran to hide behind an antique couch that was placed a few feet in front of the window. He squat down and listened for the noise again.

However, he received a noise even more disturbing to him; the opening of the room's door. Gulping as quietly as he could, he reached for Kangaskhan's pokeball.

_Kangaskhan can't hurt ghost types, _Ash suddenly remembered, placing the pokeball back on his belt and reaching for his Staryu instead. Waiting with the pokeball in his grasp, Ash suddenly heard light footsteps coming towards the couch, and then a voice.

"I want your soul!" screamed a very high-pitched, very familiar voice. At that moment, Ash's face turned into a scowl and he poked his head above the couch to glare angrily at the smiling redhead beaming back at him.

"You!" he declared, pointing accusingly. "You scared the life outta me!"

However, Misty was too caught up in her own humor to heed his words of anger, and she held her sides as she continued to look at his face.

"You-you should've s-seen your f-face!" she said between gasps for breath and laughter. "I-it was p-priceless!"

"It wasn't funny," Ash said, folding his arms and staring back at Misty with all the contempt he could muster. Unfortunately, seeing Misty so happy was beginning to unnerve him a little and he could feel a small smile trying to make itself apparent on his sullen face.

"Aw, c'mon Ashy-boy," Misty coaxed, coming off of her laughing high. "It _was _a little funny, right? I mean, you honestly thought I was missing. You were really scared"

"That's right," Ash agreed. "I thought you were missing and was scared. Just like you thought I was dead and _you _were scared, remember?" As he said this, he finally allowed his face to break into a triumphant grin as he saw Misty's smile diminish.

"Uh, no, not at all," Misty replied, awkwardly placing her hand behind her head and staring up at the ceiling as if inspecting it for a real estate agency.

"Well I do," Ash said in a sing-song voice. "I was unconscious from that chandelier, and you were begging me to wake up."

"I-I was just a stupid little kid," Misty told him, flustered by his remarks. "That was years ago. I scared you just now."

_How does he know what I was doing while he was unconscious? _she wondered.

"Besides," Misty continued, hoping to take control of the argument once more, "I remember a certain ten year old trainer gawking at me when he first saw me in a bikini at the beach." As she reminded him of the event, she suddenly realized the implications of her comment, and felt her cheeks redden slightly.

Ash too blushed a little as they stood in awkward silence together for what felt like an eternity. Normally, Misty's comment could have just been considered her trying to get the best of Ash, but since their uncomfortable encounter in the hotel back at Pewter, neither of the young trainers found themselves able to make it a day without blushing at some insignificant comment.

_What is she implying? _Ash asked himself as he stared at Misty. _Does she think I like her or something?_

At the same time, Misty was wondering how Ash interpreted her seemingly harmless remark.

_He knows I get caught up when we're arguing, _she reasoned. _I'm sure he's not over-thinking it. After all, he's Ash._

Despite both of their thoughts however, neither one of the teenagers said or did anything for a full five seconds as they stared at each other from across the couch. Then, realizing the tension in the air, Misty decided to break the clamoring silence.

"Anyway, where's Pikachu?" she asked quietly, shuffling her feet.

"You mean he's not in on this with you?" Ash asked, breaking out of his stupor at the news.

"What?" Misty asked in return. "No. I figured he was hiding somewhere in here."

"No," Ash replied. "He heard something and went running off down this hallway. That's why I figured he heard you."

"I don't think it was me," Misty said, worry growing in her voice. "I was hiding in that hallway to your right when you went running down this corridor."

"Then we have to find him!" Ash cried, running around the couch and out the door. "C'mon Mist!"

Misty followed him hurriedly. Although she was very worried about Pikachu, she had to admit she felt a little relieved to have the subject changed so abruptly from her and Ash's nonexistent attraction.

"Is he in there?" she asked as she reached Ash, who was opening the door to the room next to the one they had just been in.

"I have no idea," Ash responded bluntly. "It's too dark in here to see anything."

"I can help!" Misty said, reaching for a pokeball on her waist. "I choose Starmie!"

An instant later, the large starfish Pokémon emerged from its pokeball and began to light up the room using the large jewel in its center.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Ash wondered aloud as he thought of the Staryu he had recently captured.

"Because I'm the water master," Misty replied, winking at the trainer beside her. "It'll be a while before you can think on your feet like me."

"Yeah, right," Ash responded, rolling his eyes. He scanned the room quickly, but found that the room was empty. "I think we're doing this wrong."

"What do you mean?" Misty asked.

"I mean, Pikachu's strong, but he's not tall," Ash explained. "So I figure he's probably in a room that's door was already open."

"Makes sense," Misty replied, shrugging. "Starmie, get in front and walk down the hallway."

Following the water Pokémon, Ash and Misty kept their eyes peeled for any signs of Pikachu, but by the time they had reached the end of the hallway, they had neither seen nor heard anything out of the ordinary.

"Maybe he went back to the entrance," Misty said with a shrug. "I mean, this place _is _pretty creepy."

"That's true," Ash replied. He would have been more worried if the hallway had given some indication of his friend being there, but due to the lack of evidence, he found himself agreeing with Misty.

_It is a pretty intimidating place, _Ash thought as he and Misty turned around and followed Starmie out of the corridor and into the main living area again. Much to Ash's relief, Pikachu could be seen standing on top of the fireplace's old mantel.

"Pikachu, there you are!" he cried, running towards his friend, who was remaining oddly quiet and still considering the circumstances. "We looked all over for-Ah!" Ash suddenly cried out in fear as he grew close enough to find that his Pokémon's eyes were glowing a scarlet red color.

"What is-Ah!" Misty cried out as well as she approached Pikachu from behind Ash. "What's the matter with Pikachu?"

"I dunno," Ash said, timidly stepping back from the electric mouse. "But I don't think we wanna find out either." Deciding that he didn't want to leave his friend behind, but not quite sure of the problem, Ash stood next to Misty examining Pikachu from a distance for a full minute, debating within himself what the right thing to do was.

_On the one hand, he's my best friend, _Ash reasoned. _On the other though, he looks demonic._

"I have to help him," Ash finally said, catching Misty off guard.

"What?" she asked. "We need to get the police or somebody to help."

"Yeah Mist," Ash replied, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "The police have been such a great help so far."

"Still," Misty said, not wanting to risk disturbing Pikachu, "we don't know what's going on here. He may be possessed or something."

"It doesn't matter," Ash replied, determined. "I have to help him." With this resolution, Ash took a step forward, but soon regretted it as his Pokémon suddenly shot off a Thundershock attack at him, forcing him to fly backwards.

"Pikachu!" screeched the Pokémon as he released another electric attack, this time at Misty. However, Misty, in lieu of what had just happened to Ash, hit the ground before the attack could make contact, and the resulting impact of the electric attack against the wall of the house, which had been struck in Misty's absence, caused the old mansion to shake slightly.

"Sorry Pikachu!" Ash cried out as he stood up and threw a pokeball into the air. "But I can't let you hurt us." As the pokeball opened, Kangaskhan, which Ash had caught at the Safari Zone a few weeks earlier, emerged.

"Skhan!" roared the Pokémon as she stretched her arms and focused on Pikachu. Although it was still rather dark, both the open doors of the entrance and Pikachu's electricity-covered body provided enough light for everyone to see what was going on.

"Mega Punch!" Ash cried, knowing that his best chance of helping his friend was to knock him out of consciousness.

"Skhan!" screamed the Pokémon again as it sprinted towards Pikachu and brought its fist back for a mighty attack. However, just as the Kangaroo-like creature released its energy and attempted to make contact, Pikachu jumped out of the way and allowed Kangaskhan to punch the fireplace instead. As Pikachu's electric attack had done, Kangaskhan's Mega Punch caused the Mansion to moan as it withstood the attack.

"Look out behind you!" Ash ordered, as Pikachu charged its electric sacks for an assault.

Unfortunately for Kangaskhan, the order came too late as Pikachu shot its body forward at the creature in a Volt Tackle and made direct contact with its empty pouch, causing Ash's partner to cry out in pain as she hit the ground with a "thud".

"Kangaskhan!" Ash cried out worriedly. He knew it wasn't a good idea to send out a newly-caught Pokémon against his experienced friend, but he realized he had no other options.

"You really need to think ahead!" Misty yelled at him, as if reading his thoughts.

"Starmie, Psychic, now!" cried the water trainer, taking control of the situation.

"Hyaa!" shouted the Pokémon as it glowed a blue aura and surrounded Pikachu in a similar hue. Slowly, Pikachu was lifted off of its feet and hung several feet in the air.

"Now what do we do?" Misty asked Ash, eyeing Pikachu cautiously. She knew Starmie couldn't hold its attack forever.

"Now who's not thinking ahead?" Ash asked sarcastically. However, he realized the need for quick action, knowing that Pikachu would eventually find its electric capabilities again. "Magneton, go!" He threw a pokeball as he said this, and his steel Pokémon emerged once again.

"Use Thunder Wave on Pikachu!" he ordered.

Immediately, the cluster of Magnemites levitated to Pikachu's height and separated from their usual connected appearance to surround the yellow rodent. They then released a blue discharge of electricity, which forced Pikachu to remain still and rendered him unable to use any electric attacks.

"Great job!" Ash complimented, seeing his plan work. "Misty, we gotta finish him off, but be careful!" Although Ash knew it had to be done, he still hated the fact he was having to battle his best friend.

"Right!" Misty said, nodding. "Starmie, use Hydro Pump!"

At her command, Starmie shot a large stream of water directly at Pikachu from the tip of its pointed "head". As the water made contact with Pikachu, he went flying and hit the ceiling; no small feat considering the roof was at least three stories high.

"Chuuuu!" cried the yellow mouse as it began its plummet towards the ground.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried. He quickly ran towards where he estimated his friend would fall, and just barely made it with enough time to save his Pokémon from an abrupt end.

"Pika, pi," mumbled Pikachu quietly, as its red eyes began to return to their normal black color.

"Haunter, haunt!" Suddenly, a Haunter appeared, seeming to emerge from Ash's Pikachu's body.

"So you were the reason for this!" Ash yelled, angry at the ghost Pokémon for its bad deed. "You really hurt Pikachu!"

"Haunt!" screeched the ghost Pokémon, as several other Haunter appeared behind it. It stuck its tongue out at Ash, almost hungrily, and began to drift towards him and Misty, who were slowly backing into a back corner of the room together.

"These must be the same Haunter from the gym," Ash realized aloud.

"You think?" Misty asked, annoyed at his late reaction. "We've got to figure a way out of this Ash."

"I know," replied Ash impatiently. "What am I, stupid?"

"You don't wanna know the answer," Misty replied, worry apparent in her tone as she witnessed the oncoming Haunter. "Do something Ash!"

"Right," said Ash, remembering the situation. "Magneton, use Thunderbolt!"

"Ton!" screamed the metallic Pokémon, as it shot a large voltage of electricity at the group of ghosts. Several were hit, and at first began to retreat. However, Ash soon realized that they were not retreating, but rather going after his Magneton now.

"Magneton, come back here and help us!" Ash cried as Magneton began to run away from the Pokémon chasing it. Unfortunately though, his new Pokémon was too distracted.

"Guess we'll have to handle this," Misty remarked to her Starmie. "Use Hydro Pump!"

At her command, several more Haunter scattered away, or were forcibly ejected by the powerful water move. Unlike the last time they had encountered the ghost Pokémon, Misty and Starmie seemed to be faring well in this battle.

"Now use Psychic!" Misty commanded.

Once again, Starmie lit up, and several Haunter started flying across the room, unable to control their movement.

"Hyaaaaa!" screamed Misty's starfish Pokémon suddenly. Misty turned to find that a Haunter had snuck up behind it and was currently pounding it into the ground with a series of Shadow Punch attacks.

"Starmie, return!" Misty commanded, as she saw several other Haunter drawing near to her Pokémon. She was not about to make the same mistake that she had made before by leaving her Starmie out for the Haunter to feast on.

"I guess we gotta run for it," Ash said, realizing they were out of options. He knew he couldn't send his new Staryu into the battle, positive that the result would be the same as when he sent his new Poliwag into battle over a month earlier.

"But they're blocking our path!" Misty pointed out, backing further into the corner as the Haunter hungrily approached her.

"We've got no choice, c'mon!" As he said this, Ash grabbed Misty's hand and, while cradling Pikachu in his other arm, began to sprint through the ghost Pokémon.

"Ahh!" he yelled as he felt his body begin to go numb due to the extreme cold of the Pokémon. He had never realized that ghosts felt like this. He continued to try getting through the cluster of purple Pokémon, but as he felt the feeling in his legs leave him, he knew that he was fighting a losing battle.

"Ash!" he heard Misty yell. He was not sure if she said anything else because at that moment he lost his hearing abilities. His sight began to diminish and everything around him became a blur as he fell to his knees. Just as he began to close his eyes for what he was sure to be the last time, he noticed that the blurred Pikachu in his arms was glowing brightly.

"Whoa!" he yelled, suddenly receiving feeling once more in his body, and looking down to witness Pikachu unleashing a powerful Discharge attack, which surrounded Ash and Misty in a large sphere of electrical power, and pushed away all of the Haunter.

"Run for it!" Misty cried, realizing that a path had been cleared by Pikachu's electric attack, which had managed to knock out most of the Ghost Pokémon.

"Wait!" Ash cried as she tried to pull him towards the door. He was still holding her hand.

"What is it?" she asked, annoyed at his inability to move.

"Look at these Haunter!" he said, spreading his arms out in front of him. "I'd be an idiot not to catch some." With that, he took several pokeballs from the pockets of his khaki jeans and began throwing them at the Haunter. Of the ten pokeballs he threw, eight of them retained the wild Pokémon, while the other two Haunter remained resilient.

"Awesome!" Ash cheered as he ran around to scoop up the pokeballs. Despite his happy demeanor, he too was anxious to exit the building.

As he and Misty ran towards the entrance, he withdrew his Kangaskhan and left the mansion with a large grin on his face. However, his grin vanished when he saw Misty's car. The Haunter whom they had encountered weeks ago was using Thunder Punch repeatedly on Misty's old car, as several other Haunter cheered him on.

"Oh my gosh!" Misty yelled angrily. "How dare you!"

"Haunter, haunt!" replied the grinning ghoul as it noticed the redhead screaming. Slowly it and the others began to wander towards Ash and Misty, apparently unfazed by the sunlight which was brightly shining in the mid-afternoon sky.

"Uh-oh," Ash remarked, backing away to run in the opposite direction. He looked down at Pikachu, but could see that his buddy was too weak to be of any use in the situation.

"C'mon Mist," he urged. He had never released her hand, so all he did was pull her away as he began a mad sprint through the woods which surrounded the mansion.

"Haunter!" he heard several Pokémon scream behind them as they made their way through the maze of trees and foliage. He knew that they had the upper-hand due to their ability to move through solid objects, but he felt that the adrenaline surge he was experiencing would guide them to safety.

"Gastly!" Ash suddenly heard a Pokémon yell behind him. Looking back, he was surprised to see a Gastly facing the Haunter which were chasing him and Misty deeper into the woods.

"Gengar!" shouted another ghost Pokémon, appearing from nowhere next to the Gastly.

"Haunter!" yelled one more Pokémon, again appearing from nowhere next to the Gengar.

"It's them!" Ash cried, realizing that these were the three Pokémon he had met six years earlier when he came to Lavender.

All three of the friendly ghost Pokémon began to glow a blue hue, similar to that of Starmie earlier, and soon all of the opposing Haunter were shot off into the distance.

"Almost like they're 'blasting off again', huh?" Ash asked jokingly as he witnessed the ghosts disappear into the blue abyss.

"Yeah," Misty snorted. "How are we gonna get to the Pokémon Center though?"

"I dunno," Ash replied. "Maybe those three can help us out." He then began to run, but realized that he and Misty were still holding hands.

"Uh, I guess we don't need to be doing this anymore," Ash said, laughing slightly in order to ease the tension as both he and Misty stared at their intertwined fingers. For the first time since they had made the contact, Ash felt his heart thump noticeably in his chest, and for a moment he hoped Misty didn't notice the slight pulse in his shirt.

"Guess not," Misty replied, equally embarrassed. They released hands and stood there for a moment, once again staring at each other.

_We've been doing this a lot lately, _Ash noted as he looked into Misty's green eyes.

"Gastly!" cried the ghost Pokémon from behind Ash suddenly, causing the trainer to jump.

"Whoa! Hey there guys!" he greeted as he turned around to face the trio. He was surprised as he realized that they were still living in the tower, and had not been captured or evolved.

"Haunter, haunt!" Haunter said, reaching out his hand and shaking Ash's.

"What's he saying?" Misty inquired, curious.

"I dunno," Ash replied honestly. "Maybe they're glad we fought off those Haunter."

"Gastly!" replied the levitating head Pokémon next to Haunter. He was nodding his head vehemently.

"Well, no problem!" Ash replied. "Glad we could help out. Besides, I needed to catch a Haunter anyway."

"Guys," Misty interjected suddenly. She was not as good a friend with any of the ghost Pokémon, and therefore more determined to heal her Pokémon than reacquaint herself. "Can you possibly get us back to the Pokémon Center in Saffron City? Our Pokémon are very injured."

"Oh yeah!" Ash said, remembering his poor Pikachu. "Can you get us back there?"

"Haunter, haunt, haunter!" cried the ghost Pokémon, nodding happily. It picked up Ash and Pikachu effortlessly and began to drift towards the sky with them. Following his friend's lead, Gengar picked up Misty and began to drift off with her too, with Gastly following them.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

A couple of hours later, Pikachu, Starmie, and Kangaskhan were all in the Pokémon Center being taken care of by Nurse Joy, and Ash had called Professor Oak to retrieve a few of his more experienced Pokémon to avoid another disaster, much to Misty's approval.

"So are you guys gonna head back home now?" Ash asked, as the sun began to set in the Saffron sky. In addition to their business in the Pokémon Center, Ash and Misty had spent some time playing around with the three ghost Pokémon, but Ash was growing tired from the day's events, and thought that they probably wanted to return home as well.

"Gengar, gen," replied Gengar, shaking his head.

"Whaddya mean you're not ready?" Ash asked. "We can't play forever, you know."

"Haunter, haunt," responded Haunter, pointing to Ash's pokeballs on his belt.

"Oh," Ash replied, surprised. "Do you wanna pokeball as a souvenir?"

The three Pokémon shook their heads in response.

"Do you wanna say hello to some of my Pokémon then?" he asked, confused as to what the three wanted to do.

However, once again the trio shook their heads.

"Then what is it?" Ash asked, completely confused.

"Ash, I think they wanna join you!" Misty cried out in aggravation. "Though I don't know why they'd want such a simple master."

All three of the Pokémon nodded in response to Misty's comment.

"Really?" asked Ash, surprised. The last time he had visited them, they were content with living in the tower and playing together. "Why do you wanna go with me now?"

"Maybe they don't like living in the mansion anymore because of all of those troublesome Haunter," Misty told Ash.

"Is that it guys?" Ash asked, looking at the three ghosts as they stood in front of the Pokémon Center.

Once again, the trio nodded in unison, and Ash broke into a big grin.

"Well then, of course you can come with us!" he cried happily. "The more the merrier! I just wish I hadn't caught all those other Haunter now."

"Why did you catch all of those Ash?" Misty asked the trainer, remembering how eager he was to capture the ghost Pokémon earlier. "You only need one to fill in your pokedex, you know."

"Of course I know that!" Ash yelled at her. She was always assuming he was incompetent as a trainer, and it often irked him. "For your information, I caught them because Haunter are pretty rare, and I was thinking I may be able to trade for some rare Pokémon with them to help fill up my pokedex later on…so there." As he wrapped up his explanation to the redhead, he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Whatever," she said, turning her back on him. However, inside she could not help, but be impressed by his logic.

_He's become a lot smarter than when we were kids, _she noted.

"So guys, you wanna jump in?" Ash asked, bringing out three unfilled pokeballs and enlarging them. They were rather big, so one hit the ground, but the ghost Pokémon did not care, and in one movement they all tapped on the pokeballs. In a dazzling flash of light from the combined captures, all three were instantly ensnared and Ash hooted in victory.

"This went even better than I planned!" he said to Misty, who could not help, but smile at his rejoicing.

_He may be smarter, but he's still pretty innocent._

* * *

Author's note: There you go! Like I said, wasn't my best, I don't think, but it was pretty good in my opinion. Also, I had to include it because a few weeks ago I wrote about that encounter with Sabrina before I reformed my story outline, so I knew I couldn't just cut this chapter, or pretend it didn't happen. Anyway, whether you liked it or not, REVIEW PLEASE. It's your critiscm that keeps me going, so don't underestimate the power of your opinion.

Also, I got an unusual request from one of my anonyomous readers nicknamed "Reviewman". They asked me:

Hey i think the story is great. I was thinking maybe you should bring in a new character to travel with ash and misty though.  
O and i was wonderin do you actually read all your reviews (You can answer in your next chapter) cus wouldnt they get a little repetitive

To answer your question Reviewman, I do answer all of my reviews. I usually try to get to them within about three days after they're posted, but sometimes I fall a little late on this deadline, and sometimes I'm a little early! Yeah, it can get a little repetitive, but I love doing it because it insures that people will continue giving me their feedback, and it's allowed for me to actually make some friends on this site (which I hadn't anticipated).

Anyway, back to business, in keeping with tradition, here are my weekly recommendations:

"Reunited, Happily and Painfully" by MoltresFeather - Finally, MF's returned! That's right ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago I received a PM which almost made my mouth drop when I saw it. Apparently, MF was busy having a life, but fortunately that's over and they're back to writing now (ha,ha)! Seriously though, I am glad to see MF (who I consider to be a good FF friend) back on and finishing their great fic. Please take a look at this one when you get the chance and review it!

"The Last Day on Earth" by KawaiiCherryBlossom-aka-BWF - This fic's a little depressing, so I didn't think at first I would like it, but I have to say it was great! The background is a really depressing atmosphere, and most of the feelings written are dark, but she really keeps you entranced from the beginning with her subtle flashback scenes and big finale. It almost felt like a chaptered fic, rather than a one-shot, with how descriptive it was.

"12 Roses" by pikagurl23 - Sappy. Sappy. Sappy. Now that I've described the plot, let me say I never finished (or got through the first half of) this fic. I'm sorry, but I cannot bear to read too much fluff, and this fic seems to be filled with it. However, am I saying it's a bad fic? No. The writing is superb, and frankly I'm impressed she could write such a long one-shot with her subject in mind. Several of my readers have asked for more fluff in my fic, and while I may not be able to provide you with what you want, I think this girl probably has enough sweetness in her fic to give you a toothache. So please read and review it if you enjoy nice, fluffy, fics. If not, stay away and don't be a jerk.

Alright, that's it from me...or not. I have one other anonymous review I would like to respond to from chapter fifteen before I go.

Neo Vestol writes:

I'd like to see some more ghost involvment, seeing as they are the coolest type of Pokemon. Maybe when they find Haunter, it will take them out of their bodies again. That would make a great fic.

PS Please update, seeing as this is one of the few decent Pokeshipping fics that still updates.

PPS Where was Pikachu in this chapter? You must realize he exists too. Did he leave with Brock?

I am excited to hear your review of this chapter then, because I made sure to include plenty of ghost involvement. By the way, I agree with you that ghost Pokemon are among the coolest types (though I prefer dragon). Don't worry about me contuing with this fic. I am determined to keep working on it until I finish it, which won't happen for a while yet. Also, I went back to chapter fifteen and found that I had included Pikachu, though not overly-so. I had written Brock saying goodbye to him before he went the airport security check. I know that a lot of times authors tend to just forget him completely, but I assure you I never write a chapter without including Pikachu in some way.

Alright, now I'm really done! Read and REVIEW PLEASE!


	17. The Eevee Competition

**Hello everybody!** It is two in the morning right now in Italy, and I have school tomorrow, but I could not take another week off in updating this story. As my reviewers know, I've been so busy this week, I haven't even had the chance to PM them and personally thank them for their input. I promise to write y'all this week with personal apologies and appreciative coments. I really do love all feedback, and I truly regret my inability this week to write you guys and tell you how much your feedback means. However, I hope by now most of you understand, and are willing to forgive and still REVIEW this chapter. I really like this one, and in fact this is my longest chapter to date, which I am happy about because as I said I think it's a really good chapter. In this chapter, Ash gets a rare Pokemon, Misty wears a bathing suit, and I use the name of one of my old girlfriends for a new character I introduce (Whitney was an old girlfriend too, by the way). You'll also find some AAML near the end, so when you almost pass out from the length of the story, persevere and it will be worth your time, I promise. Well, that's all I have to say. Oh yeah, we broke the 200 review mark BIG TIME last week. I got 23 reviews over these past seven days, and am very pleased. The days when I would get maybe four reviews in a week are nothing, but a distant memory now! This is an accomplishment for not only me, but all of my loyal readers who have stuck with me and reviewed chapters as they've read them, so give yourselves a pat on the back and go grab a cookie, compliments of me. Anyway, as always, enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 16

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"So you wanna take advantage of your best friend?" Misty asked Ash, her arms crossed. Both he and she were standing in a waiting line to sign up for a "Rare Pokémon Contest".

"It's not taking advantage Mist," Ash explained exasperatedly as they both moved a little further up the line, which was filled with trainers eager to take on the challenges. "I'm just asking a favor."

"Ash, if you repaid every favor you owed me, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, your mom, and Professor Oak, you wouldn't be done for years," Misty replied, rolling her eyes. It annoyed her that Ash considered what his friends did for him as "favors" when it was obvious he had no intention, or ability, to pay them back.

"Well, I'm paying for this one, so it's cool, right?" Ash asked, once again moving closer to the sign-up desk.

"But you're still putting Brock in a very uncomfortable position," Misty reminded him. "Most people are on the waiting list a year before they get a Pokémon egg, but you just want him to provide you with five in a matter of weeks?"

"He works there," Ash said, repeating himself for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "What good is it to have important friends if you can't even-"

"Excuse me!" cried a girl no older than twelve, interrupting the young champion.

"Er, yes?" Ash asked, turning around and already knowing what the child wanted.

"Um, I'm just starting out on my journey, and I was wondering if you'd mind signing my badge case for good luck Mr. Ketchum?" As the young girl requested the autograph, she pulled a small wooden box from her pocket and handed it to Ash with a permanent marker.

"Yeah, no problem," Ash said, signing the box quickly and handing it back to her. "Good luck with your journey." He then turned back around to continue his conversation with Misty, and purposely tried not to look behind himself again. For the past hour that they had waited in line, Ash and Misty had been approached by a gaggle of trainers, young and old, who wanted his autograph for "good luck".

"Anyway…wait, what were we talking about?" Ash asked, thrown off by the sudden intrusion.

"You using Brock!" Misty replied, rolling her eyes. She was getting tired of people coming to Ash and revering him as if he were a superhero.

"Oh yeah," Ash said, his voice inflecting recollection. "So like I was saying, there's no point in having good friends in high places if they can't help you every once in a while."

"But he's not in a high place right now Ash," Misty reminded him. "He's just an intern. He can't change the rules just for you."

"But I need eight Eevee, and he's the only one who can help me out," Ash whined.

"He's only been gone two months, and you think he has the clout to give you eight Eevee?"

"Maybe," Ash responded, shrugging. "Besides, it doesn't matter if he has clouds, he just needs to know someone who does."

"It's 'clout' Ash, not 'clouds'," Misty informed him, burying her head in her hands. She could not believe how moronic he was acting.

_And people think he's the best, _she thought to herself, as an older teenage girl approached Ash with a spiral notebook and pen.

"Uh, excuse me," she said, tapping Ash on the shoulder. He turned around, and she almost gasped as she saw his face. "I-it's really you!"

"Yeah," Ash said, grinning. This girl was very attractive, and though he didn't think he'd be asking another girl out for a while due to the Whitney incident, he certainly didn't mind a little attention from the opposite sex.

"My name's Joyce," the girl said, holding out her notebook. "I was wondering if you could maybe-"

"No!" Misty suddenly yelled, aggravated. Unknowingly, she garnered a lot of attention from the people in the large building and especially around them in the line with her outburst. "Ash and I are having a private conversation! Does everyone have to interrupt us, or can we get three seconds of peace?"

"Oh, uh, I'm sorry," the now distraught woman replied, pulling back her notebook as her eyes filled with tears. "I-I just wanted an autograph." With that, she suddenly ran away, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

Misty was at a loss for words. She had not meant to come off as so rude, and as she stood silent for a few seconds, she could feel hundreds of eyes bearing down on her. She could also feel the general condemnation of the people surrounding her, and most prominently felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

"Wow Mist, you didn't have to be so mean," Ash stated bluntly. He knew Misty could be hotheaded, but it was usually directed at him, and never at complete strangers.

"Uh, I-I've gotta go," Misty said, stepping over the velvet rope separating the line from the rest of the Pokémon coliseum.

"But Mist, you have to sign up for the competition!" Ash reminded her as she ran off in the direction of Joyce.

"I don't care about that!" Misty shouted to him. She was looking around for the young girl, but wasn't able to see anything through the large cluster of trainers walking around. "I need to apologize for what I did." She then decided upon the general direction which Joyce took, and began to shove through the crowd to follow her path.

"Alrighty then," Ash said to no one in particular, seeing he was the next in line to sign up. Walking up to the counter, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the sign-up sheet was not yet completely full.

"Which competition will you be battling in Mr. Ketchum?" an older woman at the counter asked as Ash browsed over the list to see if he recognized any names of the trainers.

"Oh, what?" he asked, looking up to face the woman behind the counter.

"I said which competition do you wish to enter?" the woman repeated.

"Uh, the Eevee Competition please," Ash responded.

"Certainly," the woman said cheerfully, typing his name into the computer. "You're very lucky Mr. Ketchum. It appears we only have a few slots left open for this one."

"Yeah, I saw the sign-up sheet," Ash said, holding the clipboard up with his right hand.

"Oh no Mr. Ketchum, that's not the Eevee Competition," the woman remarked as she continued to type into her small computer.

"Then what's it for?" Ash asked.

"The women's swimming competition," the woman replied with the hint of a smirk on her lips.

_He's a great trainer, but he sure doesn't act much smarter than other teenage boys, _the woman thought.

"Oh!" Ash said, dropping the clipboard on the counter suddenly. He felt embarrassed for seeming so interested.

"So I take it you're not wishing to compete in that one?" the older lady asked, finishing her typing and printing off a paper from her printer.

"No, no, that's alright," Ash said, waving his hands at the woman as he reached for the paper which she was handing him. "Uh, I forgot my bathing suit."

"Well that's fine," the woman remarked kindly. "On behalf of the Kimono Sisters Corporation, I welcome you to the Fuschia City Competition Center. Please enjoy your stay, and good luck in the tournament, though I doubt you'll need it." As she finished her remark, she gave the champion a small wink before he turned to the right and walked through the spinning glass doors into the main battle lobby.

"Wow," Ash said to himself and Pikachu, who was once again resting peacefully on his head. Although the outer sector of the building was crowded, inside the main section there was no more than a square inch of free space. As he looked around, he realized that the building was quite large. He looked to the ceiling and saw that it was at least ten stories high.

_It must be tall for flying types, _he realized as he saw in the distance a Charizard and Golbat battling high in the air.

"Pika," Pikachu replied. Ash could hear the amazement in his voice as well.

Unsure of what to do next, he tapped a passerby on the shoulder.

"Uh, excuse me," he remarked, catching the man's attention.

"Yeah, what is it?" the man replied, obviously irked. He turned around with a frown prominent on his face, but soon changed his expression.

"Yeah, I just wanted to know where the Eevee competition is taking place," Ash informed the man, whose mouth now hung open. "According to this ticket, I'm supposed to be in Battle Arena four in twelve minutes, but I have no idea where that is."

"Y-you're Ash Ketchum, aren't you?" the man asked feebly, pointing at the trainer. "You're the Sinnoh champion!"

"Yeah, that's me," Ash said, pleased to find another fan.

"You mean you're in the competition?" the man asked, having completely forgotten Ash's previous inquiry.

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to be in Battle Arena four in like ten minutes, so if you could help me out, I'd really appreciate it."

"Sure," the man replied glumly, letting his head fall. "Battle Arena four is straight in front of you, two doors to the left. A bathroom is right next to its entrance, so you should recognize it." Then, to Ash's surprise, the man tore up his ticket and immediately began to walk towards the exit.

"Hey!" Ash called after the man. "What'd you do that for?"

"If _you're _going to be in the competition, exactly what chance do I have?" the man replied, sounding disappointed. "Guess I'll come back next year."

Ash felt bad for the guy, but before he could say anything else, the mysterious man quickly vanished among the throng of people, and Ash saw that he'd torn his ticket beyond repair.

"Poor guy," Ash said to Pikachu again. "You shouldn't give up just because the odds are against you."

"Pika-pikachu," replied his Pokémon.

Ash then followed the stranger's directions and soon found himself at the correct battling facility.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me," Misty repeated in a monotone voice. She had been following what she hoped to be Joyce's path for several minutes and still had not found the young girl anywhere. Because of the large crowd blocking her path, she found it easier to just repeat the phrase continually rather than risk provoking someone by not saying it.

However, she quit her drabble of apologies as she spotted a girl on a bench, cradling her head in her hands. Slowly, Misty approached Joyce, unsure of how this would pan out once she made herself known.

"Uh, hi," Misty squeaked as she came within earshot of the heartbroken trainer.

"Huh?" Joyce replied, surprised by the redhead looming over her. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me," Misty said, kicking the floor of the building with the toe of her left foot. "I just came by really quick to say that I'm sorry and that I shouldn't have said those things to you." Although Misty truly did regret her actions, she still hated apologizing, and thus made her little "confession" rather quick.

"Oh, okay," the girl replied, sniffling a little. Misty could see tear stains running down her cheeks, and could see by the hurt expression on her face that the apology did not seem to faze her.

"Look, I really am sorry," Misty said, taking a seat which was conveniently free despite the cluster of people. "I just have a bad temper. You know how redheads are, right?" as she asked Joyce this, she was positive she saw a small smile appear and then vanish from the corner of the girl's mouth.

"I was just having a difficult conversation with my friend and everyone here has been asking for his autograph, so when you came up, I took out my frustrations with him on you."

"I understand," Joyce replied, finally looking Misty in the eye, and wiping her cheeks with the palm of her hand. "But how could you be mad with him? He's Ash Ketchum!"

"Trust me, it's very easy," Misty replied, denying the urge to roll her eyes at the other trainer's naivety.

"But he's so smart, and _so _handsome. How could you be with him and not like him?" Joyce asked, sounding truly curious.

"Well, we've been friends since he started his journey, and I guess I don't see him as smart, but more like that goofy ten year old I met several years ago," Misty replied, hoping this would satisfy the girl's interest. "I do like him though…as a friend."

"But you do think he's handsome right?" Joyce asked.

"Well, uh, um, you see, th-that's not w-what's important here," Misty stuttered, trying to get out of the predicament with as much poise as possible. "What's really important here is that you've forgiven me, right?"

"Right," Joyce said, nodding. "Thanks for coming to apologize. A lot of people probably wouldn't have cared."

"I just feel bad for doing it in the first place," Misty said, relieved that the awkward subject had been put to rest, if only temporarily. "Too bad I missed my chance to sign up for the Eevee competition though." As she said this, she remembered Ash warning her about getting out of line before she went off to find Joyce.

"Well, the line looks pretty empty right now," Joyce noticed, pointing towards the line through the thinning crowd. "You could see if there's a slot still open for you."

"Alright, but I doubt anything will be open," Misty said. She couldn't believe after seeing that large crowd of people that any tickets would still be available.

"I'll come with you," Joyce said, standing up with Misty and following her to the front desk.

"Oh, are you entering the Eevee competition too?" Misty asked, surprised. Joyce didn't strike her as the competitive type.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Joyce said, shaking her head. "I'm going into the swimming competition!"

"The swimming competition?" Misty asked, now truly confused. "I thought this was a Pokémon Competition Center?"

"Oh it is," Joyce remarked. "You see it's kind of a half and half swim meet slash Pokémon contest. The trainers swim an eight hundred meter race, and then their Pokémon do the same. Whoever has the best average time wins."

"Wow!" Misty said, excited at the prospect for her to use one of her water Pokémon in a competition. "Maybe I should do that one."

"Really?" Joyce asked, surprised. "You swim well?"

"Yep," Misty affirmed with a nod. "I've been the gym leader at Cerulean City for five years now, so I know my way around water."

"Whoa!" Joyce exclaimed as she approached the counter. "I've heard of you! My brother competed in your gym a few years ago at the start of his journey and told us he lost miserably."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Misty said, not sure why she was apologizing. As a gym leader, it was her job to award badges to those who earned them, and obviously Joyce's brother hadn't earned one.

"Don't be sorry," Joyce replied, filling out her name on the clipboard. "He was really arrogant back then, and that loss is what he needed to help him focus."

"Well, I'm glad I could help," Misty told Joyce as she approached the front counter herself. "I've had some experience with arrogant trainers, and I know how un-fun they can be."

"So are you gonna sign up for the competition or what?" Joyce asked, watching Misty with the clipboard in her hands.

"Uh, I dunno," Misty replied. She had a swimsuit in her bag with her, but she was unsure of whether or not she wanted to compete with Joyce, who from her appearance was an excellent swimmer.

"Which competitions do you want ma'am?" the older lady asked Misty as she stood there.

"Uh, I guess I'll do the Eevee competition," Misty said, putting the clipboard down. Now she had to make up an excuse to Joyce.

"See?" Misty said pointing at the overhead schedule. "The Eevee competition is from two to four, and the swimming is from four to six. I'd never make it!"

"Oh, you shouldn't have to worry about that," the woman at the desk responded kindly. "Apparently, once word broke loose that Ash Ketchum was competing, seventy of the two hundred trainers dropped their matches, so a round was cut from the tournament. If you enter, I can assure you won't be done later than three-thirty."

"That's great news!" Joyce squealed, excited. "You can compete with me then!" She then took the liberty of grabbing the clipboard from Misty's hands and scribbling her name down.

"Great," Misty said, trying to sound thrilled.

"If you hurry, you can make it for the final first match of the Eevee competition being held in Battle Arena five," the woman told her, printing off a ticket and sending off the two girls.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"And the competitor from Pewter loses his final Pokémon!" the announcer shouted to the crowd as Ash's opponent's Beedrill hit the ground with a thud.

In reality, the last four matches had been little more than practice for Ash and his team. He actually felt kind of bad for defeating his first opponent with only one Pokémon, Pikachu, and had since then used less experienced Pokémon from his team in the three-on-three matches. However, even with this disadvantage he'd found that the battles were simply too easy.

"Good match," his opponent said, walking up to Ash from the opposite side of the battling arena. "My friends told me I shouldn't try competing against you. I guess they were right."

"Don't be hard on yourself," Ash said, putting a hand on the young trainer's shoulder.

_He can't be older than twelve, _Ash realized, seeing his opponent for the first time up close.

"You beat two of my Pokémon before I could finally take you out," Ash complimented. "That's not an easy feat against a regional champion."

"Yeah, but you beat me with Pokémon that weren't even in your team against Cynthia," the boy responded dejectedly. It appeared to Ash that he was determined not to feel good about himself.

"Listen," Ash said, his voice hardening just enough to catch the boy's attention. "Don't always put yourself down. You fought a good match, and that's that. When I started out, I was constantly gloating and acting like some big-shot. I'm not saying you should be like that, but I _am _saying that you need to have more confidence in your abilities. If you don't think you can win, then your Pokémon won't either."

"Really?" the boy asked, impressed by the speech Ash had just given him. Not everyone got advice from the Sinnoh champion.

"Definitely," Ash said with a nod. "When you have confidence in yourself, your Pokémon will have confidence in you."

"Alright," the boy said, standing a little taller. "Next time we meet, I promise it'll be a tougher match."

"I look forward to it," Ash said, shaking the young man's hand once again.

As the boy walked off, Ash saw Misty sitting in the front row of the bleachers watching him with the girl she had yelled at earlier. He walked over there, ignoring the dozens of people who were simultaneously asking for his signature, or hand in marriage.

"Hey Mist!" he said, looking up at her. "Good match, huh?"

"Not as good as mine," Misty said, sticking her tongue out at him. "I beat my guy in three minutes flat."

"I was going easy on him!" Ash said, smiling at his friend's competitive nature.

"I was going easy on mine too!" Misty responded above all the noise from the audience in the battle arena. "I guess I'm just better than you!"

"Are not!" Ash replied, hoping to spark up one of their small disputes for fun.

"I guess you'll find out who's better soon," Joyce suddenly interjected before Misty had a chance to respond to Ash's taunt.

"Whaddya mean?" Misty asked.

"Look at the competition board," Joyce said, pointing towards the large jumbo-tron screen which showed who moved on in the competition and who was left behind. Both Ash and Misty scanned the final eight pairings, and to their surprise found that they were listed to battle each other.

"Whoa," Ash said simply. He couldn't believe that they were going against each other. Of course, he anticipated that if they both continued winning, he and Misty would eventually have to face off, but he was secretly hoping she would lose so they wouldn't be put in the situation they now found themselves in. When they were younger Ash would always be up to a battle with Misty, but the last couple of months had begun to change his perspective on the teenager. Although he didn't understand why or how, he felt as if making her upset was not the right thing to do. He tried to dismiss it simply as fear that she'd unleash her fury upon him, but he couldn't deny to himself that there was a stronger urge underlying his desire to avoid the conflict.

"Yeah," Misty agreed, still watching the scoreboard intently, as if hoping she would suddenly be matched with the kid from Vermillion instead.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Good luck," Misty told Ash as they shook hands in the middle of the stadium.

"You too," Ash replied a little loudly so as to be heard over the roar of the audience. The benches could hold about three thousand people, and right now Ash believed every seat was taken. Their attempts to remain discreet had failed miserably, and now everyone in the Center was aware that the Sinnoh Champion and his gym leader best friend were going to battle.

The two trainers took to their respective sides of the field and stared at each other as the crowd roared its approval. The referee lifted his two flags, one green and one red, in the air.

"Now, let the battle," he paused a moment as the crowd quieted slightly so everyone could hear the commencement of the match, "begin!"

Reaching for his left side, Ash felt for Ivysaur's pokeball. He had brought three new and three old Pokémon with him in preparation for any situation which could arise at the Competition Center. He knew he'd have to use his older Pokémon if he was to beat Misty.

"I choose you Ivysaur!" he declared, throwing the pokeball into the battlefield. In a flash, Ivysaur emerged from captivity and gave a roar of approval.

"I choose you Gyarados!" Misty replied in turn.

"Oh man," Ash whispered more to himself than Pikachu. He knew she was going to use her dragon-like Pokémon, but he hadn't figured she would do it so soon. Although Gyarados was a water type, it was also flying, meaning Ivysaur was actually at a disadvantage. In addition to this, he also felt a mysterious lack of competitiveness in the air as he faced down his opponent. It was as if he didn't care to win this match, though he simply threw this idea to the wayside as nerves.

"Gyarados, Ice Beam!" Misty ordered, throwing Ash off with her quick start.

"Ivysaur, dodge and then use Sunny Day!" Ash responded.

Obeying his master, Gyarados opened its large mouth and began to shoot a large stream of ice at its opponent. However, Ivysaur was faster than Misty had anticipated.

"Saur!" responded the grass Pokémon as it used its vines to hold itself high in the air. The Ice Beam hit nothing but the battlefield's metallic floor. Ivysaur then shot off a large light from its bud, covering the entire arena in a bright, white light.

"Come down and use Solarbeam!" Ash quickly commanded, taking advantage of Misty's temporary blindness from the Sunny Day.

"Ivy-saur!" roared the Pokémon as it shot off a Solarbeam without the necessity of charging due to the light flooding the battlefield.

"Gyarados, watch out!" Misty yelled as she shielded her eyes to better see what was happening.

"Rooooar!" screamed Gyarados as it took the hit head-on. It had been unable to dodge in time, and as it hit the floor with a "thud" Misty worried that her strongest Pokémon may have already been taken out of the battle.

"Now finish it with another Solarbeam!" Ash commanded Ivysaur, whose flower quickly began to glow once more.

"Roooar!" yelled Misty's Pokémon again, as it surprised everyone, including Misty, by suddenly lifting its head and using a Hydro Pump attack without an order.

"Saur!" cried Ivysaur in pain as it flew back several feet due to the strong water attack.

"Great job Gyarados!" Misty said, encouraging her Pokémon as it regained its balance and sat tall once again.

"Ivysaur, are you okay?" Ash asked, worried as he saw his Pokémon was slow to get up after taking the unexpected hit.

"Ivysaur," the Pokémon responded with a smile at his trainer. He then ran back towards the center of the battlefield to continue his fight with the large serpent Pokémon.

_This will take a while, _Ash and Misty thought simultaneously.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow!" the audience all seemed to gasp at once as they continued to witness the almost vicious battle taking place between the two trainers' Pokémon. The battle had now raged for about twenty minutes, and Ash was down to his last Pokémon, but it appeared Misty was too as her Starmie's combination of psychic and water attacks proved ineffectual against Pikachu. Although Ash had feared Pikachu would once again refuse to battle his friend, he was pleased to see that his Pokémon's competitive nature had gotten the best of him as he had watched the match from the sidelines. When Ash's Kingler had fallen to Misty's Starmie, Pikachu literally jumped onto the field before Ash had a chance to make a decision.

"The red trainer's Pokémon is unable to battle," the referee declared from the sidelines. "Pikachu is the winner!"

"Good Pikachu," Ash said to his Pokémon, who'd barely broken a sweat in the last match. "One more to go."

"Misty must now make her final decision," the announcer said on the overhead. "What will be her last Pokémon?"

Deciding she needed power if she was to defeat Pikachu, and because she only had water type Pokémon in her team, she decided upon her latest capture for her final battling partner.

"I choose you, Tentacruel!" she shouted, throwing the pokeball and unleashing a large, squid-like water Pokémon.

"Uh-oh," Ash said, looking at the very tall water and poison Pokémon looming over his Pikachu. He had the type advantage and his Pikachu still had most of his health, but Ash couldn't help, but gulp slightly as he configured a quick strategy to beat his opponent.

"Let the battle begin!" shouted the referee once more, lowering his flags.

"Tentacruel, Poison Sting!" Misty ordered, pointing at Pikachu.

Her Pokémon responded to its trainer's order and quickly shot out several white needles from underneath its large blue beak.

"Pikachu, Agility!" Ash ordered.

Pikachu too, obeyed his master and began sprinting around the stadium, appearing as if he was barely moving due to his speed.

"Tentacruel, Wrap 'im up, now!" Misty ordered, as she saw Pikachu take a quick break to catch his breath.

"Cruel!" Tentacruel roared as it seized upon Pikachu's tiredness to grab him with one of his long tentacles.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu cried as Tentacruel held it high in the air.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash suddenly ordered, realizing Pikachu, despite being wrapped up, was in a perfect position to give off a strong electric attack.

"What?" Misty asked, thrown off by Ash's order. "Oh no! Let go Tentacruel!"

At her command, Tentacruel unwrapped its tentacle from around Pikachu's waist, and as the small electric Pokémon gave off a powerful Thunderbolt attack, he began to fall towards the ground from the high position Tentacruel had been holding him.

"Chuu!" cried the Pokémon as voltage continued to leave his plummeting body. Although his aim was significantly damaged by the sudden drop, Ash was pleased to see that many of the sparks Pikachu was emitting were still making contact with Tentacruel, who was holding up his tentacles in a desperate attempt to defend himself.

However, Ash grew worried as he watched his Pokémon hit the metallic field's floor with a "clang".

"Pikachu!" he cried out, as Pikachu remain on the floor motionless for a second.

_C'mon buddy, you've been hit harder before, _Ash thought as he watched his Pokémon twitch slightly. He believed that the damage Pikachu received had less to do with his thirty foot drop, than it did with the hard ground upon which he'd landed.

"Pika," responded the Pokémon, suddenly jumping up with renewed strength. As he jumped onto his four paws, he began to emit large bolts of electricity from his cheeks and growl at the swaying water Pokémon.

"Cruelll," cried Misty's Pokémon, as he waivered back and forth.

Ash knew this was his opportunity to attack, and as he made eye contact with Misty, he saw she knew so as well. However, as he prepared to order Pikachu to use Thunder, he felt something stop him. He was unsure as to why, but he couldn't seem to take advantage of his momentary success to win the battle. As a matter of fact, he'd felt himself holding back throughout the battle, but as he looked at Misty staring back at him in defeat, he literally was unable to summon his will to finish the battle.

"Pikachu, pika!" Pikachu cried at his master, who seemed to simply be staring off into the distance. He knew if he wasn't given an order soon, they could lose their chance to win.

Unfortunately for Pikachu, Ash couldn't muster the strength to give the one word command. The audience watched this scene, entranced at the champion's prolonged hesitance. For a moment, the entire arena was silent save for Pikachu's calls to Ash and Tentacruel's cries.

"I forfeit the match!" Misty suddenly shouted to the referee. To make her decision final, she stepped onto the battlefield, officially breaking League rules and thus ending the battle.

"Huh?" the referee asked, confused. It was rare that he was thrown off-guard, but after the intense battling he had just witnessed, he was thoroughly shocked to hear the skilled redhead give up. "Oh, okay. Red Trainer has officially forfeited the match! Therefore, Green Trainer is the winner!"

For another moment the crowd was silent as Misty walked onto the field and complimented her Tentacruel as she returned him to his pokeball, but soon the entire audience burst into conversation, talking about why the gym leader and renowned rival of Ash Ketchum would forfeit suddenly.

"Misty, I…" Ash began to say as Misty continued to walk through the battlefield and past Ash and Pikachu.

"I don't want to hear it," Misty said, putting her hand in front of Ash's face. "Just leave me alone, alright?"

"But," Ash began again. However, now Misty was running off the battlefield and out of earshot.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hey Misty!" Joyce called out to the water trainer who was sitting in the locker room for the water battle arena. She had already changed into her one-piece swimsuit for the competition, and was waiting for the competition to begin in a few minutes.

"Oh, hey Joyce," Misty replied lamely. She didn't feel like talking.

"What happened back there with you and Ash?" she asked, sitting next to Misty, now taking on the role of consoler, which Misty had owned only a few hours earlier. "Everyone's talking about it."

"Oh, I dunno," Misty said, keeping her eyes on her lap. "Ash just gets on my nerves so much sometimes."

"But what did he do wrong?" Joyce asked, curious. "It was just a Pokémon battle. For a minute there, it even looked like he didn't know what he was doing and you were gonna win it."

"That's just it!" Misty exclaimed, lifting her head. "It looked like he didn't know what he was doing, but I know he did! Ash is one of the best, if not the best, trainers I've seen in my life, yet throughout that battle I'd mess up and he would never capitalize on the moment. He kept letting me slip through the cracks."

"I did think that the way he battled you out there was kind of weak to how he appeared on television a few months ago," Joyce said, thinking back to Ash's battle with Cynthia. She remembered seeing his face covered with sweat, and his grandiose body gestures which he used when he came close to losing a match. The battle she had just seen him in against Misty certainly did not match what she had seen before.

"Maybe he's just a little rusty," she said, hoping to lift Misty's spirits. However, she already knew the answer before Misty gave it.

"Nope," the redhead replied, shaking her head. "He's battled almost everyday, and works out with his Pokémon every morning. He wasn't rusty, he was bored."

"What do you mean bored?" Joyce asked, shocked at Misty's term.

"I'll tell you later," Misty replied, standing up. "It's time for the swim contest." With that, she walked out the doors from the locker room leading to the pool area, where many more spectators waited in the stands.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hyper Beam Kingler!" Ash commanded his crab-Pokémon.

"Ler!" replied the creature, as it opened one of its massive claws and formed a ball of light between the pincers.

"Arbok, dig!" shouted the opposing trainer, hoping to escape Kingler's aim.

Obeying its master, the snake Pokémon suddenly dove head-first towards the ground, but was unsuccessful in getting beneath it.

"Oooh! It appears Thomas from Vermillion forgot the floors of the battle arena are made of metal!" shouted the announcer as the cobra Pokémon yelped in pain from the impact. "This could be over folks."

"Now Kingler!" ordered Ash, seeing Kingler had stored enough energy.

"King!" roared the Pokémon as he unleashed a torrent of golden energy upon his opponent.

"Arbok!" Thomas screamed, seeing his Pokémon smothered by the attack. "Are you okay?"

"Charrrr!" cried the Pokémon in reply once the attack was complete. Arbok appeared almost completely blackened by the heat of the attack, and after remaining upright a few seconds following the attack, it soon fell backwards, twitching slightly.

"Arbok is unable to battle!" the referee called out. "Green Trainer wins!"

"There you have it folks, the likely favorite in this competition, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, has just won the annual Eevee competition, brought to you by the Kimono Sisters Corporation! Despite a few odd incidences, he appears to remain unbeatable." The announcer continued to ramble on for several minutes, but Ash tuned him out as he thought back to earlier and what happened with Misty. He acknowledged that he had held back throughout that battle, though he wasn't sure why, but he didn't understand why she'd be so upset.

"And now, to award the winning trainer, Ms. Kuni has flown here from the Johto region!" As the announcer gave his introduction, the Vaporeon trainer slowly walked into the arena, a spotlight following her movement, and came to greet Ash, who had been shoved by some stagehands into the middle of the battlefield.

"Congratulations Ash!" Kuni said, extending her arm and shaking Ash's hand as she grew closer. "It's been a long time since we last met!" She then took a microphone handed to her by one of the stagehands, and spoke into it.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, I would like to thank you all for coming out to see this year's winner of the Kanto Eevee Contest, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" As she said this, she and the members of the audience broke out in applause.

She then handed Ash the microphone. However, he honestly could not think of a single thing to say as he felt his mind wander to what Misty was doing again.

"Uh, um, thanks everybody," he said lamely. However, everyone was still clapping, and fortunately his words didn't seem to matter to them. "I really appreciate the Eevee, and I promise it'll go to good use." He then handed the microphone to Kuni and thanked her.

"I appreciate the Eevee," he told her again, hoping to leave soon.

"It was no problem Ash," she told him, as the lights in the arena came back on and the people in the audience began to exit through the designated doors. "You earned it!" She then handed him the pokeball.

"Yeah, well, I'll have to see you soon and catch up with you," he said, once again hoping she would catch his drift that he needed to leave.

"Actually we can't do that," Kuni said, sounding sad. "I leave for Johto again in the morning."

"Oh, well that's alright," Ash said. "I'm going to Johto in a few months. We can meet up then."

"That'd be fun, Ash," Kuni said, seeming to catch onto his drift. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah, I'll catch ya later!" Ash said, turning and practically running for the doors.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready?" asked a referee standing on a podium in the middle of the large salt water pool. The trainers were waiting to jump in on one side of the pool, with their water Pokémon waiting to be tagged on the other side. According to Joyce, the pool was exactly eight hundred meters long, so once a trainer reached the end, they simply moved out of the way for their water Pokémon to swim to the other side. Whoever's Pokémon reached the opposite side first, won.

"On your mark, get set, go!" screamed the announcer. With the shot of a blank gun, the racers all leapt into the water, swimming at a rapid pace. To her surprise, Misty found that she was actually doing quite well in the competition, but could see to her right that Joyce was breast-stroking her way ahead, which really did not surprise Misty. While Joyce seemed very muscular and lean, Misty was simply toned, and though she'd never say so aloud, her chest was also slightly larger which gave her an automatic disadvantage.

"C'mon Misty!" Misty suddenly heard a voice in the crowd yell out as she continued swimming towards the opposite side. Though her hearing was impaired by the crashing sound of water around her, she could tell that Ash was the one rooting for her.

_He's so annoying, _she thought, pressing towards the end. However, she reluctantly felt a little better knowing that he had shown up to watch her compete in the swimming contest.

As she continued on, she saw that she was quickly approaching her Goldeen, who was waiting on the edge of the pool so she could dive in. The second her hands brushed with the wall, the fish Pokémon jumped into the water and began a furious dash behind Joyce's Seaking, who was almost flying above the water because it was moving so fast.

"C'mon Goldeen, keep it up!" Misty encouraged her water Pokémon along with the other trainers who were watching their obedient creatures swim madly to the other end. However, her encouragement was not enough, as seconds later Joyce's Seaking reached the end of the pool several seconds ahead of its closest competitor.

"Oh man," Misty said to herself, as she walked around the pool to retrieve her Pokémon.

"You did a great job Goldeen," Misty complimented her fish Pokémon. "Return."

"Hey Mist, great competition!" Joyce suddenly called out to Misty from behind. "I honestly was scared you were gonna beat me!" She held out her hand for Misty to shake.

Although she didn't want to, Misty begrudgingly took Joyce's hand, still heaving slightly from the sudden activity and the cold of the water.

"Thanks, but you beat me by a mile," Misty said with a half-hearted smile on her lips. She didn't want sympathy from her opponent.

"Yeah, but these are weekly meets, and I come here all year!" Joyce explained. "You really did a good job considering that!"

"Well thank you," Misty said, still not feeling much better. She had lost twice today, and both times she had received unwanted sympathy for being a loser.

"I better get ready for the next round of preliminaries," Joyce continued. "The next swim meet's in a couple of minutes and I need to do some stretching."

"Alright then," Misty said, turning around to head towards the locker room. "I'll see you around then."

"See ya!" Joyce said, turning around.

"Hey Mist!" cried Ash from the stands as the water trainer walked by. "Great job. I really thought you had her there for a minute!" However, she kept walking by the stands without looking up at Ash once, and then entered the locker room.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Do you think she'll forgive me now Pikachu?" Ash asked his electric Pokémon as he stood in front of the mirror of his hotel room, making sure his hair was neat. It was now eight in the evening, and they had been back in the hotel for a couple of hours, but Misty had yet to talk to Ash. Rather, she had simply walked up the stairs instead of riding in the elevator with him, and acted as if he didn't exist as he continued to ask her why she was upset with him while she unlocked her door.

In order to combat her unwillingness to forgive, Ash had gone all out and dressed himself in his nicest khaki pants and polo shirt, and fixed his hair. To top off the ensemble, he had also bought a half dozen flowers from a shop down the street. He didn't know their names, but he thought they looked pretty and that a girl would most likely enjoy them.

"Pika-pi," Pikachu responded with a nod in the affirmative. He then gave Ash a small thumbs-up.

"Alright then," Ash said, puffing his chest out slightly. "Here goes."

He walked out the door of his room and walked across the hallway to Misty's room, where he knocked on the door and waited several seconds before she finally opened the door slightly.

"What do you want?" she asked menacingly. She had just gotten out of the shower, and didn't want to talk to Ash.

"I just came by to say that I don't know what I did wrong, but whatever it was, I'm sorry," Ash announced, feeling his chest deflate as he gave the long-winded explanation.

For a moment, Misty simply gazed at him.

_He looks a little cute, _Misty thought to herself as she remembered Joyce's question from earlier in the day. _Not in an attractive way, but in a sorry way. _She could tell that he had unsuccessfully wrangled with his hair to make it manageable, and also saw he was wearing what he referred to as his "fancy clothes" for the occasion. Not to mention the hideous arrangement of flowers he was holding in his hands.

"Come in," Misty sighed, surprising Ash. He hadn't thought it would have been so easy after her ignoring him for most of the day.

Walking into the room, he blushed suddenly as he saw all that Misty had on was a towel wrapped around her body.

Seemingly realizing this fact herself, Misty quickly excused herself and ran into her bathroom once more.

_Didn't expect that, _Ash thought, trying to forbid any images from popping in his head, which he found oddly hard to do.

A few seconds later, Misty reemerged from the steamy bathroom, but this time with a nice, thick robe on, completely covering her body.

"Uh, these are for you," Ash said, unsure of what to say now that she seemed to be forgiving him. He handed her the bouquet, and waited with bated breath to see her reaction.

Although she didn't really like the flowers, she smiled at him and gave him a small "thanks" before placing them on her bed.

"Ash, do you know why I was mad at you?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Uh, no," Ash replied, thinking he had just told her that moments before.

"I was mad because I knew you weren't giving me your best during our battle out there today," she explained. "It's like you didn't think I was a worthy challenge or something."

"What?" Ash asked, trying to sound incredulous. "No, of course not!" However, he knew that it was the truth. He could only hope he would be able to persuade her otherwise.

"Really?" Misty said. "Because even Joyce thought you were going easy."

"Well Joyce is stupid!" Ash remarked, growing defensive over his lie. He then realized something. "Wait, who's Joyce?"

"The girl I made cry earlier, remember?"

"You made her cry, so she went to watch you compete?" Ash asked, confused.

"No, moron!" Misty yelled back. "We made up and became friends, and _then _she came and watched me compete!"

"Oh, okay," Ash squeaked, afraid Misty would start pummeling him if he asked another stupid question.

"_Any_way," Misty continued, trying to regain her composure, "why'd you go easy on me in that battle?" Her voice softened reasonably as she asked the question.

"I-I dunno," Ash said, giving up on the façade. He had never been a good liar, and decided to draw the line.

"So you _were_ going easy on me?" Misty asked, hurt apparent in her eyes.

"Well, yeah," Ash responded. "You knew that already." He honestly didn't know why she kept asking him questions she already knew the answer to, and then acted surprised by them.

_Women are weird, _Ash noted for the thousandth time in his life.

"So you really don't think I'm a good trainer then?" Misty asked heatedly, ready to throw Ash out.

"What???!!!" Ash asked, thrown off by her logic. "How'd you get that?"

"Obviously if you weren't trying your best out there, it's because you thought I was too fragile to take your real battling skills," Misty explained. She felt lucky she wasn't easily swayed to tears, because she thought most girls at this point would have begun to cry, and she didn't wish to appear that weak.

"No, it wasn't that at all," Ash said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder, sending a small spark through both of their bodies, though they were both too distressed to take heed to it. "I honestly think I didn't do my best because I care about you Mist." As he said this, Misty looked up at him.

"You do?" she asked.

"Of course!" Ash almost yelled back. "We've travelled for years and are best friends. Why wouldn't I care about you?"

Misty smiled a little as she heard his explanation, and how he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I care about you too Ash," she replied quietly as she looked into his eyes. "But I wasn't going easy on you."

"I know," Ash replied. "I guess I just don't like the idea of competing with a best friend. I mean, when we were younger and everything I didn't care, but when I saw you on the other side of that battlefield, and I had the opportunity to strike…I just couldn't embarrass you like that."

"Thanks Ash," she said appreciatively. "But don't hold back when we battle in the future! I want your best out there, so I can shove it in your face when I win!"

"Like we'll ever battle again after this," Ash replied with a grin, happy to hear her teasing him again.

"You know we will," Misty told him with a wink. "You're not unbeatable!"

"The world has a different opinion," Ash replied cockily, holding his head high in pride.

They both hugged after their small banter, and as Ash walked towards the door, Misty remembered something.

"Oh yeah, did you win the Eevee?" Misty asked as he took one step into the hallway.

"Sure did!" Ash replied happily pulling the pokeball from his waist. "It was a cinch. Now all I've gotta do is call up Brock-o and get him to mate Eevee with one of the Ditto there at the breeding center, and I'll have the eight I need for the different evolutions in no time!"

"Ash, we already went over this," Misty said with a sigh. "You can't take advantage of Brock like that. He just got the internship!"

"It's not taking advantage!" Ash contended, forgetting his room and instead walking back into Misty's and closing the door in preparation for a long argument which he already felt she would win. "I just need a favor."

"Like I said before, you owe everyone you know like a thousand favors!" Misty said, aggravated that he was using the same arguments from earlier.

"Well then, what's one more?" Ash replied with a shrug. "Besides, I already am gonna make up for all the favors I owe you, so I'll have some extra to use on Brock anyways."

"Really?" Misty asked sarcastically while folding her arms. "What might that returned favor be?"

"Well, I haven't enjoyed walking and taking the bus since you let that Haunter blow your car up last month," Ash explained, inciting a silent glare from Misty. "So I thought I'd buy you a car. However, unlike your last one, I think this one should be from the past fifty years, so I hope you can get used to that."

"A car???!!!" Misty shouted, excited and forgetting, at least temporarily, Ash's insults. "How can you get a car?"

"Duh," Ash said, rolling his eyes. He was surprised to have Misty be the dense one for a change. "All of those autograph signings and lectures I've been doing at those fancy Pokémon training schools? Not to mention the ton of money I got from becoming Champion in the first place."

"Oh that is awesome!" Misty said, running to give Ash another hug.

_I could get used to this, _Ash thought as he wrapped his arms around Misty for the second time in only a few minutes. However, as soon as the thought popped into his head, he stuck out his tongue. _I must need a vacation._

* * *

Author's note: I really liked this chapter personally (too bad it took so long to write), but as always if you disagree, prove me wrong by leaving a review! Of course, if you liked it, give me a review anyway, just to make me feel good. Like I said, it's two in the morning here, so I'm going to get a few hours of sleep before school tomorrow. Please REVIEW and read the chapter if you haven't already.

Here's my recs for the week:

Seriously? I don't have time to write my reviewers and you think I'm reading new fics? (ha,ha) Sorry guys, but this week I've made no attempts to find new fics, but I'll defiinitely have some for next week. Also I really should have a new chapter of "Pokemon Love" up soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

To quote the Mickey Mouse Club (and risk lawsuit): M-I-C (see you later) K-E-Y (why? Because we like you) M-O-U-S-E. REVIEW PLEASE!


	18. Birthday Fun

**Hey Everybody! **Almost two weeks ago I sent a PM to my reviewers saying that, "unless the earth swallows me up" I would have chapter seventeen up and ready by October 18 (last Sunday). Well, the earth didn't swallow me up, but the next to worst thing happened; I lost internet connectivity. That's right. For the last eleven days we've been without the magic of the world wide web (old school term, I know), so I am very sorry for this delay. The good news is that the internet got fixed this morning, and I'm hopeful we won't lose it again for a while. The other good news is that starting next Sunday, November 1, I will be back on my weekly schedule! I send in all college applications October 30 (hopefully), and with SAT's out of the way, it looks like smooth sailing for a while in my personal life. Anyway, as far as this chapter goes, let's just say I felt guilty. Originally it was quite a bit shorter than it is now (this is my longest chapter to date), but when the internet stopped working, I decided to add some more important plot details to the chapter to make up for the lost time. It has literally been four weeks since my last installment, so I took advantage of this chapter to mention a few things and introduce some minor characters that were originally going to be saved for the future. As per usual, I'm not going to talk too much about the chapter up here because I don't want to give anything away…although the title kind of already does that, doesn't it?

Also, I regretfully have to take this time to dedicate this chapter to my "good friend" **licoricejellybean**. Are you happy LJB? You've now had THREE chapters dedicated to you. I actually haven't gotten to read your full chapter yet, for obvious reasons, but I did see the dedication, so here! I hope lightning strikes your computer for this.

Anyway, on with the fic!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 13

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Misty, wake up!" Ash yelled at the young woman sleeping cozily in her tent.

"Wha-what is it???!!!" she asked, panicked by his tone. In a frenzy, she stood up, forgetting the tent above her head.

Seeing the tent collapse around Misty, Ash fell over on the ground laughing. As the teenage girl looked around with the pink tent blocking her vision, Ash began to grab his sides, unable to believe that his small joke brought such large comedic results.

"Ketchum?" Misty finally asked, getting the tent off her head, and pushing the sleeping bag off her body. "What did you do?" She asked this in such a threatening voice that Ash was actually quieted. Looking up at her, he could see she was not in a mood to be messed with.

"Uh, I just wanted to remind you that it's my birthday, heh," Ash replied meekly. Now that he saw Misty shooting daggers at him, he was beginning to regret the "wake-up call".

"That's right," Misty replied, in an overly-sweet tone. "That means you'll need your birthday punches!" With that, she ran to get him, but he was quicker. Rolling to his stomach, he got up and sprinted a small way down the forest clearing. He knew that without shoes, Misty could never catch him.

"Alright," Misty huffed under her breath. She reached for a pokeball. "Politoed, I choose you!" With that, she threw the pokeball, and the consequent creature within, at Ash, ordering him to "cool off" the champion with a Hydro Pump.

"Misty, call him off!" Ash ordered, barely dodging a blast of water. Politoed was jumping from tree to tree above the champion, getting closer with his powerful water attacks.

"Or what?" Misty asked.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered, barely dodging another stream. However, he was surprised to not hear a cry emit from Pikachu's mouth, nor see any electric sparks flying towards the water type in the trees.

"Pikachu?" he asked, taking a quick glance in the direction of their campsite to find his "loyal" companion laughing at him in a similar fashion to how he reacted to Misty's waking minutes earlier.

"Now Politoed!" Misty ordered, seeing Ash thrown off by his own Pokémon's reaction.

"Poli!" screamed the Pokémon, unleashing another mouthful of water at the trainer, getting a direct hit.

"Ahhhhhh!" Ash cried, being completely drenched by the sudden downpour. As the attack came to an end, Ash stood there dripping, not daring to make a move and risk feeling any colder in the November air than he already was.

Now Misty mimicked Ash and Pikachu from earlier as she grabbed her sides while laughing at the soaked teen, half-frozen.

"I suppose you think this is funny?" Ash asked, sounding upset. "I'm out here in fifty degree weather with wet clothes, but it's all fun and games right?"

"Pretty much!" Misty yelled back as she continued laughing.

"I could catch hypothermia, you know!"

"Well you started it!" Misty shot back, the laughter fading from her voice. "If you hadn't woken me up like that, then none of this would've happened!"

"If you hadn't slept till eleven I wouldn't have _had _to wake you up," Ash rebutted, feeling brave enough to move slightly, and therefore start the long fifty foot trek back to the campground. "Becoming a Pokémon Master's not exactly easy."

"Well, out of the hundred Pokémon you've obtained, I've been responsible for like twenty of them," Misty reminded him. "Maybe I should consider becoming a Pokémon Master. It seems to come easy to me."

"You have not caught twenty!" Ash yelled back at the smirking Misty. "_May_be ten, but definitely not twenty!"

"Oh yeah?" Misty asked, preparing for a long argument. "Let's see, I caught Clefairy, Clefable, evolved Poliwhirl, gave you a water stone to evolve him to Poliwrath, a Doduo, a Nidorino and Nidorina, and I got those Moon Stones from Mount Moon, and-"

"Alright, alright!" Ash said, rolling his eyes. "I _guess _you've been helpful. That still doesn't give you the right to give me pneumonia!"

"Wake me up like that again, and you'll be praying for pneumonia," Misty warned sternly. She then went and got Ash's backpack, containing new clothes, and threw it to him. "Let's hurry up and get out of here."

"What's the matter Misty?" Ash asked teasingly as he took the backpack behind a tree and started to undress. "Don't you miss the old days when we'd be out in forests like this for weeks at a time?"

"Usually we'd only _have_ to be in these forests a few days, but because we were lost so much, our little trips took longer," Misty reminded him as she saw his wet t-shirt flung from behind the tree. "And don't throw your clothes on the ground Ash. You'll get bugs all in them."

"Wow," Ash stated simply, still hidden from view.

"What?"

"Nothing," Ash said. "You just sounded like my mom then. It was kind of creepy."

"Just hurry," Misty said, turning around and picking up the pieces of her greatly dismantled tent. "I'm sick of nature. It's time for a bath."

"We've only been out here two days!" Ash said in shock as he came out from behind the tree in jeans and the old hoodie he'd worn in Hoenn. It was too small for him, but was the warmest piece of clothing he had, along with a long sleeve red t-shirt he wore beneath it.

"And?" Misty asked, waiting for him to expand upon his statement. "Cleanliness isn't supposed to be a weekly habit."

"I know, but I think it's weird that you're complaining at all in this situation."

"How's it weird?" Misty asked, throwing the wrapped up tent into a large duffel bag she was carrying with her.

"You used to love camping!" Ash reminded her, raising his voice in surprise. "We'd have so much fun in the great outdoors, remember?"

"I had _some _fun when we'd camp out, but I'm older now Ash," Misty explained. "Besides, I didn't have all that great a time even when I was younger. Remember all the bugs and other weird stuff we'd run into?"

"Well, if we could just buy a car, then this-"

"Don't bring that up again!" Misty warned Ash with a stern gaze and pointed finger. "We don't need a repeat of last week's little scuffle, do we?"

"Uh, no, of course not," Ash said, backing slowly away from Misty. Subconsciously he reached for his right triceps, still feeling the faint bruise left from when she punched him. "I was just saying that there were some perfectly nice cars in Viridian if we had wanted one. I mean, it's not like I don't have the money."

"I _know _you have the money," Misty said, agitated that he was leading the conversation down this tumultuous path once more. "And I know there were a lot of nice cars, but you have to understand that buying a vehicle is a big responsibility! You can't just rush into that kind of decision."

"Why not?" Ash asked, throwing his arms to his sides in frustration. "I mean, as long as it's got four wheels and a motor, we're good!"

"But you said you were buying _me _a car, remember?" Misty said, pointing to herself. "I don't want some crummy looking thing at a used car lot that could break down like my old one."

"Maybe I should just buy myself one," Ash said haughtily. "At least then we'd be getting around quicker, and we wouldn't be as far behind as we are!"

"Are you blaming me for _you're _laziness?" Misty asked, now pointing at him.

"_My_ laziness?" Ash asked incredulously. "I've caught ten Pokémon in the last three days here. However, the only way I'm getting that Vulpix is by going to Cinnabar Island, and without a car to drive us to the ferry, we're in trouble. So really I'm not the one slowing us down…you are!"

"If you got a license, then this wouldn't be a problem," Misty retorted. "Somehow you're almost seventeen, and yet you've completely avoided that novel idea."

"I figured my friends would help me out and wouldn't take advantage of my offer to buy them a car!"

"An offer?" Misty asked, once again in an unbelieving tone. "You _owe_ me that vehicle after destroying my bike and car!"

"Are we really going to bring that bike into this?" Ash asked, sounding equally unbelieving. "You got the stupid thing back from Nurse Joy, so I don't owe anything for that. Also, you decided to park your car near the mansion, not me!"

"I wouldn't have even gone to that mansion if I wasn't helping you!"

"Well," Ash began slowly. Suddenly the fire was gone from his voice as he realized she had a point. He had definitely needed her for support back in Lavender, and if he said otherwise she would just point this out to him. However, the fighter within him pressed him to say something. "At least I'm not stupid!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Misty asked. A smile grew on her lips as her question stumped the boy in front of her.

"Uh, if you're stupid, then you're arguments don't count," he informed her matter-of-factly after a brief moment of thought. "Everyone knows that."

"Just give up Ketchum," Misty sighed. Both he and she knew that the argument had been won.

"Pika, pikachu!" Ash's Pokémon suddenly called out, catching both trainers off-guard, and saving Ash from an embarrassing concession.

Looking to his left, Ash saw Pikachu waving frantically over at the two, seemingly urging them to come see what he had found.

"Coming Pikachu!" Ash yelled back, dropping the wet clothes he was holding and running to see what the electric mouse had found. Misty followed close behind him.

"Pi, pika," Pikachu explained to its master as it pointed over near a small brook, which had several Oddish and Gloom drinking from it.

"Great work Pikachu!" Ash complimented, patting the mouse on his head. He had been looking for a Gloom several days now. While he possessed an Oddish, its evolved form had eluded him to date. Also, he had a leaf stone which he had bought in the Celadon Shopping Center, so he was eager to evolve a Gloom and complete the Kanto evolutionary set; something he had already achieved with the Bellsprout line.

"Go Rapidash!" Ash called out suddenly, throwing the pokeball near the group of grass Pokémon. In a flash, the large flame horse Pokémon with a horn protruding from its forehead appeared, immediately intimidating the supping creatures.

"Rapidash, Flamethrower on one of the Gloom, now!" Ash ordered.

Obeying its master with a whinny, Rapidash blazed a particular Gloom in the front of the group. A few seconds later, after the flames died down, Ash saw that the Pokémon was completely knocked unconscious by the attack.

"Go pokeball!" he yelled, throwing the spherical object at the unmoving opponent. Within seconds, the pokeball ceased its shaking and Ash pumped his fist in victory.

"Great job Rapidash," Ash complimented after his own personal celebration, returning her to the pokeball. "You were very helpful."

As he went to pick up his new Pokémon, he saw it disappear in a flash of light and remembered that he already had six Pokémon registered under his name. He silently prayed Misty hadn't seen him do that.

"You still can't remember the rule, huh?" Misty asked jokingly with her hands on her hips.

"I remembered!" Ash shot back defensively, his cheeks reddening slightly.

"Sure," Misty said, waving her hand and turning back towards camp.

"I did!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Where are you going?" Ash asked Misty as he saw her heading out the Pokémon Center in a fast walk.

"Huh?" she asked, startled. She had hoped Ash was still in his room resting while their Pokémon were being healed by Nurse Joy. "Oh, I was just going out to catch some fresh air."

"Oh, well maybe I'll go with you," Ash said, slowly getting up and yawning. "I'm tired of waiting around here for the Pokémon."

"No!" Misty said in a tone more harsh than she had desired. She tried to make up for her sudden aggressiveness, which Ash appeared suddenly taken aback by. "I mean, uh, you've been training hard all week so you should stay here and enjoy this little break."

"Working hard?" Ash asked, still standing. "This morning you told me I had been lazy this whole time."

"Well I changed my mind," Misty said, desperately wanting to get out of the Fuchsia Pokémon Center and purchase her present.

"Why?" Ash asked teasingly. "Is it because you realized that I was right?"

"Uh, yes," Misty admitted quietly. She couldn't believe that she was hearing herself give into Ash, but she needed to leave if she was to make her appointment and believed this was the easiest, though most painful, way out of the current situation.

"Really???!!!" Ash screamed, his eyes large in surprise.

"Yeah," Misty said again, finding it easier to lie the second time. "I was thinking about it and you've been doing a lot lately, so I thought I'd go out and grab us a bite to eat while you relaxed."

"Um, thanks…I guess," Ash replied, stunned at the revelation. He was sure she was going to defend her statement, and the fact that she didn't completely caught him off guard.

"No problem," Misty said, smiling a little at Ash's shock. She thought that admitting he was right was going to be a tortuous experience, but it was actually a little fun to see Ash completely thrown off by her agreement with him. "What do you want to eat?"

"Oh, well you don't have to do that," Ash said, sounding much nicer than a minute earlier. He didn't know why exactly, but the portion of his brain dedicated to etiquette was telling him he shouldn't take advantage of his friend's offer to get some food after she had just been so unexpectedly cordial. "I'll go get it." As he told her this, he began to walk over to the Center's doors, where Misty was standing.

"Alright, I guess I'll just go for a little walk then," Misty said, relenting. She knew she couldn't get him to stay without arousing suspicion now, and thought maybe he would leave her alone if he had something else to preoccupy him.

"Well where are you walking to?" Ash asked as they both stepped outside into the crisp autumn afternoon. "Maybe there's a restaurant nearby."

"No, I don't think so," Misty said shaking her head. She couldn't believe how much work it was to get the champion to leave her alone for a few minutes.

_Although I guess we have been spending a lot of time together, _Misty thought in response to her disbelief at his obliviousness. _He's just used to us hanging out together constantly._

"Oh, okay then," Ash said, looking a little dejected. "I understand." He turned around and began walking the other direction in order to insure he wouldn't cross paths with his friend. He didn't know why she was acting so peculiar around him.

_First she admits that I'm right and she's wrong, and now she says we can't even walk together._

"Ash…" Misty began softly. She felt bad for leaving her friend to feel like he did, but she stopped herself from making her voice audible, realizing that she had better take advantage of the opportunity now given to make her appointment. Turning around as well, she briskly walked towards Scissor Street.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Yes Miss Waterflower, I see your appointment," a young lady at the reception desk in the front of the Pokémon boutique said. "If you will just sit one second, Suzy will be out to see you."

"Thank you very much," Misty said, sitting down and picking up a Pokémon fashion magazine. She flipped through it for several seconds before realizing that many of the Pokémon in the pictures had the label "Trainer: Susanne Applebaum" beneath them. Misty knew that was Suzy's real name, and as she flipped through dozens of pages seeing more of the breeder's impressive collection, the redhead felt nervous about the proposition she was about to make.

"Misty Waterflower?" a voice suddenly inquired from above Misty.

Looking up, the gym leader saw that it was indeed Suzy talking to her.

"Oh, um, yeah!" Misty said standing up and holding out her hand to shake with the breeder. "Nice to see you again Suzy!"

"Well it's nice to see you too!" The girl with dyed green hair replied. "You look absolutely stunning! I remember the last time we met in person was when you were just this tall." As she said this, she lowered her hand about a foot below her shoulder.

"Yeah, I've grown a little," Misty replied, laughing a little. She was now approximately the same height as the five foot, six inch tall woman, and thought it funny how a mere six years could change so much.

"I have to admit I was a little surprised when you called me," Suzy told Misty as she sat down next to the trainer in the waiting room. "I mean, like I was saying, it's been quite a while."

"I know," Misty said, smiling a little, but nervous. "I just have a kind of favor to ask of you, and so I thought I should do so in person."

"Really?" Suzy asked, looking intrigued. "What is it?"

"Well, you know Ash Ketchum, right?" Misty asked, hoping to glide into the proposition, rather than straight out asking.

"Of course!" Suzy replied with a smile. "You don't forget a ten year old who saves your store from Team Rocket and then appears on every magazine after becoming Champion!"

"I guess not," Misty replied, chuckling in a desperate attempt to appear calm and collected. "Anyway, he's been travelling around looking for rare Pokémon."

"Huh, that's cool," Suzy said. "Why's he doing that?"

"No reason," Misty quickly assured. "He just thinks that since he's Champion now that he should spend more time looking for rare and cool Pokémon." She was lying, of course. However, she remembered Ash telling her only his close family and friends could know of the rules, and she didn't consider a woman they had not seen in more than five years a "close" friend.

"Oh, well that makes sense I suppose," Suzy rationalized. "I mean, he must have quite a bit of free time on his hands. I hear Champions don't get many challengers."

"He hasn't gotten one yet," Misty replied, happy to see that the breeder accepted her explanation. "Anyway, he's now looking for a Vulpix, and I remember Brock took care of yours for a while before giving it back to you in Johto."

"Yes?" Suzy replied, raising an eyebrow at where the question was headed.

"So I was wondering if you'd be willing to trade for it?" Misty inquired in one breath, hoping Suzy wouldn't consider her to be a complete idiot for asking her to give up such a rare and famous Pokémon.

"No," Suzy said, shaking her head. "No way."

"W-what?" Misty asked, heartbroken. She had counted on this Vulpix to be her gift for Ash since she was a little low on spending money.

"Sorry, but ever since Brock returned Vulpix to me in Johto, we've become like best friends," Suzy explained apologetically. "I can't imagine leaving her with another trainer again."

"Oh, I understand," Misty replied. Despite her best efforts, she knew she sounded as miserable as she felt.

"However," Suzy suddenly said, breaking Misty from her daze of frustration, "you might wanna take a look in the back real quick." With this, she promptly stood up, walked behind the reception counter, and went through a door separating the waiting room from the rest of the facility.

Curiously, Misty quickly followed the breeder while wondering what she could have that would improve the current situation. As she walked through the door, she stopped herself immediately to comprehend what was at that moment the most beautiful scene she had yet to behold. Lying before her on the ground were two Ninetales with a litter of Vulpix pups running around them.

"You see, I couldn't give you Vulpix if I wanted to," Suzy explained to a still-dazed Misty over the howls of the young creatures. "She evolved a while ago."

"That's right," said a young man, no older than twenty-six, walking into the hallway and stepping beside Suzy. Misty immediately recognized the man as Zane, the breeder whom Suzy had shown affection towards several years earlier. "We evolved both of our little Vulpixes, and like us, they decided to spend the rest of their lives with each other." As he explained, a blush appeared on Suzy's cheeks.

"Y-yeah," she agreed, obviously happy, but at the same time a little embarrassed at her husband's sudden appearance and explanation.

"Oh, they're adorable!" Misty finally said, falling to her knees and allowing the young fire creatures to climb on her lap and lick her cheeks. All five of the pups felt very warm in her arms, and Misty simply adored the feeling of their thick, luscious red fur in her fingers.

"So do you want a couple?" Suzy asked suddenly, catching Misty off-guard.

"A couple?" Misty asked. She had obviously assumed she would get one of the fire Pokémon since Suzy took time to show them to her, but she hadn't expected more than one.

"Sure!" Suzy said, affirming her previous question with a nod. "I wouldn't give anything less for the people who saved my business and helped my Pokémon learn to love me."

"Oh, well I don't wanna just take them," Misty explained, slowly pulling the pups off of her and standing up. "I'm fully prepared to make a trade. I brought several of my rarer water types and-"

"No way!" Suzy said, shaking her head. "I'm not trading for your Pokémon! This is just the latest litter, so it's not like we won't have a few dozen more Vulpix pups pretty soon. I insist that you take a couple!"

"Are you positive?" Misty asked. She didn't want to seem too eager to withdraw her offer of a trade, but the truth was she hated the idea of separating with any of her Pokémon. The only reason she even considered it was because she knew a Vulpix would make Ash extremely happy.

"Of course!" Zane answered for his wife. "This is nothing!"

"Well, alright!" Misty said with a smile. She reached for two of Ash's pokeballs, which she had brought mainly because she could not afford to buy any of her own, and gently placed them down in front of the small pack of Vulpix.

"Vul," squeaked one of the pups, cautiously approaching the foreign object. Although he was weary, it was obvious he wanted to know more about it.

"Pix!" cried the Pokémon as he gently nudged the ball, which in turn opened and sucked in the Vulpix in a flash of red light. The ball did not even shake before the center button faded from red to its normal white color.

"That was easy enough," Misty said, as she, Suzy, and Zane watched the other four Pokémon siblings stare at where their brother had just been.

"Vulpix, vul," exclaimed another Pokémon of the small pack as she slowly stepped ahead of her brothers and sister to examine the pokeball next to where her sibling now slept. Sniffing the pokeball thoroughly for at least a full minute and deciding it to be safe, she gently placed a paw on the capsule, which reacted in the same way as its counterpart.

"I wish it was always this easy," Misty sighed, gladly picking up the two new Pokémon. Over the past few months of her and Ash travelling together, she had come to find that catching dozens of wild Pokémon within a short amount of time was even harder than it sounded.

"Well, I'm glad that we could at least help you with the Vulpix," Suzy said kindly as she pet Ninetales behind her ear. "Those are some rare Pokémon to find in the wild since their so famous."

"That's the truth," Misty agreed, thinking of how she and Ash just avoided a two day trip to Cinnabar Island, which was the only place in Kanto known to have wild Pokémon of the Vulpix species. Even there the fire Pokémon were considered to be extremely hard to find, according to Ash's pokedex.

"So do you wanna go grab a bite to eat?" Zane asked Misty, getting back into the conversation. "We were just about to go down to a burger joint we really like and we'd love to have you!"

"Yeah Misty, that'd be great!" Suzy agreed enthusiastically. "I'd love to hear how it is dating a Pokémon Champion!"

"Dating???!!!" Misty practically shrieked, causing the Vulpix and their owners to leap a little in surprise. "Uh, I mean, we're not dating." Misty felt embarrassed by her unnecessarily boisterous reaction to the statement.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Suzy said, still looking a little scared. "We just assumed because of all the news that you two were travelling together again.

"Well I can't blame you for thinking that," Misty responded with a slight bitterness in her tone. However, the hostility wasn't directed at the breeder, but rather the press, which had been building up her and Ash's relationship ever since the two were seen together in Pewter without Brock. Up until then, "we're just catching up as old friends" worked as a fine explanation of their travelling together, but with the two teens going solo now, the paparazzi had become obsessed over their "hidden affair".

"Anyway, you wanna grab a bite to eat?"

"Uh, no, that's alright," Misty said as politely as she could. After that brief outburst, she wasn't sure how comfortable she felt around the couple. Not to mention that she had to get back to the Center and give Ash his presents.

"Are you sure?" Suzy asked as they stepped out of the hallway and back into the main lobby area of the building. "Like I said, we'd love to have you."

"Oh, I'd love to go, but I have some other stuff I have to take care of now," Misty explained as they headed out the door.

"Alright," Suzy said in a sulky tone. She the brightened up a little. "But hey, tell Ash we said 'hi', and maybe you guys could come see us in a couple of weeks or something?"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Misty agreed hastily. She wanted to hurry and show Ash her surprise, but at the same time did not want to appear rude or unappreciative to the people who'd provided her the gift free of charge.

"Talk to you later!" Zane suddenly interjected, leading his wife away from Misty and presumably in the direction of the restaurant they were planning on eating at. He appeared very hungry to Misty.

"See ya!" Misty replied, equally anxious. She walked back to the Center at double the speed she had arrived.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As Misty arrived at the Pokémon Center, she took a brief moment before entering to allow herself time to recompose and check herself in her small make-up mirror. She wasn't sure why she was concerned of her appearance, especially since Ash had just seen her covered in dirt and sweat and in her pajamas this morning. However, the moment of her surprise just seemed to call for her looking nice.

Unfortunately, right before she went through the glass doors, she heard a sound that made her heart skip a beat.

"Fearow!" crowed a large bird Pokémon overhead.

"Oh, no," Misty uttered to herself as she looked above the Center and, to her dismay, saw Mallory flying down towards the hospital.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So what do you think Pikachu?" Ash asked as he summed up his and Misty's last interaction. He was still wondering why she had been so abrupt with hum, especially considering it was his birthday.

"Pi, pika, pi, pikachu," Pikachu replied in a grave, sagely voice.

"Wish I spoke Pokémon," Ash muttered, seeing the top of the Pokémon Center in the distance. He had found a small taco restaurant a mile away and had ordered Misty and himself a lot of food. He hoped that through the large quantities of greasy food, he could make up for whatever he'd done wrong and start to celebrate his birthday. It was already four o'clock, and he didn't want to waste any more time.

"Pikachu!" his Pokémon suddenly cried out from his feet.

"What is it buddy?" Ash asked, jumping slightly from surprise. He looked down to see Pikachu pointing back towards the Pokémon Center. Following his Pokémon's pointed paw, Ash saw what made Pikachu cry out; a Fearow was now perched on top of the Center.

"Please be a wild Fearow," Ash murmured quietly, running towards the Center.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I'm not wasting my time with you!" Mallory snarled as she saw Misty throw her hands in front of the Pokémon Center. "I'm here to discuss business with Mr. Ketchum."

"Discuss business?" Misty asked in shock. She was amazed the criminal could even say that without smirking. "The last time you two 'discussed business', he ended up in a coma. We don't need that kind of business."

"That wasn't me. That was the police, idiot!" Mallory barked back at Misty, causing the redhead to flinch slightly. Normally Misty wasn't intimidated by Team Rocket, but this new woman certainly was not Jessie or James.

"That doesn't change the fact you're with Team Rocket!" Misty cried out again, dismissing her fears. She wished there were more people around the Pokémon Center. She knew a fight was about to break out, and was afraid this wicked woman had an electric type Pokémon in her possession.

"Fine," Mallory said, in a tired voice. "We'll do this the hard way, then." She threw a pokeball out from her side, and unleashed a large Nidoking in front of Misty.

"Nidoking, don't kill her, but get her out of the way," Mallory ordered, sounding almost bored.

"King!" the purple reptilian creature responded, approaching Misty quickly.

"Go Politoed!" Misty cried out. She was healing most of her Pokémon inside the Center, but she had remembered to keep one strong battling partner with her just in case. "Use Bubblebeam now!"

"Poli!" cried the green frog Pokémon, opening its large mouth and unleashing a large stream of bubbles at the oncoming ground Pokémon. Responding to the sudden attack poorly, the Nidoking fell on its back.

"It's never easy, is it?" Mallory cried out, returning her Nidoking. "Well then, try these!" With that statement, she threw nine pokeballs in front of her, and unleashed an array of powerful Pokémon in front of Misty. Before the Cerulean native stood a Nidoqueen, Blastoise, Electivire, Magmortar, Golem, Venasaur, Ursaring, Slaking, and Aggron.

"I understand the old agents that followed you and Ash were stupid enough to battle with you guys," Mallory said, behind her line of fighting creatures. "I, on the other hand, don't care about Pokémon battles. I simply want yourPokémon. Attack the girl everyone!" With her command the various Pokémon began to charge at Misty.

"Surf!" Misty ordered Politoed quickly, hoping that the Pokémon could hold off the onslaught of opponents.

"Politoed!" Her Pokémon yelled, unleashing a large burst of water from its wide mouth. The water covered the entire line of Pokémon and pushed them back several feet. However, even the Pokémon weak to water did not appear fazed by the attack, but rather picked up their charge once more.

"Do it again!" Misty ordered.

"Poli!" Politoed replied, unleashing another torrent of water.

_The only good thing about her using all of these Pokémon at once, _Misty noted, _is that they seem too confused to attack as a group. _

Indeed, all of the Pokémon were immediately set back once more by the Surf attack, and although they were soon charging again, it was obvious they were having trouble understanding what attack they should use without direction from their master. There were too many Pokémon for Mallory to order at once.

"Flamethrower!" a voice suddenly directed from somewhere behind Mallory. Misty was not quite sure who had said it, but she was glad to receive some support as Politoed prepared another attack.

Suddenly, a burst of flames protruded from behind the assaulting group of creatures, to their surprise. In an uproar, all of Mallory's Pokémon began to cry out in pain, and Misty could make out the surprise etched on Mallory's face as she turned around.

"There you are Mr. Ketchum!" she yelled above the cries from her Pokémon. "I've been looking for you!"

"What do you want?" Misty heard Ash ask as she lost interest in her battle with the cluster of powerful Pokémon in front of her. With their master no longer paying attention, the Pokémon appeared to have quit on the battle, and Slaking had even begun to doze off after the initial shock of the burn wore away.

"Why, I simply wanted to give you a birthday gift," Mallory said sweetly.

"Then return your Pokémon!" Ash ordered, though he was still out of Misty's point of view.

"With pleasure," Mallory replied, pulling out her pokeballs and returning five or four Pokémon at a time.

With the battlefield clear, Misty could easily see Ash standing next to his Rapidash, whose fiery mane was blazing brightly in anger. Pikachu stood next to him as well, ready to protect his master at all cost.

"Now what do you have to say before I call the cops?" Ash asked in a voice of such anger that it even startled Misty. She knew he had every right to be angry, but she had simply never heard him so furious before.

"That won't be necessary," Mallory replied again sweetly, holding up a pokeball and a card. "I just have orders to give you these." She took a step towards Ash.

"Stay back!" Ash ordered, not trusting the woman at all.

"Fine, fine," Mallory replied, stepping away. She slowly put the pokeball and the card on the ground in front of her. "Fearow, here now!" Under that order, the bird Pokémon swooped down from its perch on the top of the Pokémon Center. With amazing grace and skill, the Team Rocket member managed to jump on top of it without its slowing down.

"Read the letter Ketchum!" she called out as she flew away quickly. Ash figured she was afraid of the cops coming soon.

"Are you alright Misty?" Ash asked running over to the girl as he turned his attention away from the point in the sky where Mallory had just been.

"I'm fine," Misty assured the boy as he came over to her and gave her a hug. She was slightly surprised by his reaction. "Are you okay?"

"Oh…yeah," Ash replied, pulling out of the hug as he realized what he was doing. "It's just that I saw that stupid bird on the Center, and I was afraid she may have hurt ya." As he explained, he felt his cheeks flush a little.

"Did you think she'd be a problem for me?" Misty asked humorously. "I'm the greatest water trainer of all time! Me and Politoed had no trouble holding our own against her!"

"Yeah, sure," Ash replied, grinning. He wasn't sure how she managed it, but even after an event as disturbing as what had just happened, a few simple words from his best friend managed to salvage his good birthday mood.

"So whaddya wanna do with that?" Misty asked, suddenly reminding Ash of the pokeball and card left behind by Mallory.

"I dunno," Ash said. "I guess I better open the card."

"Are you nuts?" Misty suddenly yelled, startling Ash. "What if there's like a bomb, or poison, or something?"

"I'm not afraid of that!" Ash cried out proudly. He began to march towards the "gift" left by the mysterious Team Rocket member.

"Ash, this is no time to show off your testosterone level!" Misty warned as she heard the pride seeping through the young champion's voice. "Those could really be dangerous. We should call a bomb squad or something."

"I don't wanna have the police around for my birthday!" Ash complained, turning around to face Misty as he came within reaching distance of the two items on the ground. "Besides, why would she poison me if she could've just blown me up right here with her Pokémon?"

Although he didn't trust Mallory, he did have a feeling that if she wanted to simply kill him, she would have done it already.

_Nope, _thought Ash. _There's definitely something bigger going on here._

"Well, at least be careful!" Misty instructed Ash as he picked up the card.

"How can I be careful opening a card?" Ash asked, rolling his eyes. Misty obviously was over-worrying.

However, to assure Misty, he slowly opened the envelope and took out a plain piece of printer paper that was folded in thirds within the container.

"What's it say?" Misty asked Ash as she approached him; now sure the object was not a bomb.

"I dunno," Ash said, still unfolding the paper to reveal its contents. After he unfolded it, he felt more confused than before.

The inside of the parchment had nothing, but four words typed in plain courier font.

"'We want to help'," Misty read in a whisper, standing next to Ash. "What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure," Ash said, reexamining the letter. He had seen some shows on television where there were invisible messages written on papers, but as far as he could tell there was nothing more written on the sheet. "Help with what?"

"Maybe the pokeball will give some answers," Misty offered, bending down and retrieving the plain red and white sphere. Handing it to Ash, she excitedly waited to see what creature would emerge from within.

"I choose you, uh, whoever you are!" Ash called out while throwing the pokeball ahead of him. As a precaution, he prepared to order another Flamethrower from Rapidash as he realized the Pokémon within may not be friendly to him or his friend.

"Tini!" squealed a young serpent Pokémon, as it slithered over to Ash and nestled its head against his leg.

"Whoa!" Misty yelled in surprise. "It's a Dratini!"

"It really is!" Ash replied in wonderment. "These little guys are so rare!" He got on his knees and began to pet the young dragon Pokémon. He couldn't believe that Team Rocket would give him a Dratini for his birthday.

_Wow, this is great, _Ash thought happily, examining the Pokémon. _This will save me so much-_

Ash interrupted his own thoughts as he realized what was happening.

"We want to help."

Suddenly, the words made sense to him. Team Rocket had found out the rules for Master status.

"I can't keep this," he finally said aloud as his mind clicked together the meaning of the letter and the rare Pokémon.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked, completely confused. It seemed to her that Ash would want to hold on to a rare Pokémon like this, even if it was from a despicable organization like Team Rocket. "Don't you still need a Dratini?"

"Of course," Ash said, standing up. "But I can't hold onto 'im because it's from Team Rocket. Remember that I told you Professor Oak told me that one reason the PLB kept its rules secret was to keep organizations from controlling who became Pokémon Master?"

"Yeah," Misty said, recalling Ash's explanation to her a few months earlier.

"That's what this is all about!" Ash said, hoping to put the picture together for his friend. "Team Rocket's trying to buy me out!" He couldn't believe he'd figured this out before Misty.

"Oh yeah," Misty said, suddenly putting the pieces together herself. "So you think they know the rules?"

"Yeah," Ash said. "I guess they've got someone working on the inside for them."

"So what're we gonna do with the Dratini?" Misty asked, looking at the beautiful dragon Pokémon. They were so rare that she couldn't help, but stare at it longingly. The last time she had seen a Dratini was at the Safari Zone when she was twelve, and ever since she had wanted one.

"I guess I have to release it," Ash said, opening the Pokémon's pokeball. He knew that by breaking the object in half, Dratini would be free to go, and would leave the two trainers alone. However, before he could do it, he looked over at Misty and noticed the sadness in her eyes.

"What's the matter Mist?" he asked, curiously. He figured she'd be proud of him for making the right decision.

"Nothing," Misty replied waving her hand.

"Wait a minute," Ash said, picking up on what was happening. He was fairly dense, but as he'd grown older, he'd become better at understanding people. "Mist, do you want this Dratini?"

_Of course I want it moron! _Misty yelled in her head. _Who would turn down such an awesome Pokémon? _Instead of saying this though, she simply shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, why don't you have it?" Ash asked, suddenly smiling.

"What?" Misty asked, again perplexed. "You just said we can't accept bribes from Team Rocket."

"No, I said _I _can't accept bribes," Ash replied with a smirk. "_You _on the other hand, certainly can. You're not trying to become the Pokémon Master, so it doesn't matter where the Dratini came from."

Misty's eyes flashed open as she realized that what Ash was saying was the truth. However, she still felt uneasy.

"I don't think I want a present from them," she explained guiltily, fighting her own inner desires to take the pokeball from Ash's hand.

"What about a present from me?" Ash asked after a moment of pensive thought.

"Of course I would," Misty replied, smiling slightly while wondering what the boy had in mind.

"Okay then," Ash said, breaking the pokeball in half. "Happy early birthday!"

As the pokeball cracked in half, Dratini became shrouded in a blue light for a moment, and then returned to normal. For a second, the Pokémon simply stared at the champion and gym leader before it turned around and began to quickly slither away.

"What'd you do that for, Ash???!!!" Misty asked, bewildered as she watched the Dratini cross the street and hurry down the sidewalk.

"This is your gift," Ash explained. "Go catch 'im!"

Immediately understanding what was happening, she ran to catch up with the five foot long snake-like creature.

_I'll have to remember to yell at him later for not warning me before he did that, _Misty thought as she hurried to catch up with the blue and white Pokémon.

Unfortunately for her, the sidewalks were now becoming littered with people walking in different directions as the afternoon began to wane, so Misty had to work twice as hard as she ran to avoid tripping and knocking over several passerby.

Unbeknownst to her, Ash was following from behind.

"Oh no," Misty cried as she completely lost sight of the Dratini. It looked as if it had slithered off towards the Fuschia Beach, which was an expansive one if Misty remembered correctly.

She haphazardly crossed the street, barely dodging a couple of cars, and forcing one to halt completely to avoid a collision, and ran onto the beach, quickly examining the landscape before her. Because it was November, there were only a few couples on the beach, thus making her search easier. However, to her dismay she could not find the rare Pokémon she was looking for.

"You see him?" Ash asked, placing a hand on Misty's right shoulder.

"Nope," Misty sighed. "I guess he got away." She wondered inwardly how he had managed to find her so quickly.

"Oh my gosh!" they both heard a woman scream near the shoreline. Looking in her direction, Misty saw that the woman was jumping into her husband's or boyfriend's arms. "It's a sea serpent!"

"You think that's him?" Ash asked with a grin breaking out on his face.

"Let's find out!" Misty said excitedly, running over to the couple. She felt lucky that it was November because the sand had been hardened and made a solid base of ground for her to run on. As she approached the couple, she saw that indeed the woman had been fretting over the Dratini, who was now trying to make its escape into the ocean.

"No you don't!" Misty cried out, throwing Politoed's pokeball once more. "Politoed use Ice Beam!"

Obeying his master, Politoed quickly leapt from its capsule and emitted a large amount of ice from its open jaw.

"Drat!" squealed the opponent as it was slowly covered in ice.

Misty smiled as she heard the Dratini scream out.

_Dragon types are weak against ice, _she thought. She was definitely lucky Politoed knew such a strong attack.

A few seconds later, despite its struggling, Dratini was almost completely encased in a frozen block of ice. Misty knew that this was her chance, but as she reached for a pokeball, she suddenly remembered a major problem.

"Capture it quick!" Ash yelled, not wanting the Dratini to have a chance of escaping.

"I can't do it," Misty said, aggravated at herself.

"What? Why not?" Ash asked, throwing his arms out in frustration. "We already discussed this. It's not taking a bribe from Team Rocket!"

"No, no, it's not that," Misty explained. "I forgot I don't have anymore pokeballs!"

"What???!!!" Ash asked again. He couldn't believe that after all that work, Misty had forgotten such an important tidbit of information.

"I don't have any more pokeballs," Misty repeated. "I've used them all over these past few weeks."

"Wait a sec," Ash said, suddenly perking up. "Take this!" With that, he handed the redhead a pokeball from his left side.

"I haven't registered it yet," he explained as she enlarged the capsule.

"Go pokeball!" Misty yelled out while throwing the object, more from habit than necessity. Upon contact with the dragon Pokémon's head, the pokeball opened up and captured the creature easily.

"Yeah, we did it Politoed!" Misty rejoiced, dancing around in a circle happily with her green pokemon.

"You're welcome!" Ash told Misty teasingly after several seconds of celebration. He knew she was thankful for the help.

"Oh yeah, thanks a lot Ash," Misty told the trainer, letting go of Politoed's hands. The water Pokémon went over to Pikachu and continued dancing with him.

"I really appreciate it," Misty said, smiling at the Champion.

"So does this mean you're not mad anymore?" Ash asked, hoping to salvage the rest of his birthday.

"Mad?" Misty asked, having forgotten her appointment from earlier.

"Yeah, remember when you blew me off and refused to go look for something to eat with me?" Ash asked, surprised that she'd forgotten.

_When Misty's upset, _he thought, _she doesn't usually just let it go._

"Oh!" Misty exclaimed, putting a hand to her mouth. "I wasn't mad with you Ash! I just had something I had to get."

"You mean a present?" Ash asked excitedly. Despite his age, he couldn't help but grow anxious to see what Misty had bought him. "What'd you get me?"

"Real mature," Misty said with a smile on her lips. "Yes, I got you a present, but how about we wait until we get to the Center before I show it to you? It's really cold out here by the ocean." In fact, it was _very _cold for the teenage girl because she was still wearing skirts and had forgotten to bring extra jeans with her from home when she had left with Ash and Brock.

"No!" Ash cried out, purposely trying to sound immature. "I want my present now!"

"Oh, alright, you big baby!" Misty said, repressing a giggle at the outlandishly childish behavior. "You can have your present now. Here, take it." Misty handed him the two pokeballs she had stolen from him earlier that morning.

"Two new pokeballs?" Ash asked, confused.

"Yeah, Einstein, two new pokeballs," Misty replied sarcastically. "It's what's _inside _the pokeballs that's important."

"I gotcha!" Ash said happily, enlarging the two pokeballs and throwing them in the air. Within a few seconds, the two Vulpix from Suzy were standing in front of him, looking up at their new master curiously.

"You got me two Vulpix???!!!" Ash asked excitedly.

"Yep," Misty replied proudly. "I met up with that Suzy girl from a few years ago and she let me have them."

"I can't believe she gave you _two,_" Ash said, admiration evident in his voice. "This is so awesome!"

"Well, I remembered what you said about trading rare Pokémon, so I thought that you could probably train one of them and trade the other," Misty explained as Ash bent down and pet his two new Pokémon. Pikachu and Politoed also came over and examined the newest members to their travelling group.

"Thank you so much!" Ash said, standing up and hugging her for the second time that day. However, it was much shorter, and when it was over, both trainers cursed themselves for their reddening cheeks. Things between the two had still not returned to normal, even months after their "close encounter".

"No problem," Misty said, regaining her composure. "Besides, now you don't have any reason to complain about us not getting a car yet. We don't even have to go to Cinnabar Island!"

"I knew there was a reason you went through all this trouble!" Ash accused playfully. "You just want more time to pick out a car!"

"No, duh," Misty joked back. "So what do you wanna do now?"

"Well, how about we all get something to eat?" Ash asked, his eyes growing wide as he realized that he hadn't gotten to eat the lunch he had bought for them earlier. He grabbed his stomach and moaned slightly.

"Sounds good to me, but aren't you a little worried about this whole Team Rocket thing?" Misty asked. She was glad he liked her present and that his birthday had not been completely ruined by the unexpected intrusion, but she expected him to be a little more curious as to why Team Rocket wanted to help him.

"Nah," Ash said nonchalantly. "There's plenty of time to worry later, but my birthday only comes once a year!"

With that, he ran off the beach, with Pikachu, Misty, Politoed, and his two new Pokémon following close behind.

* * *

Author's Notes: There you have it ladies and gentlemen! Chapter eighteen! I know it probably wasn't of the same caliber as last chapter (which I personally enjoyed writing a lot), but I believe that it was a very necessary one in terms of bringing Mallory back into the plot, and helping to get Ash some rarer Pokémon (have you ever tried catching a Vulpix in the games?). Like I always say though, whether you liked it or not, REVIEW PLEASE!

In keeping with tradition/prophesy, here are my recommendations for the week:

All for One by licoricejellybean – I hate to do this, but I have to recommend this fic for the week, mainly because I haven't gotten to read any new fics. I am definitely (though not willingly) impressed by LJB's writing, and they have just written a new chapter, which I know I will be reading and reviewing later today. I want everyone to read and review this story when they get the chance too, and to encourage the author as best they can. I know how it feels to work hard on a story only to get a few reviews (that was me five chapters ago). Writing a fanfic is a group effort on behalf of the author and their readers. Neither can be happy without the other.

Anyways, I also want to take time out to thank **SachikoMichi. **This unbelieveable person has agreed to draw up fanart for this fic whenever they get the chance, and I wanted to take this time to publicly apologize for not writing you back before now; at least now you know it wasn't intentional.

Well, I think that's about it for this week. Let's hope this time next week you're reading a new chapter! (Trust me, you will)

Read and REVIEW PLEASE!


	19. Christmas Bash

****

Hey Everybody!

Well, here's chapter nineteen, and as you can guess from the title, it's a Christmas installment. Now I know it's pretty early still for a Christmas story, but unfortunately the timeline for the story demands this chapter be written in December, so I had to write this now. However, if you want to wait, then you can just skip this chapter and come back to it in December (though I don't suggest that, since a lot of stuff happens here). As usual, I can't give away details, but I'm going to burst anyone's bubble right now that thinks this chapter is going to have any battles…because it's not. This entire chapter is basically a shipping installment, but it's very essential to the plot. I'll explain why in the Author's Notes at the bottom.

Also, as is obvious, I've been slow with updates, which is why I'm no longer making promises to have chapters done for a while. I hate, and I mean HATE, going back on my word, and this fic has forced me to do so several times. I just told licoricejellybean in a PM the other day that I am sincerely working to get back to my weekly updates, so don't think that I'm an author who's given up, but writer's block has been really bad lately. I edited this chapter alone like ten times! However, and mind you this is not a promise, but I think I can (just maybe) have chapter twenty out by this Sunday. Please bare with me as I continue trying to get my mojo back with this story, because I truly love writing it and am just waiting for inspiration to strike.

Anyway, on with the fic!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

Tracey: 18

* * *

"Misty, hurry up!" Ash yelled at the young woman for the third time that hour.

"Tell me that again and I'll hurt you," Misty whispered, turning around so that she could prevent the car salesman from hearing her.

"But all their cars are great!" Ash cried, ignoring the fact that there were dozens of customers around him. "Just pick one already! We're gonna miss the Christmas party at this rate!"

"It's not until Christmas Eve," Misty replied. It was only the twenty-second of December, and Misty was sure they would have ample time to make the drive to the Ketchum household.

"Yeah, but it'll take us a full day to go see your sisters, and then driving from Cerulean to Pallet will be at least another day," Ash reminded. He was very worried about missing his mother's Christmas party for two reasons. The most prominent fear he had of being absent was that the party was in his honor. His mom wanted to celebrate his being home for Christmas for the first time in a few years. The other reason he did not wish to be late was that he had promised to visit Delia more often due to his having a quicker mean of transportation. However, before the car had broken down he'd only gone to see her once, and now that they had to travel by foot and bus he had been unable to spare any time for a quick trip to Pallet. He knew she would not only be furious, but also heartbroken, if the duo did not make it home for the celebration.

"Alright, alright," Misty said, understanding Ash's worry. She didn't want to make him late. "Just let me ask the guy a few more questions before I decide.

"Fine," Ash relented, rolling his eyes. He was sure if he complained anymore that Misty would mortally wound him.

"So this one has leather interior, seat warmers, and comes in red?" Misty asked the salesman, who had been waiting patiently for the two teenagers to quit their squabbling. Normally he would have been a little less patient. However, because Ash Ketchum was buying the car, he thought he could sell the F-2 Falcon to the teen. The car was the most expensive they had on the lot, and he desperately needed this sale for a Christmas bonus. Sales had not been so good this year with such a sluggish economy, and Corporate was refusing annual bonuses to several salespeople who had failed to get cars off the property.

"Absolutely!" the salesman replied in a more-than-upbeat tone. "Not to mention the forty miles to the gallon it gets in the city! You won't find a better car in all Saffron!"

"I believe it!" Ash agreed, sounding equally happy. He was hoping to sale Misty on the car quickly.

"Hmmmm," Misty said to herself, resting her chin on the back of her hand. "It does seem like an excellent car."

"Yeah, and it looks cool too!" Ash chimed in.

"Yeah, it looks cool too," Misty said, rolling her eyes to the car salesman.

"You'll have to excuse him," she explained. "He's got a first grade education." However, as she looked again at the automobile's sleek design, she inwardly admitted that it _did _look a little cool. Despite this, she tried her best to be mature about the situation, and focused on how well it would drive rather than how brilliant it appeared.

"Oh, it's no problem!" the salesman said, waving his hands at the minor scuffle. "Anything for the Pokémon Champion and his gorgeous friend!"

"Thank you," Misty mumbled, with a blush appearing on her cheeks. She tried not to be vain, but a compliment such as "gorgeous" always made her a little proud.

"So are you gonna get the car?" Ash asked, just wanting to get on the road. He was also a little annoyed at how Misty suddenly seemed so shy at the salesman's compliment.

_Why is she getting so worked up about what a stranger said? _he thought.

"Oh, uh, yeah!" Misty said, shaking her head slightly.

"Perfect!" the salesman replied, almost jumping in glee. "If you two will just follow me to the office, we can get you squared away and out of here within the hour."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Two hours later the car had been registered, the insurance had been dealt with, and the pair of teenagers were on the road to Cerulean City.

"That guy said it would only take an hour," Ash grumbled as he sat back in the plush, black-leather passenger seat.

"They always say that," Misty told him knowledgeably.

"Well they shouldn't lie!" Ash cried, aggravated at being even further behind in schedule.

"Relax, Ash," Misty told him calmly. Normally she would be fed up with his complaining, but she reasoned that the new car was enough to buy him a few minutes of whining. "It's only two o'clock. We'll be at my sisters' in four hours."

"Okay, but we have to leave first thing in the morning!" Ash warned her. He didn't want to waste half the day tomorrow waiting for Misty and her sisters to complete a teary goodbye. However, the last time he had seen them together, they hadn't appeared very close, so he was hoping that nothing had changed while she had been at the gym for the past few years.

"Of course!" Misty said. "I don't wanna miss the party either, y'know?"

"I know," Ash said. He turned up the heat and tried to take a nap in the comfortable car to pass time.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"There you are!" screamed Daisy, opening the door for the two teens who were waiting on the gym's doorstep. The Sensational Sisters had locked up the building for the holidays.

"Daisy!" squealed Misty, opening her arms to embrace her sister.

"Like, Lily, they're here!" squealed another sister as she approached her two siblings.

"Violet!" squealed Misty again, releasing her blond sister to hug the one with indigo-dyed hair.

"There they are!" cried a pink haired girl, entering the lobby of the gym to find Misty and Ash with the other two sisters. "C'mere you!" With that, all four of the sisters embraced, giggling like a group of schoolgirls.

"I guess things have gotten better between them," Ash remarked to Pikachu, who was standing at his master's feet.

"Pika," Pikachu replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"And there's, like, Mr. Pokémon Champ!" cried Daisy after the girls had group-hugged to their satisfaction. "Like, are you treating our little sis well?" As she asked, she placed her hands on her hips, trying to look serious.

"I think so," Ash replied timidly, placing a hand behind his head. He hated to admit it, because they were Misty's sisters, but he couldn't help finding his friend's siblings quite attractive. They had apparently been swimming in the indoor pool, and were all wearing bikinis as they talked to him and Misty.

"Are you, like, sure?" Lily asked, standing next to her sister. "You seem a little nervous."

"Oh, he's definitely been treating me good," Misty answered for Ash. "Just come outside and see what he bought for me!"

"Like, we can't do that in these!" Violet interjected, displaying her lack of clothing. "We'll die of, like, pneumonia in that snow outside!"

"Well get some clothes on and see what I got!" Misty said, pushing the girls towards the hallway where their bedrooms were located. "You'll definitely be surprised!"

"Like, okay, okay!" Violet replied, laughing at her sister's eagerness. "Just give us a sec!"

As the girls hurried down the hallway to their respective rooms, Misty looked over to Ash.

"So you guys seem to like each other a lot more," Ash noted, unsure of how things had changed so much. When they were younger, Misty couldn't wait to get away from her house, and had already left on her journey when Ash ran into her. Now, however, he was surprised she had been able to tear herself away to join him on this quest.

"Yeah, we got a lot closer when they came back from that world tour," Misty explained. "But-"

"We're like, ready!" announced Lily as the sisters left the bedroom in sweats and coats, both to Ash's relief and disappointment.

"Great!" Misty said, turning around and walking out the door. "Let me show you my new car!"

"A new car?" the three girls asked in unison. Their eyes wide, they quickly sprinted out of the door and ran to the parking lot, finding Misty's car sitting with a small pile of snow collecting on the hood.

"Wow!" Violet said, peering inside as Misty pushed a button on the key to open the scissor door upward. "Look at the leather interior!"

"This is, like, the coolest car ever!" Daisy quickly conceded as she examined the car's sleek design. "I bet the steering wheel's worth more than all our cars combined!"

"And you, like, got her this for free?" Lily inquired from Ash as Misty gave a tour of her new luxurious automobile.

"Well, it was a sort of Christmas and make-up gift," Ash explained.

"I think it was more than a gift," Lily replied, winking. She was speaking at a lower decibel to avoid Misty's attention. "Do you, like, like my sister or something?"

"Like her?" Ash asked, looking mortified.

"Don't play dumb with me," Lily warned. Ash thought the statement slightly ironic. "I mean, like, we're all basically adults here, right? So can you just tell me if you like her or not. I'm not gonna go, like, blab it or something. I just wanna know."

Ash couldn't believe Misty's sister was being so forward, and serious, with him. They had barely arrived and he was already being asked about his feelings for Misty. He slightly expected something of this caliber to arise during their visit, due to the various rumors flying on the internet about the teenage duo. Despite this, he had hoped for at least a few minutes of peace before someone approached the subject.

However, what troubled him more was that the first answer in his mind was not "no". While he was certain it wasn't "yes", he just did not feel the blatant resentment that the inquiry usually drew from within him.

"Uh, no," he finally said, realizing it took him several seconds to give the reply.

"I see," Lily said, giving him a knowing glance before joining her sisters in admiring the vehicle.

_They still can't get over it, _Ash thought, remembering how when the two teens were younger, the trio of siblings would berate them for their "hidden feelings". Ash had usually found that idea laughable.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So Misty," Daisy began, as she and her sister sat next to the fireplace in her room. Both were wrapped in blankets and had been talking for an hour about different things. However, Misty could tell by the change in Daisy's voice that a new subject was approaching.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking at the beautiful young woman.

"What's up with, like, you and Ash?" she asked bluntly.

"What about me and Ash?" Misty inquired, raising an eyebrow. The question seemed to come out of the blue considering the fact that they had just been discussing different battling strategies.

"You know, like, what I'm talking about," Daisy said, lightly elbowing Misty in her blanket-covered side. "Like, are the magazines telling us the truth?"

"O-of course not!" Misty cried, blushing slightly. She hoped Daisy would just suppose her red cheeks to be a product of the warm fire. "Th-that's ridiculous!" She desperately tried to emit a light chuckle in order to convince her sister, but unfortunately she made a sound more similar to gargling than laughing when she opened her mouth.

"Well, Lily told me she talked to him earlier today," Daisy informed her sister in a casual voice. "He had some interesting things to say."

"What???!!!" Misty screamed. She quickly covered her mouth, hoping not to have awoken all of Cerulean with her cry of shock.

Daisy simply looked at the young redhead with a smirk.

"You, like, heard me," she said. "He had some interesting things to say to Lily."

"Well, uh, like what?" Misty asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

_Why do I care anyway? _Misty suddenly wondered. Her heart was beating madly in her chest, and she realized that she was holding her breath as she awaited movement of her sister's lips.

"Why do _you _care?" Daisy asked, as if reading Misty's mind.

"Uh, I don't, I guess," Misty replied weakly, turning her attention to the fire. However, in her mind she was going insane over the possibilities.

_What if he said he didn't like me at all? _she wondered. _Or what if he doesn't want to travel with me anymore? Or, what if…? _

Misty stopped herself mid-thought, afraid of what Ash really may have said.

"Alright then," Daisy said after a minute of silence. "I won't tell you what he said if you're not interested."

"Well…" Misty began, biting her bottom lip. She desperately wanted to know what he said, of course, but she didn't want to admit that to Daisy.

"Listen," Daisy said, breaking Misty from her mental dilemma. "You don't even have to say whether or not you want to hear it. Just nod your head if you, like, wanna hear it, and, like, shake your head if you don't, 'kay?" The truth was that Daisy really wanted to relay her information to Misty.

Misty quickly nodded her head.

"Alrighty then!" Daisy cried, pleased. "Well, like, he said he didn't like you."

"What?" Misty asked, stunned. She had expected that after such a build-up, her sister would have given her different news.

_Did I want her to say something different? _Misty again thought to herself.

"But that's not the important part!" Daisy assured her sister, afraid that Misty would remember her temper and hurt her before she could give the good news.

"There's something more important than him saying he didn't like me?" Misty asked, skeptical.

"Like, yeah!" Daisy said, nodding happily. "He, like, took forever to answer according to Lily!" Daisy beamed at her younger sister happily, positive Misty would be overjoyed at the news.

However, Misty simply looked confused.

"So what?" she asked, unsure of how the tidbit of information related to Ash having feelings for her.

"Don't you, like, get it?" Daisy asked. "If a guy takes a long time saying whether or not he likes you, then that means that he _does _like you!"

"No it doesn't," Misty refuted while shaking her head. "It probably means he was trying to think of a nice way to tell Lily 'no'."

"Why are you so, like, negative?" Daisy asked.

"Because Ash Ketchum wouldn't like me," Misty explained, not enjoying the conversation, but feeling a strange tinge of excitement talking about the raven-haired teenage boy.

"I think he does," Daisy said. "And even more importantly, I think you want him to."

"What do you mean by that?" Misty asked, hoping to act innocent and prove to her sister she was not interested in Ash.

"You want him to like you because, like, you like him!" Daisy cried, aggravated. It was not often that she had to explain things to her younger sister, and she was finding it to be quite annoying. Now she understood why Misty got aggravated with her, Lily, and Violet when discussing advanced battle techniques which they would not understand.

"That's not the case at all!" Misty replied. "Trust me."

"Alright," Daisy said, holding her hands up innocently. "If that's what you say, then, like, I believe you. I'm going to bed now." As she said this, she stood up with Misty and walked her sister to the door.

"See you, like, in the morning li'l sis!" she exclaimed, closing the door on the retreating redhead.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The drive to Pallet was an especially long one. Not only was it a sixteen hour drive, but the tension between Ash and Misty was causing the time to go by slow. Both teenagers were thinking of what Misty's siblings had said to them the day before.

Though neither Lily nor Daisy had brought the subject of attraction between the two teens up again the night before or that morning, the subject preyed on their minds.

Ash had been wondering why he had taken so long to answer Lily the day before. He tried to trace his thought process during that conversation, but could not understand why he did not feel repulsed by the idea of a relationship with his best friend like he usually did.

Misty, for her part, was thinking about whether Daisy was right. Had she wanted Ash to say something different? Also, Misty was very upset when she realized that to know Ash's answer, Lily must have asked him about his feelings for her. She was concerned that he mistook her questioning as secret inquiries from her which she was simply too embarrassed to ask.

These factors led the drive to Pallet to be very quiet, and very uncomfortable.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"They're here everybody!" Delia shouted as she opened the door to find the two teenagers on her porch, eagerly waiting to get out of the snow and into the nice, warm home.

"Hey guys!" a half-dozen people welcomed as the two entered the house and took off their winter coats. Delia also asked them to remove their shoes so they would not get the rug wet.

"I'm gonna go see if there's something to eat," Ash said quietly, to no one in particular. "C'mon Pikachu!"

"Alright," Misty replied despondently. She was relieved to have a little time away from the boy after such a quiet trip. She was sure by his silence in the car that her worst fears were true, and that he thought she had put her sisters up to the task of asking about his feelings for her.

"Did you two have a good trip?" Delia inquired as she handed Misty a cup of egg nog. She of course did not encourage underage drinking, but never felt that a glass or two of the holiday concoction was inappropriate during the Christmas season.

"Oh, yes ma'am!" Misty said happily, hoping not to arouse suspicion. The last thing she needed was Ash's mother thinking she had a crush on her son.

"Good," Delia said with a smile. "How about you mingle with some of our guests? A few of them are neighbors and family, but some of your friends are here too!"

"Okay!" Misty responded eagerly, eyeing Tracey near the fireplace. He didn't seem busy and she needed someone to talk to after not having spoken in about twenty-four hours.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hey Ash!" a familiar voice called out to the young man as he filled his appetite with Christmas cookies and milk alongside Pikachu.

Turning, he saw his cousin Molly.

"Hey Mawy!" he cried through the full mouth of cookies. He went over and gave her a hug.

"It's been a long time!" he said, swallowing the food. "I haven't seen you since the, uh-"

"Incident?" Molly assisted. She was sure that discussing their history in Greenfield, Johto was just as difficult for Ash as it was for her.

"Yeah!" he agreed, smiling. "Since the incident."

"I saw you win the Championship on television a few months ago!" Molly said, quickly changing the subject. "I thought that was one of the most awesome battles I'd ever seen! Not to mention all the new Pokémon I got to witness."

"Thanks!" Ash said gratefully. "So you haven't been to Sinnoh yet?" He knew the thirteen year old girl had begun her journey two years earlier, but he had not kept track of her progress as a trainer.

"Nope," Molly said, slightly dejected. "I've only gotten seven of my Johto badges so far."

"Really?" Ash asked, shocked. He had gotten his eight Johto badges in only a little over a year. However, he realized her embarrassment concerning the confession, and tried to make up for the surprise in his voice. "I mean, uh, that's really awesome!"

"No it's not," Molly replied. "I know I've been slow while on the road, but it's been so hard keeping track of everything. I mean, I don't know how you managed to keep track of where you were going, and what Pokémon you had, and what schoolwork you needed to complete, and all that other stuff back when you were travelling."

"I know how I did it," Ash replied knowingly.

"How?" Molly asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Friends," Ash replied simply. "I had Misty, Brock, May, Max, or Dawn on the road with me to keep me focused and to help out with all that stuff you mentioned. Have you been travelling with anyone Molly?"

"Uh, no," Molly replied, again embarrassed. "I was afraid that travelling partners might slow me down more than help."

"Then that's definitely the problem!" Ash cried, excited to have found the source of Molly's dilemma so quickly. "You need to find some people who you can go on your journey with. It'll help you get more organized, and it'll be a lot more fun than being out by yourself."

"It _would_ be nice to spend nights in the forest without constantly worrying about someone waiting for me to sleep so they could kill me," Molly joked. "If I had someone with me, then I'd be a lot less scared. My fear of going through forests is actually one of the things that has slowed me down during my journey."

"So do you know anyone you could ask?" Ash inquired, handing a cookie to Pikachu, who had been patiently waiting for his master to finish the discussion with his cousin.

"Well, I have a couple of friends on the road," Molly contemplated. "I suppose one of them might still need a partner. I just hope I'm not too far behind them in badges!"

"You already have seven," Ash said with a shrug. "I've met people who are a lot older than you who are just starting out on their journey. You probably won't have any trouble finding someone to go with."

"Hopefully I'll find a friend as good as Misty to travel with."

"What do you mean by that?" Ash asked suspiciously. Normally, he wouldn't think twice about the statement, but after the events at the Waterflower residence he was nervous that others shared the view that he and Misty were more than friends.

"Oh, just that you two are really good friends and are also travelling partners," Molly explained. "I wouldn't wanna travel with someone who wasn't a good friend of mine!"

"Oh," Ash said in response, a little shocked at his own reaction to her earlier statement. "Yeah. If you're lucky, you'll find someone like Misty."

"Well, I better get back and talk to some other people," Molly said, turning to leave the kitchen. "You never know who'll challenge you to an impromptu battle at a Christmas party!"

"That's true," Ash said with a smile. "See ya around!"

"See ya!" she called back before closing the kitchen door.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So they thought that Ash and I liked each other or something," Misty finished explaining. "Isn't that one of the most ridiculous things you've ever heard?"

"Uh, yeah," Tracey replied timidly. The truth was that during their time in the Orange Archipelago, he had often thought that the two pre-adolescents had feelings for each other, but were just too young to understand it. As he listened to Misty ramble aimlessly about her and Ash's lack of attraction for each other, he began to sense that same form of denial Misty had when she was only twelve.

"So how's everything going for you?" she suddenly asked, realizing that she had been hogging the conversation to herself the entire time.

"Oh, things are going great!" Tracey exclaimed happily. He was more than happy to shift the focus of the conversation away from the awkward topic Misty had been discussing. "I've had the opportunity to enhance my skills both as a Pokémon field researcher and sketch artist at the lab!"

"I'm so happy for you!" Misty replied, sounding equally joyous. It had been a while since Tracey and she had seen each other at the Cerulean Gym due to his breaking up with Daisy almost a year earlier.

"Yeah, it's pretty fun," Tracey continued. "I'm also studying at the research institute with Gary, and I'm trying to get my degree in art."

"Because of your drawing Pokémon?" Misty asked presumably.

"Yep," he affirmed. "Since it's a natural science university, I get to learn about different drawing techniques and patterns depending upon a Pokémon's movements and position. And the best part is that Professor Oak's paying for the whole thing with his scholarship fund!"

"Wow! That is great," Misty agreed. She was happy to hear that Tracey had won the Oak Achievement Scholarship, but not surprised. The money for a full-ride to college went to whoever applied and was seen as most qualified to study in the field they held interest in. Though many young people competed for the award annually, Tracey's continuing service to the Professor over the years all but guaranteed the young artist the money.

"So how are your and Ash's travels going?" Tracey asked. "You having fun going around Kanto again?"

"Yeah," Misty said with a smile. "It's been a lot of fun catching up with old friends and making new acquaintances. Not to mention all the water Pokémon I've caught since we've hit the road!"

"That's cool," Tracey said.

Misty was not sure if Tracey understood why Ash was travelling around catching so many Pokémon. She knew he and the Professor were close, but was unsure of whether or not something as random as the qualifications for Pokémon Masters ever entered their realm of discussion. Just in case, she decided to play it safe and not mention her friend's goals to Tracey.

"It sure is!" she agreed with a nod. "Well, I'm gonna go grab a bite to eat. Do you wanna come with me?" The reason behind her change of subjects was two-fold. First, she wanted to avoid discussing Ash's aspirations in Kanto anymore than necessary. Second, she had grown very hungry since her determination to not stay in the car any longer than necessary with her travelling partner forced her to avoid stopping even for a brief snack along the way to Pallet.

"Nah, I better not," Tracey replied politely. "I already had a thousand cookies!"

"Okay," Misty said, waving to her friend. "I'll talk to you in a little while!" With that, she walked towards the kitchen, and felt her pulse race upon entering the white-tiled room to find Ash and Pikachu feasting on a plate of cookies near the sink.

"Oh, hey Mity," Ash mumbled through the mouthful of cookies.

_I need to stop talking with my mouth full, _he thought, remembering Molly's entrance earlier. He saw several crumbs drop from his mouth to the floor as he spoke to the redhead, and felt oddly embarrassed at being caught in such a predicament.

Misty giggled a little at the sight of Ash. Seeing him looking as clueless and innocent as ever made her feel more comfortable with her friend. However, she knew if they were to overcome this "glitch" in their friendship that they needed to discuss what happened at her sisters' gym.

"Uh, Ash," she began, waiting for the boy to choke down the pastries with some egg nog quickly.

"Yeah?" he finally replied, catching his breath.

"Uh, I just wanted to ask about what-"

"Hey Ashy-boy!" Gary suddenly called from the entrance, turning into the kitchen upon seeing his rival. He took off his snow-covered winter coat and hat as he came toward the young champion and his friend.

"Hey Gary!" Ash called back.

"You practicing for our little battle?" Gary asked, smiling confidently at his friend.

"I don't need to practice to beat you Gary!" Ash yelled playfully. Though he was joking, he couldn't help but feel that the statement was somewhat true. Both of the boys were much older than they were during their rivalry, but neither had completely given up their desire to best each other in competition.

"We'll see about that Ash!" Gary yelled back playfully.

"Gary, Ash, Misty, come in here!" Delia called from somewhere in the living room. "We're about to open presents!"

Delia had set up a Secret Santa system where all fifty of the guests would buy a gift for someone who would be chosen by the hostess. She was very proud of the system, though Ash and Misty had already agreed to get each other gifts and were thereby excluded from the activity.

As Misty and Ash sat next to each other on the floor by the couch, they watched as their family and friends opened gift after gift, sometimes appearing surprised, sometimes amused, but always happy.

As the evening progressed, Misty felt a growing urge to talk with Ash. She knew that he was enjoying the party, but she noticed he hadn't talked to her the entire time they had been sitting together, and she felt as if he was staring at her every time her head was turned away. Although she couldn't remove paranoia as a possibility for her suspicions, she reasoned that even _if _she was only imagining Ash's relatively odd behavior, it meant she was not comfortable with the status quo.

As Gary unwrapped his present from one of Ash's aunts, Misty decided to take action. Lightly jabbing the teenager in the side, she whispered, "Can we talk for a minute?"

"What?" Ash asked back in a whisper, looking surprised. "But they're not done with the presents yet!"

"I know that," Misty replied rolling her eyes. Maybe Ash really _didn't_ care about what happened at Cerulean. "I just wanted to talk for a sec."

"Alright," he relented, still looking suspicious. Misty also seemed to note a tinge of discomfort in his voice. "Let's go in the kitchen."

As the two stood up, Delia enquired quietly as to where the two were going. Ash simply remarked that they would return in a matter of minutes and they were going to refill their drinks.

"Alright, but not too much more," Delia warned. "You've already had two glasses."

"Yeah Ma," Ash replied. He turned from his mother and rolled his eyes at Misty, earning him a small snigger from the young woman.

As the two neared the kitchen, they were surprised to see several people who had already received their gifts mingling amongst each other while consuming the remaining cookies from Delia's platter.

"Oh man!" Ash cried, almost hysterically.

"What is it?" Misty asked, surprised that the champion would be so upset that they could not talk in the kitchen.

"No more cookies!" he cried, upset.

"Come on," Misty ordered, aggravated. She grabbed Ash by the sleeve of his grey sweater towards the front door. "We'll talk outside."

"But…it's really dark and cold out there!" Ash whined as Misty shoved her right foot into her sneaker and simultaneously zipped her pink winter coat.

"We've done worse," Misty replied, throwing Ash's blue coat at him. Once again, she felt she heard a small amount of worry plague Ash's tone as he spoke.

After Ash had zipped up and put on his shoes, they quietly opened the door and stepped out. Though Ash was sure his mother was going to emerge at any second to inquire as to why they were leaving the party, especially since the Living Room was connected to the entrance, no one came outside to see what the two teens were doing.

Walking down the small walkway from the Ketchum front door to the main road, Misty quietly thought of what she wanted to say with bated breath.

Reaching the end of the walkway, the two stood together under a small tarp, held up by two poles extending from the white picket fence surrounding the front yard.. The tarp had been put out by Delia both as a way to keep people from getting wet from the snow, but more importantly to indicate her house as the meeting place of the party. The thin plastic covering was holding a sign up that read "Ketchum Christmas Bash" in bold letters. As the snow began to fall in heavy flakes around them, Misty felt her pulse quicken as Ash stared into her eyes. She had not expected the subject to be so difficult to discuss.

"So what'd you wanna talk about Mist?" Ash asked, sounding nervous once again. However, Misty could tell that he was sincerely interested in what she was about to say.

"Uh, well, uh, I just wanted to, um, ask about what happened at the gym a couple of days ago," Misty began. As she thought of what to say next, she realized that she was unsure of what she wanted to know.

_I already know he doesn't like me, _she realized. _What else do I need to know?_

This thought brought a sinking feeling to her stomach, and at that moment she realized she had indeedwanted something more from Ash's answer. However, she refused to allow her mind to ponder the desired response. The timing of this realization was, in her opinion, terrible.

"I just wanted you to know that I didn't ask Lily to ask you that or anything," Misty quickly said, remembering the main concern she had about her sisters' intrusion into her personal life. Though she had just experienced an epiphany, she needed time to sort her feelings, and now wanted to simply escape to the guestroom of the Ketchum household so she could think in silence.

"You mean about if I, um, li-like you or not?" Ash asked with a small gulp. He knew the subject would eventually be brought up by his best friend.

"Y-yeah," Misty affirmed. It was weird to hear Ash use the word "like" in connection with her.

"Why would you, uh, think I would think you asked her?" Ash asked curiously. The thought had never crossed his mind.

"Oh, well, uh, I dunno," Misty replied, surprised to hear that he hadn't believed her to be the instigator of the questioning. "I just thought you, uh, might assume I wanted to know because you've been acting so quiet since we left there."

"Oh," Ash remarked, beginning to worry, himself.

"If that wasn't the reason, then why _were _you so quiet on the way over here?" Misty asked. She felt as if both their questions had backfired upon them.

Ash was silent. He knew he couldn't tell the truth; that he had been contemplating his inability to find Lily's question repugnant, or even unpleasant. He couldn't simply tell her that the idea of liking her no longer made him physically ill, but her question demanded an answer, and as he looked into her green eyes he knew that he could not lie to her.

The snow began to fall even swifter and with more strength than before.

"I was just thinking about stuff," he responded, praying that the answer would suffice for the redhead.

"What stuff?" Misty asked in a whisper, intuitively knowing she had struck a nerve within the teenage boy's heart.

Now Ash knew he was in trouble. He felt a surge of emotion as he looked into his childhood friend's now-beautiful green eyes; so clear and longing for an answer. He felt an almost spiritual connection with her for a moment. At this second in time, he knew that anything less than the truth would be immediately recognized by the gym leader as fallacious.

"This is so stupid!" he cried, suddenly breaking eye contact with the teenage girl, and immediately losing the spiritual bond they had shared for so brief a moment.

Taken aback, Misty flinched a little at the outburst.

"W-what?" she asked, hurt obvious in her tone. However, at this point Ash was too confused and too embarrassed to act rationally to her disappointed appearance.

"This entire conversation!" he almost yelled back. "We both don't like each other, so why does it matter what I was thinking?"

Misty simply gaped at the boy as he ranted.

"I mean, can't I have a few private thoughts?" As he asked her this, Misty felt the momentary shock of his outburst replaced by a seething anger for him yelling at her.

"I'm surprised you can have any thoughts at all!" she shot back, her cheeks flushed.

"That's another reason why this conversation is so stupid!" Ash responded, almost seeming to not have heard his counterpart. "How could I like a person who's constantly making fun of me? I'd really be an idiot if I did that!"

"Who said anything about you liking me?" Misty asked angrily. "I just wanted to know what you were thinking about!"

Ash blushed a deep red as he realized she was correct. _He _had brought up him liking her.

"You know what?" he asked, feeling upset at the turnaround of the argument. "If you don't think I'm smart, then why don't we just quit travelling together?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Misty shouted back, wishing she could find the will to slap the boy in front of her. She was too upset to note that he had changed the topic of controversy.

"Good!" he yelled, turning back towards the house and storming back. "I don't need you holding me back in Johto anyway!" With that, he opened the door and slammed it shut, as Misty stood underneath the tarp, looking in his direction with mixed feelings.

"Fine," she whispered to herself. "I won't go."

With that, she covered her eyes with the palms of her hands as she began to cry.

The snowstorm had died down, and only a few flakes continued to fall from the sky.

* * *

Author's Notes: There it is ladies and gents! I hoped this chapter was worth waiting for, though I sincerely doubt that myself. However, as I said before, this chapter was _very _necessary in order to progress the shipping side of the story (since it has been dominated by the Pokémon Master tale till now).

I would also like to take a quick moment to thank **licoricejellybean**, because we have agreed to beta each other's chapters from now on before sending them off. This is a big deal for me actually, because it means I will take less time editing my own fic, and will hopefully be able to publish chapters quicker. Like I said earlier, I am making every effort to return to weekly updates, even if that means I have to join forces with the dark side, a.k.a. LJB.

Recommendations:

None. Really sorry, but as little time as I've had to work on my story, I've had even less to search for new ones. I _have _read a couple of newer pokeshipping fics, but frankly none of them were worth mentioning and I didn't just want to recommend them so I could fill up space on this section.

As I always say, please read and REVIEW! I know I've lost several reviewers the past couple of months due to my tardiness, but I am sincerely asking for my remaining readers' support as I move forward with this fic. I'm not even close to done, but if I don't get encouragement (or criticism) then my motivation to finish will seriously diminish. While I understand I have probably lost many of my fans' respect for failing to keep promises for updates (which is why I'm not making anymore), it is my wish that y'all can give me one more chance and show your support for this ongoing project of a fic that I have on my hands. You are the reason I am writing this.


	20. Johto Alone

**Hey Everybody! **

Wow! Never thought you'd read those words again, did you? Well, I'm finally back…and this time it looks like I may actually update within four weeks! As I'm sure many of you students know, Christmas break is upon us, so I am thinking I might get another chapter out next Sunday, but like last chapter, I make no promises. I worked REALLY hard on this installment, and I hope that my struggle to break into the next segment of my fic isn't too apparent in my writing. I don't want to ruin the story for you (as usual), so I'll wait until the end to explain the pain I underwent to start Ash's new "Johto Journey". Alright, read, and when you're done, PLEASE REVIEW!

Also, before I start, I would like to mention that licoricejellybean definitely did NOT edit my fic for any grammatical or logical mistakes whatsoever. I definitely did NOT send her my fic to proofread before editing, and was in NO way tempted to do so. However, because I'm a nice guy, I DID edit the crud out of the new chapter in her "awesome" fic "All for One". Thanks to me, her next installment is pretty good, so give it a read.

Alright, maybe she proofread a _little._

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"Ash, are you sure you have to go already?" Delia asked her son for the third time that hour. She watched as her child stuffed his new blue hiking backpack with clothes and placed a rolled sleeping bag on top. "You could stay a few more days, couldn't you?"

"Ugh, no Ma," Ash replied, grunting as he tightly fastened the bag to his new backpack.

"But it's only January second," his mother reasoned, as he placed the bag on his back. He put out his hand and allowed his yellow travelling companion to scurry up his arm and perch on his left shoulder. "It's freezing cold outside and you don't have a car to travel in anymore!"

"Don't worry Mom," Ash reassured his mother. "I already told you, it's warmer in New Bark Town than it is here. Besides, if it gets too cold, I'll just hang out in a Pokémon Center like I used to." Ash had decided against staying in luxurious hotels now that Misty was no longer travelling with him. He realized spending large amounts of money was no fun without having someone to admire the luxuries with.

"Fine, but you'll call me once you get to New Bark Town, right?" Delia asked as she and her son walked down the stairs toward the front door. They both reached for their respective winter coats and began putting them on.

"Of course!" Ash said, having answered the question numerous times.

"I just don't like seeing you leave," Delia explained to her exasperated son. "Especially all by yourself."

"It's better this way," Ash mumbled as he stepped out into the freezing cold Pallet afternoon. The winter wind whipped his face and he saw a few flakes of snow drifting loftily towards the earth.

"I wish you would tell me what happened between you two," Delia said, hearing her son's muttered response. She had been astounded when Misty and Ash had returned from getting drinks in the kitchen looking flush and furious. However, she was even more shocked the next morning when she went to wake the redhead from her slumber in the guestroom, only to find a note explaining that something had come up and she had decided to go back to the Cerulean Gym indefinitely.

When he had heard the news, Ash simply snorted while heading downstairs to open presents with his mother. Above all else, this reaction surprised her.

"There's nothing to talk about," Ash replied calmly as he threw his backpack into the trunk. He walked to the front and ducked under the hood to seat himself on the passenger side of the old red car. "Trust me."

"Fine," Delia responded, giving up temporarily out of fear she may aggravate her son before he left again. The only assurance she had for his departure this time, in relation to past farewells, was that she knew he would be back permanently April of the next year. Though it was quite a short time for catching hundreds of Pokémon, she knew that her determined son would make his set deadline in order to battle Gary and the master before his first year of college.

As they drove through Pallet, towards the south, they spoke little and Delia focused on the drive for most of the time. After about fifteen minutes of quiet contemplation of nothing in particular, the docks came into view.

Though Pallet was far from a commercial center of the Kanto region it sustained a few docks in order to bring travelers, primarily trainers, from the Johto region to Kanto and vice-versa.

"Here we are," Delia said lightly, pulling the key from the ignition.

_It's just fifteen more months, _she repeated silently, as she watched her son and his first Pokémon get out of the car and open the trunk. Despite the reassurance, she couldn't help but get emotional as she saw her only child prepare for another goodbye; this time by himself.

Getting out of the car, Delia walked with Ash up to a large white ferry, slightly covered by the drifting snow, and prepared to make her final farewell.

"Mom," Ash began, startling Delia. She had been working so hard in her head to prepare a small "goodbye" speech that she was surprised to hear her son speak first.

"Yes honey?" Delia asked.

"Me and Mist aren't mad at each other," he assured her, crossing his fingers behind his back. He wasn't sure why, but it felt wrong to leave his mother with the notion that something had ruined his and Misty's relationship and he was not telling her about it. "She just had to leave early."

"Okay, dear," Delia responded, not believing her son. However, she understood he was doing this so she would not concern herself about the affair, and decided to go against the motherly instinct urging her to point out the fallaciousness of her child's comment. Instead, she smiled at him in a completely trusting, motherly fashion.

Seeing his mom's smile immediately made Ash feel better. He could not have left knowing that his mother was worrying about him.

"I guess her sisters needed her for the gym or something," he continued to explain. "You know, it's a pretty hard job keeping a gym operating well, and Misty's the expert on that."

"You're right," Delia agreed once more. "That makes a lot of sense."

"Well, I guess we better get going," Ash said, more to the Pikachu at his feet than his mother.

"Are you gonna eat your sandwiches on the ferry?" Delia asked, remembering the brown sack of bologna sandwiches she had made for her son in case he could not immediately find a good restaurant in New Bark Town.

"I'll probably save them till we get there," Ash explained. "It's only a three hour ride to New Bark, and I wanna be prepared if there's no food."

"I can't believe you're turning down food!" Delia responded, feigning shock.

"Well, I'm really not," Ash responded with a grin. "I'm just not eating it right away."

The two laughed for a second, and then grew quiet as the ferry sounded a loud whistle, piercing the quiet winter afternoon.

"I guess you should get on now," Delia said, feeling the distinct sting of tears in the corners of her eyes. However, she determined to keep them there until her son was safely onboard, and she was safely back in her empty house.

"Yeah," Ash said hesitantly. He hated this moment more than his mom did, if possible.

"I'll call you when I get to the Center," he assured, knowing she was going to ask again if he didn't say so.

"I know you will," Delia said, with a sad smile on her lips. She brought her son into a close embrace for a few more seconds before letting him go. "Be safe."

"I will," Ash said, smirking. Despite his outward appearance, inside he felt like crying too. He restrained himself however, knowing that his mom relied upon his strength for support.

"Bye honey!" Delia yelled as Ash slowly turned away and began the long ascent up the metal staircase to the main deck of the ferry.

"Bye Ma!" he reciprocated, half-turning so that she could not see the tears beginning to slowly roll down his cheeks. Not only leaving his mother, but leaving her with no one but Pikachu, made him feel especially sad as he reached the ship and flashed his ticket to the guard.

Though he had indeed started many adventures by himself, he suspected that the way which he ended his affairs with Misty were causing this particular solo departure to be especially difficult.

Delia turned around, having watched her son wave one last time enthusiastically from aboard the vessel. As she pulled the car door closed behind her, a tear fell from her chin onto her yellow blouse.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"He's already left for Johto???!!!" asked Ash's very surprised travelling partner. She had not expected him to leave for the region without at least calling first.

"He sure is," Delia confirmed through the cell phone's speaker. "He left about thirty minutes ago and should arrive in New Bark Town in a couple of hours."

"I can't believe it," the young woman mumbled under her breath. Ash was leaving Kanto, _alone._

"So you see," Delia went on to explain, "I really called you to see if there was any way you could make arrangements to meet him in New Bark. Ash told me you had to leave him because you were very busy, but I would really appreciate it if you could just see him for a few days. As you can probably guess, he wasn't too happy when he left."

"Of course, Mrs. Ketchum," the girl replied. She was a little nervous about seeing the dark-haired boy again, but was given confidence by the fact that she had sorted her feelings out in their time apart. She now understood that she definitely liked, if not loved, Ash Ketchum.

"Thank you so much," Delia said gratefully.

"It's no problem," she replied gleefully. "I'm more than happy to do it."

"Oh!" Delia exclaimed suddenly. "I almost forgot! Please remind him to call me when you get there in case he forgets. I don't expect him to, but you know how excited he gets sometimes."

"Sure do," she responded, a small grin playing on her lips as she remembered that his charisma was one of the many things she loved about his personality. He was a _very _excitable person.

"Thank you again," Delia said. "I hope you can come back to the house soon for a visit!"

"Me too!" she agreed. "And again, it's no problem. I'll talk to you later!" With that, the line went dead.

As the teenage girl closed her phone, she heard her name called over the Cherrygrove City Pokémon Center's intercom.

"Will Dawn please come to the front desk?" requested the sweet voice of Nurse Joy overhead. "Your Pokémon are ready to be checked out."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Is she getting out of bed today?" Daisy asked irritably as her sisters prepared the breakfast table. She was making the coffee.

"I don't think so," Lily responded despondently. Her sister had asked the same question for the past seven days, and she had grown used to giving the same response.

"She's gotta come out for, like, air eventually," Violet chimed in as she set down a fourth plate, just in case her sister decided to emerge from her room.

"I would just be happy if she came out to tell us what, like, happened," Daisy said.

Misty had been quite silent when she arrived home unexpectedly the day after Christmas. She had simply muttered something about deciding to not go with Ash to Johto before shutting herself in her room.

In addition to her ambiguous solitude, her sisters were also concerned about her diet. Each of the women suspected their youngest sibling was snacking in the kitchen after they went to bed at night, but they were not positive, and never saw her leave the confine of her bedroom during the day.

"Well, we could, like, bang on her door again if you really wanna know," Lily offered, sitting down to her meal of scrambled eggs and a slice of bacon. Normally she only had a bagel, but the gym was reopening after the Christmas holiday and she had to battle the first three trainers who had reserved matches, which entailed cleaning the pool after each fight. She would require the energy provided by a breakfast of bacon and eggs if she was to get through the morning without passing out from exhaustion.

"That hasn't worked the last six days," Violet reminded her sister, jealously eyeing her sibling's plate. She had decided to stick to a new all-cream cheese diet she had read about, and looked down disappointedly at her bowl of the white, creamy substance.

"Well, we have to do, like, something," Lily replied, biting into the slice of bacon.

"That's true," Violet said. "Give me some eggs." As she said this, she nabbed a forkful of scrambled eggs on her utensil and ate it happily, though her sister appeared less than pleased.

"Twenty bucks says it has something to, like, do with that Ash kid," Daisy pointed out, sitting down with only a cup of coffee. She was not as concerned about dieting as Lily, but did not feel hungry as she worried about her sister.

"I've already figured that out," Violet said knowingly, stealing more eggs from Lily. "I just wonder what, like, happened."

"Dunno," Daisy said, sighing.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Misty sighed as she sat in her bed mindlessly watching the television screen. While it was true she had not been out of her room much over the last week, she had maintained her hygiene habits, and was currently completely dressed in jeans and a purple sleeveless shirt with sandals.

Everyday she had resolved to go out into the world, and had gone through seven changes of clothing in order to further the resolution, but a second before she exited, she would stop herself. She knew her sisters would want the details of why she was acting so peculiar, and truthfully she was not sure herself. So instead of leaving, she ultimately decided everyday to stay in her room watching television until nighttime, when she would sneak out after her sisters were asleep and grab a large meal to satisfy her hunger.

"Like, Misty, are you alright?" came a soft voice from her bedroom door.

"Yeah," Misty replied quietly, having grown accustomed to the routine of her sisters checking on her daily before starting their day.

"Do you, like, wanna come out?" the voice asked. Misty recognized the voice as belonging to her oldest sister, Daisy.

"No, I think I'll stay in for a little while," Misty replied. This was the same reply she had given everyday the last week, and it was clear she planned to stay in for longer than a "little while".

"No, Misty," came Daisy's voice through the door, its tone of quiet condolence having all but disappeared. "You are gonna come out right now and talk to us!"

Misty was slightly taken aback by her sister's change of attitude, but held firm to her resolution of not leaving the safety and relative peace of her bedroom.

"No!" she almost shouted back. "I don't feel like coming out!"

Suddenly, her door slid to the side, exposing Misty to the light of the hallway, and her sister's presence. She had not known her sisters had an extra key for her bedroom, but her shock was quickly replaced by anger.

"Get outta here!" she cried, throwing a pillow that fell short of hitting her older sibling.

"No Misty," replied Daisy calmly. "We need to talk about why you're here, and not in Johto."

"I knew you guys didn't want me to come back," Misty replied sadly, surprising her sister.

_What's her deal? _Daisy asked inwardly. Normally, when Misty was upset, she let everyone know why in no uncertain terms. The depressing and isolated way she was acting now completely bewildered the blonde girl.

"We _do _want you to be here with us," Daisy said, cautiously approaching her sister's unmade bed, sitting down next to the redhead. "You're just acting _very _strange, and we want to know what the problem is."

"I don't wanna talk about it!" Misty yelled, apparently flying from one emotion to the other.

Misty knew she probably appeared insane to her sister, but did not care. She was so distraught and confused at the moment that she couldn't explain her feelings and knew that her sister wouldn't be able to understand the mix of emotion she was experiencing.

"Okay, okay," Daisy said, slowly rubbing her sister's back. "I understand."

Daisy was even surer, having seen Misty's confused and depressed state, that the young woman's grief had been caused by her former travelling companion. Only a few things could make a teenage girl act like Misty was now, and love was one of those things.

"But, like, you can't stay in this room another day," Daisy continued, making her voice a little sterner in tone. She wanted to be understanding, but knew that a person, no matter how depressed, should not stay indoors for a week straight.

"I don't feel like going out," Misty replied, apparently returning to her quiet, reclusive personality. Daisy preferred that one.

"Okay then, but you at least have to come out of your room," Daisy said. "Why don't you go to the battlefield with me? Lily's battling three trainers this morning. If anything can cheer you up, that will."

Despite herself, Misty laughed at Daisy's joke. Since her sisters returned to the gym, Misty had grown closer to all of them, but especially to Daisy.

"Alright," she replied, smiling a little. Maybe she just needed to stop thinking about the teenage boy who confused her so much.

So the two women left Misty's room and quietly strolled to the pool arena, where the battle would take place.

"Like, Misty?" Lily asked in astonishment, seeing her two sisters sitting down in the front row bleachers to watch the first battle. "What are you doing out here?"

"Misty decided to see if you've gotten any better since she left," Daisy informed Lily for Misty. "I told her that you, like, haven't, but she doesn't believe me."

"Oh yeah?" Lily asked playfully, glad to find her sister out of her room. "Watch this Misty!"

Suddenly, the door on the opposite side of the battlefield slid open, and a young trainer of about eleven or twelve years approached his side of the field.

"What's your name?" Lily asked the young man, as he stood awkwardly in the rectangular trainer's box. It was evident to Misty that this was his first gym battle.

"C-Corey Goynes, f-from Lakeview Town" the kid replied, taking off his blue baseball cap and wiping perspiration from his forehead. Despite the freezing temperatures outside, he appeared to be sweating heavily under the glare of the arena's lights.

"Well Corey, are you ready for this battle?" Lily questioned, in her most authoritative voice.

"Yes ma'am," the kid replied, trying to look determined.

"How about a two-on-two battle then?"

"Uh, actually I only have one Pokémon," Corey replied sheepishly.

_This is definitely his first battle, _Misty noted silently.

"Fine then," Lily said. "We'll have a one-on-one battle for the Cascade Badge."

"A-alright," stuttered Corey, nervously reaching to his left for his only Pokémon. However, it was evident in his face that there was nothing there, and when he looked down, he yelped in surprise.

"Where's my Pokémon???!!!" he cried out in fear. He frantically frisked his body, searching for the red and white orb, but with no apparent success.

"Uh, is that it there?" Lily asked, pointing to the young trainer's right side.

"Huh?" Corey asked, halting his self-inspection. He slowly looked at his right side and saw his beloved Pokémon's pokeball hanging from his belt. "Oh, yeah." Embarrassed that the gym leader had seen his pokeball from the opposite side of the battlefield before he found it, Corey silently grabbed the object and threw it toward the water.

"Squirtle!" squealed a young turtle Pokémon as it sprang from captivity and into the water. The Pokémon appeared overjoyed to be in the pool, and temporarily played by itself before realizing that its trainer was giving it an order.

"Squirtle, get ready for the battle!" Corey commanded his Pokémon who, after noticing the voice, jumped onto the small plastic island in the middle of the pool and faced Lily.

_At least his Pokémon knows what to do, _Misty thought as she watched on.

"Seaking, I choose you!" cried Lily as she threw the pokeball towards the water and released the horned fish into the depths of the saltwater pool.

"Uh, can we start now?" Corey asked the leader as his Pokémon waited tensely on the island, watching for his opponent in the pool.

"Yep," Lily replied smiling. "Seaking, Water Gun now!"

At her command, the fish Pokémon shot out of the pool, shot a large burst of water at the Squirtle, and plunged back into the safety of the battlefield within a second.

"Squirt!" shouted the Squirtle as he was thrown off-balance and fell backwards into the pool.

"Squirtle! Are you okay?" asked the trainer as his Pokémon flipped around onto his stomach.

"Squirtle-squirt!" replied his Pokémon without looking back. Misty noticed that the blue Pokémon appeared determined. However, it was not moving.

"Seaking, use Take Down!" Lily ordered.

For seemingly no reason, Squirtle suddenly shot out of the water and flew ten feet in the air before hitting the water on its back again. Apparently Lily's Pokémon used the Take Down attack beneath its opponent, thus propelling him.

"Don't just stand there!" Misty cried suddenly, surprising both Lily and Daisy. "You have to give your Pokémon a command!"

"Huh?" Corey asked a second later, realizing the statement was directed to him. "Oh, right!" He had either been too nervous or too incompetent to order his Squirtle before, but following Misty's advice, a determined look appeared on his face that closely resembled his turtle Pokémon's.

"Squirtle, get on the platform again!" he quickly ordered, afraid of another Seaking attack.

Squirtle hopped aboard the floating platform, awaiting his master's next command.

"Just wait there a second Squirtle, just like we practiced," the trainer commanded.

_At least he practiced, _Misty realized. She remembered that when Ash challenged the Cerulean Gym, he didn't even know who the gym leaders _were_.

"Seaking, he's wide open! Use Horn Attack!" Lily yelled to her submerged Pokémon.

"Sea!" cried the Pokémon as it leapt from the water once more and sped, head down, towards its opponent; the horn on its head spinning rapidly.

"Squirtle, Withdraw!" Corey cried, fearing he had waited too long.

However, it was clear he had not been too late in his command, because a split-second later Seaking was lying on the platform, desperately grinding its horn against the Squirtle's hard shell with no success.

"Now use Rapid Spin!" ordered Corey, realizing that the Withdraw attack would not hold Seaking off for long, considering his Pokémon's inexperience and lack of strength.

"Squirtle!" cried the Pokémon in response from within the shell. The mahogany-colored outer layer suddenly span at an incredible pace, knocking Seaking off of the platform in a daze.

"Now follow after it and use, uh, Bite!" Corey yelled, obviously trying to remember his premade strategy.

Despite his mistakes, Misty found herself quite impressed with the young man's preparation for the battle. When she had been running the gym just eight months earlier, she rarely found trainers who were ready for their first or second gym battle at Cerulean, and those like Corey never ceased to amaze her. They were, in her opinion, the trainers who would become something one day.

_Of course, _she thought as she watched the Squirtle dive into the pool, mouth agape, _Ash never prepared like that, and look where he is._ She shook her head, reminding herself that she did not need to think of her moronic former-friend. She instead focused back on the battle where, as best she could tell, Squirtle had successfully clamped onto Seaking's tail and was now being dragged around the pool at a breakneck speed.

"Like, Seaking, get him off!" squealed Lily, realizing that her Pokémon was going to grow too tired for battle soon if it continued swimming at its current pace and taking damage from the Bite attack.

In response, Seaking swiftly breached the surface of the pool water once again and landed atop the platform, flailing desperately against the surface to rid itself of the small Pokémon. However, Squirtle appeared determined, and after another minute of struggle, Seaking finally quit struggling.

"King," wheezed the exhausted Pokémon faintly as it lay on its side.

"Okay, okay," Lily conceded, pulling out her Pokémon's pokeball. "You win. Seaking return."

As the fish Pokémon returned to captivity, Squirtle leapt back into the water and swam to his master, who waited with open arms as his Pokémon came out of the pool and hugged him.

"We did it Squirtle!" cried the young boy happily. "We finally got our first gym badge!"

This was another scene that Misty rarely witnessed, but always enjoyed. Though her sisters would often lose to rookie trainers, she never did, and so she seldom got to watch a trainer bask in the glory of winning their first gym badge. As she looked at Corey congratulating his Pokémon, she couldn't help but smile for the first time in a week.

_He looks a little like Ash, _she thought. _At least when he was younger. _Once again, she lightly shook her head, trying to forget the pest of a trainer.

"Like, thanks a lot," Lily said, coming over to the bleachers after she had awarded the trainer with a Cascade Badge. "You totally ruined my chances out there."

"It was your own fault!" Misty replied, having expected the accusation. "He was a rookie, but you still couldn't beat him!"

"Well, since you're apparently feeling good enough now to instruct trainers how to beat me, why don't you take the next challenger yourself?"

"With pleasure!" Misty responded. She smiled at her sister as she hopped over the banister and landed on the battlefield. "Why don't you watch with Daisy? Maybe you could learn a thing or two."

"Oh, you're _so _funny," Lily replied, sticking out her tongue. Inside though, she smiled at seeing her sister acting normal once again. As she walked up the stairs to the bleachers, she saw Misty run toward the rack in the corner which held all of the gym's Pokémon.

"She seems to be doing better," Lily said, once she reached Daisy.

"Yeah, she's definitely her old self," Daisy replied, looking curiously at Misty as she saw the girl walk away from the rack without having taken a Pokémon.

"Why didn't you take a Pokémon Misty?" Daisy called down to Misty in curiosity.

"I want to use one of my new Pokémon instead," Misty replied enthusiastically. "I almost forgot I brought 'im with me!"

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"Just wait and see!" Misty called back happily, as she stepped on the button within the leader's box which automatically opened the door for the awaiting trainer. She was glad to find that the next challenger was waiting expectantly.

"What's your name?" Misty asked as a young girl of about twelve years entered the trainer's box. Like the last trainer, she had a baseball cap, but this one had a large "M" on the front, appearing similar to the "M" on Master pokeballs. It was also violet like Master pokeballs. In addition, she wore a light yellow jacket with a white shirt beneath, and blue jeans.

"My name's Yasmin from Pallet, and I'm here to challenge you for a Cascade Badge!" the young girl responded, almost yelling.

_She seems very familiar, _Misty noted as she took in the young girl's appearance and confident demeanor.

"You sure you're ready?" Misty asked as she tried to see if her suspicions were correct.

"Of course I'm ready!" Yasmin responded. "I already have _two _gym badges, and I've only been on the road for three weeks!"

Smirking, Misty recognized the cockiness in the young woman's voice. This trainer was the female replica of Ash Ketchum.

"What was your starter Pokémon?" Misty questioned, still not releasing her Pokémon, and apparently aggravating her opponent with the inquiries.

"I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I started with an Eevee that Professor Oak gave me," Yasmin replied, rolling her eyes. "Now are we gonna stand here, or are we gonna battle?"

"We can battle," Misty responded happily. "Dratini, come out now!"

With a flash of light, the blue dragon Pokémon emerged from its capsule and swam freely on top of the water.

"Whoa, what's that?" Yasmin asked to no one in particular as she pulled from her pocket a red pokedex. Though Misty could not hear the automated voice of the small computer, she was confident that, like Ash, the young girl was thrilled at the information she was receiving about an unknown Pokémon.

"Wow, a dragon Pokémon!" she cried happily as she closed the red encyclopedia and placed it back in her jacket. "That is so cool!"

"Where'd you get a Dratini?" Lily questioned from above.

"I found it on the beach," Misty replied, not wanting to elaborate on her answer. "I battled and captured it."

"Well, that Dratini may be rare, but it'll be no match for _my _Pokémon!" Yasmin warned from across the pool. "Jolteon, c'mon out!" As the trainer yelled this, she threw the pokeball towards the platform, where her yellow-dog Pokémon landed.

"Jolt!" the Pokémon cried as she found herself surrounded by water.

"Hope your Pokémon knows how to swim!" Misty yelled mockingly. "Otherwise, this is gonna be a hard battle!"

"Don't worry about Jolteon," the girl replied confidently.

"Okay, before we start, is a one-Pokémon battle good?" Misty asked, realizing that she had forgotten to state the rules for the battle.

"Sure," Yasmin said, appearing ready for the fight. "Can we start now?"

"Yeah," Misty replied with a smile on her lips. Crushing this Ash lookalike would certainly make her feel better. "I'll let you have the first move."

"Okay then," the girl said, rolling her eyes backward as she tried to think of a strong opening attack. "Thundershock, Jolteon!"

"Jolt!" the dog Pokémon replied, expulsing voltage from its body towards Dratini, who awaited its master's command in the pool.

"Protect, Dratini!" Misty ordered.

The dragon Pokémon instantly created a blue sphere around its body, which seemed to absorb the electrical attack.

"Stop!" Yasmin cried to her Pokémon. She feared she would tire her out too soon. "Just wait for her attack.

"Dratini, use Slam!" Misty commanded.

"Tini!" the small Pokémon cried as it suddenly sprung from the water's surface and began spinning rapidly downward toward its opponent.

"Watch out Jolteon!" Yasmin cried. Unfortunately, her cries did not help, because Jolteon had no where to hide from the oncoming attack.

"Jolt!" her Pokémon yelped as Dratini's tail slammed her into the ground.

"Now use Wrap!" Misty ordered once more, seeing that her Pokémon was in perfect position for the attack since it was already on top of the Jolteon.

Instantly, the Dratini wrapped his six foot body around Jolteon's torso and began squeezing.

"Jolteon, Thundershock again!" Yasmin commanded, realizing the need for quick action.

"Teon!" roared the Pokémon as more electricity left her body. However, unlike her previous attack, this one was very successful.

"Dratini!" shrieked Misty's battling partner as he was electrocuted.

"Let go Dratini!" cried Misty. However, she was too late. She could see that her Pokémon was unable to move due to the power of the electrical attack.

_At least Dragon types are resistant to electricity, _she thought as she waited for the attack to end. Despite her Pokémon's resistance to the Electric type, she still feared the worst for her battling partner since Dratini were notoriously weak until they evolve.

"Drat," cried her Pokémon again as the Thundershock finally ended, allowing him to release his opponent. Unfortunately, though he was still conscious, Dratini did not appear very viable.

"Get back in the water!" Misty ordered.

Immediately recognizing the command, Dratini slithered off the platform and back into the watery depths as Jolteon recovered from her assault.

_She's got skill, but her Pokémon are still new, _Misty noted, as she watched Jolteon gasping for air after sustaining damage from the Wrap attack. It was clear that, while Dratini had certainly taken damage, Jolteon had been harmed by Dratini's attack as well.

"Jolteon, use Thundershock on the water!" Yasmin yelled to her Pokémon.

"Jolt!" screeched her battling partner as she unleashed another torrent of electricity from her body. However, it was clear that Dratini was too far below the surface to be affected by the attack, and Misty simply waited for her opponent to tire out.

"Now Dratini," she cried as Jolteon stopped her assault to regain her breath. "Use Aqua Tail!"

Emerging from the water and into the air almost in sync with Misty's command, Dratini twisted his body and whipped the surface of the pool water with his long tail; thus creating a large wave.

"Watch out Jolteon!" Yasmin cried fearfully as the wave neared the platform where her exhausted Pokémon stood.

Unfortunately for the electric type there was no where _for_ her to run, and as the wave swept over the small floating island, Jolteon was carried away by it.

"Jolteon???!!!" Yasmin called as the attack died out, leaving the pool in quite a tumult of smaller, choppy waves. "Where are you?"

"Jolteon!" cried the Pokémon as she suddenly surfaced near Misty's side of the battlefield.

"You're okay!" Yasmin cried, jumping with excitement as she watched her Pokémon swim back towards the platform in the center.

"Impressive," Misty admitted under her breath.

"Jolteon, use Thundershock one more time!" Yasmin ordered before her Pokémon made it back to the island.

_Uh, oh, _Misty thought, realizing instantly what the young trainer planned to do.

"Dratini, get out of the water now!" Mist commanded, eyeing Jolteon. She appeared to struggle with creating enough energy for a final offensive.

"Ti!" replied Misty's Pokémon as he slithered from Yasmin's side of the battlefield towards the island; mimicking the franticness of its opponent just moments earlier.

"Jolt-e-on!" screeched the electric Pokémon as it suddenly lit with energy and unleashed a final assault upon the surrounding pool liquid. The entire battlefield lit up as the electrical power of the attack spread across the swimming area.

Although she did not hear her Pokémon's squeal of pain over the noise of static in the arena, Misty knew she had lost the battle.

"Dratini?" Misty called to her Pokémon through the newly-formed steam. She could barely see thanks to the mixture of electricity and water, but hoped to maybe hear some assurance that her almost-inevitable defeat had been averted. In spite of her optimism, Dratini's voice did not reach her ear.

As the steam continued to lift, Misty could clearly see Jolteon's silhouette atop the platform, tiredly heaving and scanning the entire surrounding area to insure her opponent had been defeated. A minute later Misty saw her Pokémon's tired body rise to the surface, confirming her as the loser.

"We won!" Yasmin shouted excitedly. Her clothes now appeared drenched, as did Misty's, from the steam, but the humidity of the battle area did not dampen her spirits.

"Jolteon, return!" she cried to her Pokémon as her pokeball released a red beam, retrieving the tired battler from the middle of the pool.

"You did such a good job Jolteon!" Yasmin cooed to the pokeball in her hand. "I'm very, very proud of you!"

Though Misty had originally looked forward to defeating the Ash Ketchum lookalike, she now almost felt glad that she lost. Watching Yasmin's joy at winning her third badge reminded her so much of Ash when he was younger.

"Here you are," Misty said to Yasmin as she neared the girl's side of the battlefield. "You have officially earned the Cerulean Gym Cascade Badge!"

"That's awesome!" Yasmin cried happily as she snatched the small raindrop-shaped object from Misty's fingers. "We did it!"

"You sure did," Misty replied, equally happy in tone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow Misty," Daisy said. "I never thought I'd see you handle losing, like, this well!"

It was approximately noon, and the sisters had finished the morning's battles. It was going to be a couple of hours until the next scheduled challenger was to arrive. However, as was always the case, there would probably be a few impromptu trainers, so the sisters were sitting by the pool as they talked.

"Yeah, well, I know I could have beaten her with one of my more experienced Pokémon," Misty explained. "I haven't really trained Dratini that much yet, so I don't feel too down."

"So you just, like randomly found a Dratini on the beach?" Lily asked her redheaded sister as she kicked the water lightly with her bare foot.

"Well, pretty much," Misty answered, hoping the answer would suffice.

"Pretty much?" Violet chimed in. "What does that mean?"

"Uh, well, Ash originally found it, but he didn't want it," Misty explained. "So he released it and I battled and captured it on the beach."

"Ohhhh," Daisy said knowingly, causing Misty to blush slightly. "So that's why you're using it."

"N-no, of course not!" Misty denied. "I used it because I want to train him and eventually get a Dragonite! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Yeah, it would," Violet agreed.

Daisy remained silent, but noticed Misty's blush and began to think about what could have happened between her and the brown-eyed boy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Pikachu, wake up!" Ash told his travelling partner as the ship began to unload passengers. "We're in New Bark Town!"

"Pi-pika," Pikachu mumbled sleepily as he awoke and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He hopped upon his masters awaiting shoulder, and the two slowly descended the staircase that led to the docks.

"Hi Ash!" called a familiar voice the moment he set foot off the stairs.

Turning, Ash was surprised to find Dawn waving to him. He was even more surprised to find her wearing a long pink dress that she had designed, and usually only wore, for contests.

"Hey Dawn!" Ash replied, after realizing that it was indeed his friend.

They ran to meet each other, and slightly to Ash's shock, Dawn lunged at the champion and tightly hugged him for several seconds.

_She must be really glad to see me, _Ash thought humorously as he realized the unnecessary duration of the embrace.

Dawn pulled back suddenly, her face flushed, but her smile was as bright and confident as ever as she looked her old travelling partner up and down.

"I'm so glad you made it here okay!" she said as she examined her crush's appearance. She enjoyed the nicer clothing he now wore.

"How did you know I was gonna be here?" Ash asked, surprised by his friend's odd remark.

"Your mom called me today and told me what happened between you and Misty," Dawn explained as people brushed by the two teenagers. A few stopped shortly to take a picture of the young champion, but most were too busy to notice the celebrity in their midst.

"What?" Ash asked, both upset and nervous.

_She knew I was lying? _

"It's okay," Dawn assured her friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm on your side. I'm not exactly sure why she left, but I do know that she shouldn't have just abandoned you like she did."

"That's true," Ash admitted. It was nice to have someone sympathetic to his plight, and not just greedy for information.

"I don't know what happened over there," Dawn continued, "but I certainly won't just leave you suddenly for no reason."

"What do you mean 'won't'?" Ash asked.

"Oh yeah," Dawn said, realizing she had forgotten the most important reason for her coming to meet Ash at the ship. "I want to travel with you again…if that'd be okay with you, that is."

Ash was a little surprised by the proposal. Of course, Dawn was a very good friend and travelling partner, but he had been expecting to make this leg of his journey by himself. However, as he briefly thought it over he realized that company, especially company which resented Misty as much as he did, might make the trip a little easier and a little more fun.

"Sure Dawn!" Ash replied, a smile breaking his solemn face. "We'd love to have you with us."

"Pikachu-pi!" Pikachu agreed.

"Really?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"Of course!" Ash replied. "It'll be just like back in Sinnoh!"

_Not exactly, _she thought to herself.

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, what did you think? What's that? I can't hear you! Oh wait, maybe instead of yelling at your computer screen like a psycho, you could drop me a review! Ha, ha. I'm kidding. Seriously though, I know you're all busy, but if you have just a sec, I would love any input. My philosophy for fanfiction continues to be that it's not worth writing if no one cares to share their opinion. And, as always, I'll be sure to reply to your feedback to express my appreciation for your interest.

Like I said, this chapter was hard to write because Ash is starting a whole new leg of his journey. I was told by my nemesis, licoricejellybean, that I probably should have conveyed more emotion on the part of Ash and Misty in this chapter concerning their little "spat" in chapter nineteen. However, this chapter was more of a segway into the new adventures in Johto, so I plan on delving more into Ash's and Misty's thoughts the next few chapters. The purpose of this chapter was more or less to simply bring the reading public up to date on where Ash and Misty (and Dawn) were, and what they would be doing.

Okay, in keeping with the ancient ritual of my people…here are this week's recommendations:

"Friednship, Love and Rivalry" by Princess Tiger – I know I recommended this before, but that was like twenty weeks ago, so I'm doing it again. This fic is really good, and I'm definitely going to read and review more of it in the near future.

"GREEN Act 1" by Greenmaybeaguy – This fic is weird, but awesome. It has NO shipping in it (as far as I've read), but it's a slightly-dramatic/slightly-comedic fic about a guy who ends up living in his Pokémon LeafGreen version. He has to defeat the game in order to escape, but as he goes along a lot of stuff happens to him. I know, it's a vague description, but I don't think I _could _summarize this story because it's such a large concept. Just read it if you want some laughs, and a pretty well-written story.

"Kiss in the Snow!" by PokeshippersShadow1 – This is a _very _fluffy fic, so I didn't enjoy it a whole lot. However, I know from their reviews that many of my readers _are _into fluff, so if you are, read this story. Not only is it a nice and light one-shot, but it's perfect because it's about Christmas.

Also, I would just like to mention that today's character of the day (Yasmin) was actually based off of one of my reviewers who privately PM'ed me and asked me to put her in the fic (she also told me she loved Eevee; thus the Jolteon). If anyone else would like to have themselves or their favorite Pokémon (or both) included in the fic, just let me know and I'll do my best to include you! By the way, a while ago I had a person who said they'd be willing to draw some pics for this story, but I haven't heard from them recently. If any of my readers _does _draw, or would like to start, just let me know. I'd love a couple of pics to go along with this fanfic if possible, and you don't have to be any good (since I'm certainly not).

Alright, I'll let you go now. Have a Merry Christmas…and PLEASE REVIEW!


	21. Memories

**Hey Everybody! **Before I say anything else, I want to congratulate all of my reviewers...I officially have 299 reviews as of the time I am typing this! That many reviews, while certainly a compliment to me, is also a tesament to the input of my loyal readers and fans. Without you guys reviewing my story, I know I wouldn't still be writing this...so congratulations everyone! Also, as a little prize for sticking with this story for so long, I have decided to hold a contest. Whoever can give me my 300th review will have the next chapter dedicated to them! Isn't that an awesome prize? No? Well, deal with it! Ha,ha. But seriously, thanks again to everyone who has made this possible. Let's see how quickly we can get to review number 400!

Anyway, as for this chapter...it was hard. This is the first chapter of Dawn and Ash's travels together, and since I haven't watched _any _of the Diamond and Pearl episodes, I literally spent hours going over information for her on Bulbapedia. However, after a lot of reading (and watching a couple of episode shots on YouTube), I think I got the basic idea of her character down. It surprised me to find that she's a lot like Ash when he was younger in the series. As per usual, I won't say much more because I don't want to give anything away, but I will take this time to also mention that a few old characters will be returning in this chapter to answer the questions of several of my loyal readers who didn't understand their absence.

By the way, I just want to quote licoricejellybean's last chapter really quick. "he [me] deserves sainthood for that…oh wait, I hate you TL, remember??? :)". Seriously???!!! This kid's basically the worst archenemy ever. She can't even remember she's supposed to hate me half the time (and granting me SAINThood???). Whatever. You know what LJB? I'll act flippant about our hatred from now on too. Oh, wait, I hate you, right? I don't remember cause you're SO unimportant.

(She barely even edited this chapter)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"You're mine Ariados!" Ash cried as he hurtled yet another pokeball in the cold forest of Route 30. In a flash of light, the spider Pokémon was sealed within the capsule. As the ball ceased shaking, Ash pumped his fist in the air victoriously, his loyal Totodile imitating the action. "Yahoo!"

"Did you catch another one?" Dawn asked as she appeared from a thicket of bushes behind the trainer.

"Yeah! I just caught an Ariados! Where were you?"

"Uh, I was a little creeped out by it," Dawn replied, embarrassed. She did not hate bug Pokémon, but naturally averted Ariados after having been attacked by the species on multiple occasions. "Me and Piplup aren't big fans."

"Pip!" squeaked the small penguin Pokémon snared between her arms and chest.

"I forgot about that," Ash replied, remembering Dawn's recantation of her encounter with the bug Pokémon on the first day of her journey. While they had travelled together, the red spider Pokémon had assaulted them two more times as well.

"It's okay," Dawn assured Ash. "It's been so long since we travelled together."

"That's true," he agreed, withdrawing Totodile, who was still celebrating.

"We should probably get back to the Pokémon Center," Dawn told Ash, shivering slightly. She was wearing her red winter coat and white scarf, but still felt the chill of the late January evening surrounding her. "We're gonna freeze if we don't get warm soon."

"I guess you're right," Ash agreed, though hesitantly. He had caught five new Pokémon today, and was hoping that he could catch one more before heading back to Violet City. However, even he was starting to feel the effects of the low temperature beneath his thick blue winter coat. "Let's go back to the Pokémon Center."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"That's much better," Dawn said cozily as she sipped on a cup of hot chocolate in the small café. Sitting across from her, Ash took a generous sip from his cup as well.

"That is really good hot chocolate," he agreed. "But do they have any food here?"

"We'll get food in a second, silly," Dawn replied cheerily. "I wanted to get something warm to drink after being out in that freezing forest all day!"

"Do you think we should bring the Pokémon back some of this?" Ash asked, realizing that his faithful battling companions had been out in the cold all day as well. "They really earned it."

"I think you're right," Dawn agreed. "Before we leave, we'll get them some and bring it to the Center with us."

"Can we leave now?" Ash asked, hunger gripping his stomach. "I saw a taco restaurant just a few blocks away!"

"Just wait a sec," Dawn chastised playfully. "I wanted to talk with you a minute."

"Talk about what?" Ash asked, curious.

"About what happened between you and Misty," Dawn replied.

"Why do you wanna know about that?" Ash replied, immediately suspicious. He knew that Dawn corresponded with his mom regularly, and believed she may be behind Dawn's sudden curiosity.

"I was just wondering," Dawn replied carefully. "You haven't acted like yourself since we started this journey a few weeks ago, and I think it has something to do with Misty."

"No it doesn't!" Ash retorted, a little too loudly for the quiet café. Bringing his voice down, he continued.

"I'm the same as always!" he insisted.

"Can I just know what happened?" Dawn asked, sounding even more interested than before.

Ash hesitated, and Dawn began to pout. "Fine," he relented exasperatedly.

_What's the worst that could happen? _he mused. _She could tell Mom, but why would that matter at all?_

"It all started when we stopped at Cerulean City…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Like, Misty, take a break already!" Violet told her sister who, despite the clock having just struck midnight, was still swimming laps with her water Pokémon during a "late night training session".

"I can't take a break!" Misty replied indignantly, stopping mid-lap momentarily to converse with her sibling. "I've lost three matches in the three weeks I've been here! I obviously need to train more."

"Misty, you've battled like a hundred people," Daisy reasoned, standing next to her sister. "Three losses is, like, really good."

"Maybe to you it is," Misty sniffed, "but to me it means I'm still three battles away from perfection."

With that, Misty turned and swam the rest of the way to the end of the pool, where her loyal Pokémon tiredly waited for her to catch up. They had been training for four hours, and all hoped their master would soon come to her senses and end the training period.

"Okay guys," Misty announced to the six Pokémon lined against the pool wall. "We've got a lot more work to get done tonight, so let's pick up the pace! This time I want everyone to-"

"Misty, stop!" Daisy cried out, startling the young water trainer.

"What is it now?" Misty asked, irritated. "I told you, I'm fine."

"It's not about you," Daisy replied. "Look at your Pokémon for a second. They're, like, completely wiped out. You can't keep training them in this condition."

Misty looked over at her Pokémon and realized with a jolt that her sister was right. All of her Pokémon were staring at her with pleading eyes. Suddenly, Misty felt very guilty for training them so hard.

"I'm sorry guys," Misty apologized after a moment. She hated apologies, but realized that her Pokémon were being worked far too hard for their own good.

As she climbed out of the pool she continued. "I was being very selfish. You can take the rest of the night off."

Breathing a general sigh of relief, all of the Pokémon chirruped their forgiveness and immediately dipped underwater.

Misty walked over to her sisters, who were waiting with a towel, and quickly dried off. They lingered nearby as she ran the towel over her hair, exchanging pointed glances, and Misty turned to them, frowning.

"What's the matter guys?" she asked. Clearly they were worried about her, but she wasn't sure why.

Violet poked Daisy hard in the side and the eldest Sensational Sister spoke up, scowling at her purple haired sibling. "Er, Misty, we still would like to know what happened between you and Ash," Daisy explained hurriedly.

She had not brought up the young man in conversation for over two weeks, after Misty made it clear in no uncertain terms that she didn't want to talk about what had passed between the two. However, the sisters all felt it to be in their youngest sibling's best interest to tell them what had happened. This feeling was only reinforced after witnessing Misty's evolution from a depressed teenage girl to a workaholic. It was clear to all that something was not right, and she was obviously trying to forget about something.

"I thought we already discussed this," Misty replied, her jaw instantly locking at the sound of the dark-haired boy's name. She had been _very _thorough in explaining to her sisters what would happen if they annoyed her one more time about her and Ash's fight.

"I know," Lily interjected, standing next to Daisy, "but we're worried. You barely sleep or eat and are constantly training or doing some other work. You went from spending all day in your room to being in action, like, all the time. We just think you might be doing all this to, you know, forget about Ash or something."

For a moment, Misty simply stared at her sisters. She was astounded at their sudden ability to understand the emotional distress of someone else. However, she was still hesitant to discuss the sensitive issue with them.

"I'm not covering anything up," Misty replied stubbornly. "I just want to train all these new water Pokémon that I caught."

"Misty, please," Violet said kindly. "We really want to, like, help you, but we can't if we don't know what's happened. What are you so afraid of telling us, anyway?"

Despite herself, Misty reflected on Violet's comment for a moment and realized that her sister made a valid argument. Why did she care if they knew? They had all known stupid guys before, even dated some, so maybe they could help her figure out what Ash's problem was.

"Fine," she relented. "I'll tell you what happen, but only if you promise to listen and not be jerks." As she gave the conditions for her story, she glared at them with a great deal of intensity to put force behind her statement. She would _not _tolerate being teased by her sisters.

"Okay," all three sisters agreed in unison.

"I'll get a shower and then talk to you in the kitchen," Misty told them, before turning around and walking out of the pool room.

"Our little sister's pretty intimidating, huh?" Daisy asked as she watched the young redhead walk away.

"You can say that again," Lily agreed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So we went outside to talk," Ash explained to Dawn. She sat on the opposite side of the small café table, completely entranced by the tale. Ash had told her everything that had happened between him and Misty following his purchase of the car, and though everything to that point had seemed good, she could tell he was about to reach the climactic conflict. "And while we're out there, she suddenly starts telling me she doesn't like me and stuff, for no reason."

"Seriously?" Dawn asked, puzzled. It didn't sound like Misty, at least from the few times she had met the redhead in Sinnoh, to be so irrational. "Why would she leave the Christmas party just to tell you that?"

"I dunno," Ash replied. "All I know is that after she said that, I calmly told her that I just liked her as a friend, and then she went crazy asking me why I had been so quiet earlier and that I must like her, or something. Then the next day, there was a note on her bed explaining that she didn't feel welcome anymore and had decided to leave."

"You've got to be kidding me," Dawn said as Ash finished his summary of events.

"I wish I were," he replied.

"But Misty seemed so nice when I met her," Dawn continued. "This doesn't sound like her. I mean, when your mom told me she had left you without giving a reason, I thought she was just being mean, but maybe she's having some personal trouble or something if she was acting crazy before she left."

"That's true," Ash commented, thinking over Dawn's opinion. "I mean, she _was _acting pretty nuts. Maybe she just needed to go clear her head or something. I dunno. I'm actually kind of glad she left though."

Dawn's heart skipped a beat and she felt her face heat up.

"W-what do you mean by that?" she asked as calmly as she could, studying the brown eyed Champion intently.

"Well, can you imagine how awkward it would have been if she had stayed for Christmas?" Ash continued, oblivious. "I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the holidays!"

"Oh yeah," Dawn replied with a disappointed sigh. It was not the response she had been hoping for.

"I'm really hungry," Ash told her after a second of silence. Dawn seemed a little unsettled, upset even, but Ash figured it wasn't anything a burrito couldn't cure. "How about we get something to eat?"

"Sounds good to me!" Dawn replied brightly, recovering her cheerful persona as quickly as she had lost it. "We can go to that taco place you were talking about."

"Yum!" Ash replied. "We can come back here after we eat and grab the Pokémon some hot chocolate."

As Dawn watched the young man get up and put on his coat, she noted that he suddenly seemed happier than he had since they met earlier in the month. Talking about what happened certainly appeared to have helped him. Silently standing and wrapping her short red coat around her body, she realized with a pang how much more attractive her "friend" was when he smiled.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Well, after we left here," Misty began, the gaze of her three sisters focused directly on her, "we began to drive to Pallet. I noticed that the whole ride Ash was really quiet, which was weird because he usually never shuts up." The girls nodded intently, obviously anxious for their sister to proceed with the story.

"Anyway, I realized that he was probably acting so weird because of what happened _here._" At this point, Misty paused to glare, almost viciously, at Lily.

"Like, what's the matter Mist?" Daisy asked, wondering why the teenage girl seemed so mad suddenly.

"Because Lily stuck her nose into my business, and _she's _the reason the fight happened," Misty replied.

Daisy and Violet already knew that their pink-haired sister had asked Ash about his feelings for their youngest sibling. However, the expression on their faces showed Misty that they were confused as to _how _this instigated the conflict two days later.

"I thought that maybe he was upset because he thought I had asked Lily to ask him if he liked me or something," at this point Misty stuck her tongue out. "So I was worried about that the next two days. He didn't help my suspicions either by being so quiet the whole time."

"After we got to the party and everything, he kind of went off to eat and I talked to Tracey for a while." At this point Daisy blushed a little, though no one seemed to notice.

"However, as it got later in the night, I started to get more and more upset about Ash because he still wasn't talking to me much, and I didn't want to spend Christmas the next day with him mad or confused with me, so I asked him if we could talk outside for a minute."

"Did he agree?" Violet asked, now enthralled in the tale her little sister was weaving.

"Yeah, but he was acting like a jerk about it," Misty explained, scowling at the memory.

"Like how?" Daisy asked, equally mesmerized by the story and waiting for the inevitable fight to be explained.

"Well, he complained about it being cold, and he was just being a big baby and everything," Misty replied. She felt guilty for stretching the truth a little, but wanted to ensure her sisters understood the story from her unbiased perspective.

"Anyway, after we went outside, I just nicely told him that it was my dumb sister who wanted to know if he like me, and not me," Misty continued. "But when I mentioned Lily's question, he kind of went berserk for no reason."

"You don't know why he went crazy like that?" Violet inquired.

"No idea," Misty replied with a shrug. "He's not very smart, so maybe he was just too immature to talk about what happened without freaking out."

"Oh," Violet replied with a disappointed murmur. This story had been significantly less interesting than she had originally anticipated.

"So what did you do after he freaked out?" Daisy questioned.

"Well, being the calm person that I am," she continued, ignoring the roll of her sisters' eyes, "I simply pointed out that he was behaving irrationally, and then he told me he couldn't stand me and didn't want me to go to Johto with him!"

"No way!" Daisy and Violet gasped in unison.

"Yeah," Misty replied, looking down at the table. "I don't know what his problem was, but he said it."

"That was so mean!" Violet told her sister, coming around the table to give the depressed girl a hug. "He's an idiot."

"Yeah," Daisy agreed as she and Lily got up to hug their sister as well. "That was totally unnecessary!"

"Thanks guys," Misty said as her sisters surrounded her. At least _they _understood how mean Ash had been, though she could do without the overly-sympathetic display of love.

"Do you wanna watch T.V. or do something to stop thinking about him?" Daisy asked after a moment of silence.

"Nah," Misty replied, yawning and stretching her arms. "I think I'm going to bed. It's really late, and I've been training all day."

"Okay," Daisy responded. "See ya in the morning!"

"'Kay," Misty said, walking out the kitchen and heading up the flight of stairs to her bedroom.

"Hey Mist," a voice softly called behind her as she reached the plateau. Turning around, Misty found Lily standing sheepishly on the first floor, looking up.

"Yeah?" Misty asked.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for starting this whole mess," her sister explained quietly. "I didn't mean to get you two in a fight. It's just…"

"It's just what?" Misty asked, curious.

"Well, it's just that you and Ash seemed like such a cute couple growing up, and I thought that if I asked him, then maybe that'd, like, cause a spark to appear or something. Also…well, you know."

"Know what?" Misty asked, feeling her temper begin to rise at the ambiguity of her sister's last two statements.

"Well, that you seemed to really like him too," Lily squeaked, knowing that saying this normally resulted in a release of Misty's fury.

For a second Misty just stood there.

"You're right,' she replied despondently. "I do like him."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ugh," Ash groaned as he lay on his bed in the Pokémon Center. Though he and Dawn were staying in a decent motel for the evening, he had decided to rent a room temporarily.

"You're not feeling any better?" Dawn asked the young man as she came back into his room and placed a wet washcloth on his forehead. Nurse Joy had checked on him a few minutes earlier and had diagnosed that he had simply eaten too much.

"No way," Ash cried as his stomach gurgled.

"I told you not to eat so many tacos!" she told him in a tone not reflective of anger, but rather concern. "Is that washcloth too cold?"

"Heh, no, it's fine," he replied with a weary smile to Dawn. She certainly took better care of him than Misty ever would.

_If Misty were here right now, _he mused, _she'd just call me a big baby and make fun of me._

"Do you need anything else?" Dawn asked sweetly, heartened at his kind smile.

"No, that's okay," he replied tiredly. "I'll just lay here-"

"Mr. Ketchum, please come help!" Nurse Joy suddenly cried out as she appeared at the door of the rented room. Pikachu jumped from her shoulder and landed on Ash's stomach, causing him to wince in pain.

"What's going on?" Ash asked, catching his breath.

"Team Rocket's trying to rob us!" Nurse Joy replied, throwing all Ash's pokeballs at him at once. She appeared quite nervous. "You have to fight them off until the police get here!"

"Team Rocket?" Ash and Dawn cried at the same time.

"It must be that Mallory girl," Dawn told Ash grimly as she remembered the operative whom she had read hurt her friend.

"Yep," Ash replied, a determined look on his face. Seemingly forgetting the stomach ache which had plagued him moments earlier, Ash stood and picked up his pokeballs. Pikachu jumped on his shoulder as he prepared to leave. "Stay here Dawn."

However, as he walked out the door towards the main lobby, he heard Dawn following him.

"Dawn, I told you to stay in the room!" he said exasperatedly.

"I can't just let you face her alone!" Dawn replied emotionally. "I've gotta help."

"You'll be helping me if you can keep Nurse Joy calm," Ash explained hurriedly. He needed to get to Mallory before she stole all of the Pokémon. "Besides, you don't have any Pokémon with you."

"Okay," Dawn replied unwillingly, knowing she shouldn't slow Ash from saving the Pokémon Center. "But if you need me, just call!"

"Right," Ash replied turning back around and running to the lobby.

He was surprisingly nervous as he came to the corner where he was sure Mallory waited for him. Gulping he looked at the loyal yellow Pokémon on his shoulder, who reciprocated his gaze.

"You ready, Pikachu?" he asked as confidently as he could.

"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu responded, nodding in reply. To Ash's amazement, he almost sounded happy in his tone.

Facing forward again, Ash quickly took a few successive steps before gaping at the scene before him. What he saw helped him realize why Pikachu had not sounded nervous or scared.

"Hand us your Chikorita, Twerp," a low female voice demanded of a young trainer. "You don't have any more Pokémon to fight with."

"Jessie?" Ash asked, still gaping at the sight of the two thieves before him.

"Oh, no!" James suddenly cried aloud. "We were so close this time!"

"Don't worry about dat kid!" Meowth shouted from between the two Rocket members. "Just grab the Chikorita and scram!"

However, before any of them could reach the child, Ash threw open two pokeballs, containing his Squirtle and Bayleef. Pikachu stepped forward as well, and the three gave an impressive appearance of power.

"Leave the Chikorita alone!" Ash ordered. "Or else."

Sighing, the three Rocket members bowed their heads in forfeiture of the challenge. They were not prepared to meet their old nemesis, and had nothing more than their Pokémon to help defeat him.

"That's it?" Ash asked, smirking. "You guys used to never give up!"

"Well, that's before you became Champion," Jessie snapped back. "You're not our problem anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"We'd love to talk," James interrupted, "but the police are on their way!"

With that, the trio began to run out the door, but Ash's curiosity refused him from simply allowing them to leave.

"Grab 'em Bayleef!" Ash commanded.

"Bay!" cried his grass Pokémon as she wrapped her vines around the fleeing bandits and lifted them high in the air. The three struggled to break free, but their efforts brought no results.

"Ugh, let us go kid!" Meowth cried. "Da cops are comin'!"

Ash knew that he should hand the three to the police, but could not allow them to go without understanding what Jessie had meant. As much as he hated to admit it, he was very interested in why their pursuit of him ended when he became Champion.

Looking around, he quickly decided where to hide the three.

"Bayleef, put them behind the counter," he ordered calmly as he heard the blare of police lights outside of the Pokémon Center. Looking to the small trainer whose Pokémon remained in a daze on the floor, Ash realized he was confused as to what was happening.

"You, return your Chikorita and give it to Nurse Joy when she comes out. And don't mention where those guys are!" As he said this, he could tell the boy was very confused, but fortunately followed orders and withdrew his Chikorita.

"What's going on in here?" yelled Officer Jenny as she stormed through the front door of the hospital with a pistol in hand. She had received a call warning of a Team Rocket attack upon the local Center, and decided to take the precautionary step of already having the weapon at the ready.

"Nothing, Officer Jenny," Ash said as convincingly as he could. "What's the matter?" As he asked, he tried to appear casual by leaning back on the front counter, but misjudged his position and accidentally fell over.

"Uh, are you Ash Ketchum?" the officer asked the young man, who was struggling back to his feet. She lowered her pistol as she examined the Center.

"Yeah, that's me!" he replied cheerily, hoping to diffuse any suspicions he may have aroused by his odd behavior.

"Um, well I received a dispatch about a Team Rocket attack on this building," the policewoman explained, "so I drove over here as quickly as I could."

"Well no one's here except me and this kid," Ash responded, nodding to his young companion. "I think someone was playing a joke on you."

"Maybe," Jenny answered. She had an odd feeling about the situation, but was confident that the Pokémon Champion knew what he was talking about. Not wanting to act doubtful of his word, the officer decided to leave.

"I guess I'll get going then," Jenny continued. "It was really nice to meet you in person Mr. Ketchum. My niece is a big fan of yours."

"Thank you," Ash replied, again very cheerily. He knew she was almost gone.

"See you later," the officer said, bidding farewell as she stepped out of the building. Through the glass entrance, Ash saw the woman mount her blue motorcycle and almost instantly speed down the road.

"Okay," Ash said, fomenting his plan to sneak Team Rocket out of the building without anyone's awareness.

"I need you to go get Nurse Joy and a girl with blue-dyed hair," the champion said to the child staring at him. "They're in the rental room in the back. And remember, don't mention Team Rocket at all!"

"Uh, right!" The young boy responded with a nod. He ran down the hallway to get the nurse and his friend.

"Guys, meet me in the back of the Pokémon Center in a couple of minutes," Ash told the rising trio.

"Why would we do that?" Jessie asked angrily as the three got out from behind the counter and began to walk towards the exit. "You already saved us, remember?"

"If you don't wait for me, then I'll just come after you with Charizard," Ash warned. In reality he didn't have the fire Pokémon with him, but hoped that the threat would be enough to entice the criminals to listen to him.

"Well…" the three began in unison. While they did not want to wait around, they knew Charizard would easily catch up to their small hot air balloon if they attempted an escape.

"Hurry!" Ash urged as he heard Nurse Joy's voice down the hallway.

Without a reply, the three ran out of the Center the moment Nurse Joy and Dawn appeared with the boy trainer. All three of them quickly scanned the area for Rocket members or police officers, but they found nothing in the main lobby except the young champion.

"Where's Team Rocket?" Nurse Joy asked, puzzled.

"I dunno," Ash explained, shrugging. "As soon as I came in here, they ran out the door."

"I bet they were intimidated with a Champion standing in front of them," Dawn reasoned proudly as Nurse Joy continued to appear perplexed by the unexpected quiet of the lobby.

"Maybe," Ash agreed, eyeing the little kid who still held his Chikorita's pokeball in his hands. "Do you want Nurse Joy to take care of your Pokémon?"

"Uh, yeah, please," the kid replied, facing Nurse Joy. He held his only Pokémon out to her, and she took it with a smile.

"No problem little boy," the kind nurse said as she walked over to the counter, behind which was a small medical room where she placed pokeballs to heal the Pokémon within. "Your brave Chikorita will be better in no time!"

"Uh, Nurse Joy?" Dawn asked the woman as she neared the medical room.

"Yes?"

"Why weren't any Chansey here to help you against Team Rocket?"

"Actually, we have a Blissey here, but she didn't fare well in a battle against those two," Joy answered, a sour look crossing her face. "They used three Pokémon against her at once…though I recall the Meowth they used did nothing but talk the entire battle."

"A talking Meowth?" Dawn asked. Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "I know who must have attacked the Center!"

"Really?" Nurse Joy responded, surprised. "Who is it?"

"Their names are Jessie and James, and they're part of Team Rocket!"

"Do you know anything else about them?" the nurse asked, sounding excited.

"Well, no," Dawn admitted. "I mean, I know what they look like, of course, but I have no clue as to where they might be hiding or anything. I didn't even know they have come all the way over here from Sinnoh."

"Oh," Joy said, the hope deflated from her expression and voice. "Oh well, then."

With that she proceeded to the back room, the young trainer at her heels, appearing impatient.

"Can you believe those three followed us over here?" Dawn asked Ash as the other two left the room. "I mean, they must have great sneaking abilities to have been spying on us this whole time without our knowing it!"

"Actually," Ash replied, "I don't think they even knew we were here! I mean, they seemed surprised when they saw me. I told them to wait for me outside so we could talk."

"Wait," Dawn began, appearing dazed by the last statement. "You told them to wait for us? How come you didn't hand them over to the police?"

"Because of this Mallory girl," Ash explained. "You know, the girl who got me in trouble last summer? I think that they know something about her, and why she said she wants to help me. I couldn't just hand them over to the police if they have all that information!"

"I guess you're right," Dawn agreed. "Still, it feels a little weird helping the bad guys, huh?"

"Yeah," Ash agreed, not really paying attention to his friend. His mind was elsewhere as questions began to pervade more of his thoughts. "Let's get on our coats and see if they waited like they said they would."

As the Champion and his coordinator friend rushed out of the large hospital, they immediately made a track to the back of the building where, surprisingly, the three villains awaited their arrival in the basket of their inflated hot air balloon. Peering inside, Ash saw the trio sitting with their knees to their chests, looking miserable.

"Hey guys!" he greeted, startling the Team Rocket members.

"So why do you wanna talk to us?" Jessie asked hotly as she glared at her former prey. "We would have thought you'd be looking for that special operative."

"Special operative?" Dawn asked as she looked inside the basket next to Ash.

"Yeah, dat new girl with the stupid name!" Meowth retorted. "What was it? Meghan?"

"No, no, it was Molly," James replied, rolling his eyes.

"You mean Mallory?" Ash asked.

"That's it!" Jessie answered with a snap of her fingers. "That new girl's name was Mallory. I knew that!"

"So she was new?" Ash asked the three, hoping to quickly get the information he desired.

"Well, no," James answered. "She was just new to Kanto. She came from our Johto headquarters in Goldenrod."

"At least that's what they told us when we were fired from our original job," Jessie added with anger in her voice.

"You guys were fired?" Dawn asked. "But you're still wearing the Rocket uniforms!"

"Do we have to explain everything?" Jessie asked. As she looked up at the two confused teenage faces, she sighed. "I guess we do. When _you _became Champion, the boss called us back to Viridian for a meeting. He told us how angry he was that we had let a kid who was our number one priority become a Regional Champion without stealing any of his powerful Pokémon."

"It didn't help dat we'd been followin' ya for six years," Meowth added.

"The worst part was that the boss said he didn't trust us anymore with such a powerful trainer, and that he was handing our job to that new girl," James concluded.

"So now we're in Johto, and we were assigned to find and steal as many rare Pokémon as possible," Jessie continued. "And that stupid boy's Chikorita would have been the _perfect _gift."

"Do you want me to apologize for saving a young trainer's first Pokémon?" Ash asked incredulously.

"Of course not, Mr. Goody-two-shoes," Jessie snarled back. "Just don't make us waste anymore time with you."

"I won't, but I have one more question," Ash said, as he saw James rise up and put his hand on the lever of the balloon's flame controller.

"What is it, kid?" Meowth asked.

"What's her job supposed to be?"

"What do you mean, 'what's her job'?" Jessie asked.

"I mean, is her job to steal my Pokémon like you guys, or does she have some other purpose?" Ash elaborated.

"Sorry twerp," Jessie answered, standing next to her companion, who was releasing hot air into the balloon. The vehicle slowly began to ascend. "That's confidential Team Rocket information."

"Oh no you don't," Ash muttered in frustration as the balloon rose about a foot off the ground. He sent out his Bayleef and ordered it to use Vine Whip.

"Hey, let go of us!" James cried as he recognized the hindrance to their escape. "We have to make our getaway!"

"Not until you tell me her job," Ash replied calmly, folding his arms.

"We already told you that that's confidential Team Rocket information!" Jessie snapped back at the Champion. "We aren't gonna tell you anything!"

"Fine then," Ash relented. "I think I hear Officer Jenny coming by. You can explain what happened at the Pokémon Center to her."

Panicking, all three Rocket members looked at each other for a quiet moment before simultaneously bowing their heads in defeat.

"We don't know," Jessie mumbled under her breath.

"What?" Ash asked densely.

"I said we don't know, Twerp!" Jessie yelled.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Dawn asked in place of Ash. "You're part of Team Rocket, aren't you?"

"Of course," James replied. "It's just, well, uh-"

"It's just dat da boss didn't tell us anyting!" Meowth completed in frustration.

"What?"

"Giovanni said that he didn't even remember who we were when we went into his office a few months ago," James conceded. "The whole time we were following you, we were sure that he was waiting for us to come back with Pikachu, but when we told him what we'd been doing, he just shouted at us for wasting all of Team Rocket's money on foiled attempts to capture a stupid forest Pokémon."

"Pika," Pikachu growled in offense, its cheeks sparking.

"After that, he gave us this assignment, and cut off all our funds, so now we can't even purchase one little machine to help steal Pokémon," Jessie complained, more to herself than to Ash.

"It's a real bummer," Meowth concluded, as the three sighed in unison.

"Oh," Ash replied, unsure of what else he could say. For some reason, he had always considered Jessie, James, and Meowth to be the "face" of Team Rocket, but now he realized they were just grunts. They had appeared to him to be prominent members because they were normally the only ones he ever met. However, Mallory was probably much more important, and she was trying to get his attention because he too was now much more important.

"Bayleef, let go of 'em," he ordered his grass type a moment later. He knew that he would receive no more information from the group.

"Thanks, twerp," Jessie muttered as their balloon floated upward. She, James, and Meowth would never admit it aloud, but they would miss following the trainer from Pallet.

"You're welcome!" Ash cried back with a grin. He would never say so aloud either, but he missed, and would continue to miss, the antics of the Rocket members.

"So they're really not following us anymore?" Dawn asked as she watched the balloon gain speed and head off into the night. "Weird."

"I know, right?" Ash asked with a grin.

"Hey!" Dawn cried suddenly, startling the content Ash next to her. "We forgot to get the Pokémon their hot chocolate!"

"Oh yeah!" Ash said excitedly, immediately losing interest in reminiscing over Team Rocket. "I hope it's not too late!"

Running back around the Pokémon Center, the two friends sprinted to the café.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You're finally admitting it?" Daisy asked, shocked by the news she had just received. The late-night meeting had been called back to order after Misty had made her quiet announcement on the stairs. Lily, a natural gossip, immediately squealed the news to her two sisters, and as they sat around the kitchen table once more the redhead affirmed her excited sibling's announcement.

"Yes, I do like him," Misty conceded grumpily. "Happy?"

"Not really," Daisy replied. All three of her sisters turned their attention to her. "I mean, you realize this _after _you have, like, a huge fallout with him? Not very smart if you ask me."

"You know what?" Misty asked, her temper flaring. "I can't control how I feel, or when I feel that way, I just know how I feel right now! Don't tell me my emotions are dumb!"

"Uh, sorry, sorry," Daisy responded appealingly. Over the last few weeks, her sister's temper had lain fairly dormant. However, the sudden outburst was more than enough to remind her of it.

"So what're you gonna do now?" Violet asked. "Are you gonna fly to Johto and meet up with him in the rain? That's what happens in all the movies…except it's usually the guys who meet the girl."

"Of course not!" Misty replied. "Even if we were _friends_, I wouldn't risk telling him this, but now that he hates me, I'll never tell him!"

"But you, like, have to!" Lily asserted. "Otherwise, your life will never be a movie!"

"Life isn't like movies, Lily," Misty replied in a condescending tone. "Sometimes these things just don't work out."

"So what _are _you gonna do?" Daisy asked, curious to here Misty's plan.

"Simple," she answered happily. "I'm just gonna work here again. This gym needs a successful leader anyway." At that, she stuck her tongue out at her sisters jokingly.

"No, I mean about Ash," Daisy said. "I know you don't wanna tell him, but are you gonna at least forgive him?"

"Nope," Misty replied folding her arms and sticking up her nose. "I'm just gonna forget him."

* * *

Author's Notes: So...what did you think? Again, I ask that you kindly type your reaction into the comment box rather than scream at your computer screen...since many of you had trouble with that last time (ha,ha). Seriously though, I hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and that it will keep you satisfied until the next one comes out (hopefully within three weeks this time! Dream big). I actually am no longer suffering from writer's block, which means I am writing the next chapter a lot quicker than I wrote this one, but it may still be a couple of weeks because of school stuff (we all know what that's like, huh?). I'll say that while this was not my favorite chapter, I do think it does pretty well because of the plot advancement and character developement (mainly for Misty, but also a little for Ash). However, as always, if you disagree then please REVIEW and tell me so!

Okay, as George Washington commanded in the Constitution…here are this week's recommendations:

"Pallet Party Picnic" by Princess Tiger – This is a hilarious short chaptered fic. It has all kinds of shipping in it for just about anyone, and the author has said she plans to make a sequel...next December (see, I'm not the only lazy one, ha,ha). In all honesty though, this is a really fun fic if you want something of decent length, but not containing much drama or seriousness.

"Confessions of Teens In Denial" by Tinybit92bck – Despite its title, I found that this fic wasn't sappy or angsty at all (except at the end). As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say this guy keeps the people in his fic more in character than I do. Read this if you want a fairly serious, but great, pokeshipping one-shot.

"The Strangest Kind of Love" by Warlordess - I was SO excited to see that she had updated this fic (although she did so in November). Warlordess was the first author I read on this site, and I've been a big fan of all of her stories since I started reading them last January (wow! it's been about a full year since I got back into Pokemon). Basically, this story takes place after Ash and Misty have quit their journies (Ash having been unsuccessful at becoming a Master), and it's the tale of them trying to assimilate to adult life. It's pretty funny, and I certainly want everyone to give it a shot.

Alright, well, that's about all I have to say. Again, thank you to all my reviewers for helping me reach this 300 benchmark...but remember! We can only reach 400 if you READ and REVIEW!


	22. Valentine's Day

**Hey Everybody! **Well, it's that time again…update time! Believe it or not, I originally did not plan on having this chapter out on Valentine's, but when I saw the calendar, I knew that I had to have it ready at least by now. Pretty good timing, huh? Anyway, I would like to point out before you begin reading that this is officially my longest chapter ever, with the story itself over 12,000 written words! So I hope y'all enjoy this Valentine's gift!

By the way, in accordance with the contest I made last chapter, this installment is officially dedicated to snooper roofle, who provided the 300th, and 301st reviews of "A New Journey". Again, thank you to all my readers, who since my last update have given me 26 new reviews and have further propelled this story's popularity through word of mouth on the internet. Let's all keep up the great work guys!

Also, I have a confession to make. I was working till four this morning to complete this chapter; desperately staving off sleep so I could fulfill my commitment to you. However, the real hero here (and trust me, I say this with the deepest regret) is **licoricejellybean**. Honestly, if it hadn't been for that girl, this chapter would not be nearly as awesome as it is. I have a lot of dialogue between Misty and her sisters this chapter, and in the original copy of this story, I'll admit that the conversations were pretty bad. I mean, honestly I had no idea how to write for sisters, so when you read their discussions, though I obviously wrote some of it, the excellent character portrayal is due to LJB's writing skill. As I write this, I'm half-dead from lack of sleep, so please keep that in mind. This friendliness isn't going to be a regular thing LJB!

Alright, what are you waiting for? Enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 16

* * *

"It sounds like Ash is very important to you dear," Johanna remarked, winking at her blushing daughter.

"Uh, no," Dawn refuted embarrassedly over the video phone. "We're just friends."

"Whatever you say," Johanna replied airily. She knew her daughter well, and could tell by the look on her face she had struck a nerve. "Well, since you don't like him, I guess you won't be buying him anything for Valentine's Day, huh?"

"V-Valentine's Day?" Dawn asked, suddenly aware of where the conversation was leading.

"Yes honey, you remember Valentine's Day, right?" Johanna asked humorously. "It's when you gave those little paper hearts to your classmates in Kindergarten."

"Oh, very funny mom," Dawn replied with slight sarcasm in her tone. "I remember the day, just…not that it's in three days."

"So are you gonna buy Ash something special?" Dawn's mother asked.

"No!" Dawn replied, still blushing from the inquisition of her mother. She loved her a lot, but the last thing she wished to do was discuss a crush with her parent. "We never got anything when we used to travel together, so I'm sure we won't now!"

"Alright then," Dawn's mother conceded without further discussion. She didn't want to aggravate her child before they said their goodbyes.

"So where are you guys now, anyway?" she asked, changing the subject quickly.

"We're in Ecruteak City," Dawn answered, silently thanking her mother for the change in conversation. "Ash has caught a lot of Pokémon here!"

"What about you?" Johanna asked. "How are your contests going?"

"Really well," Dawn answered. "I'm scheduled to participate in one in a place called Budsville City on Valentine's as a matter of fact."

"Has Ash seen you compete since you two started travelling together again?" Johanna asked. "Or have you guys just been searching for new Pokémon the entire time?"

"No, he hasn't seen me yet," answered Dawn. "I bet he'll be really impressed when he does though, since I've gotten a lot stronger since he last watched me like eight months ago!"

"I bet you have, darling," Johanna agreed. "Just remember though, I'll always be the better coordinator!" At this, both she and her daughter laughed.

"Hey! You only beat me once!" Dawn cried out jokingly. "I think we need to have a rematch."

"You're probably right," Johanna agreed.

"Hey Mrs. Dawn's mom!" Ash suddenly cried to the videophone over Dawn's shoulder. Startled, both women gasped at the sound of his voice.

"Ash!" Dawn cried. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, this is my hotel too, you know?" Ash replied with a smile on his lips. He wondered why they both seem so shocked to see him.

"How long have you been standing there?" Johanna asked the young champion. She sounded just as concerned as her daughter, and her tone was beginning to make Ash regret his little intrusion.

"I just got in from my workout," Ash explained, holding his hands up in innocence. "I saw you talking and thought that I'd say 'hi' really quick. Sorry if I scared you guys or something."

"Oh, it's no problem Ash," Johanna responded over the video. "You just surprised us is all."

"How'd your workout go?" Dawn asked, looking at the perspiration-drenched sweat clothes her travelling partner was wearing. It was obvious he had been training hard.

"Great!" Ash replied. "They have a nice weight set in the hotel's gym, so me and Croconaw worked out with those, and then me and Pikachu went outside to do some wind sprints."

"Pika, pikachu!" Pikachu suddenly cried happily atop Ash's left shoulder.

"Quit showing off!" Ash yelled playfully at his friend. "He's just being a jerk because he beat me in every race."

"That doesn't surprise me," Dawn said, laughing. "He's a very fast little guy!" With that, she rubbed the Pokémon's head and then turned to Ash.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Well, not yet!" Ash said with a grin, looking down at his sweaty workout clothes. "But yeah, in an hour we can leave for Budsville. I can't wait to see how well your contest goes there!"

"Thanks, Ash," Dawn said, flushing happily.

"Dawn can't wait for you to see her in action!" Johanna added from behind her daughter. "She says she's improved a lot since her last contest with you in the audience!"

"Mom," Dawn grumbled under her breath, to the confusion of Ash.

_Why does she seem aggravated with her mom? _he wondered silently.

"What did I say?" Johanna asked innocently.

"Nothing," Dawn replied exasperatedly. "So Ash, I'll see you in an hour?"

"Yeah, we can make it to Budsville by this afternoon," Ash responded. "I'll see you later Mrs. Dawn's Mom!"

"Why does he always call me that?" Johanna asked her daughter as Ash ran over to the elevators and impatiently repeatedly pressed the "up" button. "He never calls me Johanna, or even Ms. Stone."

"I don't know why either," Dawn replied, equally perplexed. "Oh well. I better get packing if we're gonna leave in an hour."

"Okay, Dawn," Johanna said with a smile. "You be careful, and do your best at that contest! Win a ribbon for me!"

"I will Mom," Dawn chirped with a thumbs-up. "No need to worry!"

"I know there isn't," Johanna responded, giving her daughter a thumbs-up too. "Love ya!"

"Love you too," Dawn answered before hanging up the phone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What do you think Pikachu? Should I call her?" Ash asked his yellow companion for what seemed like the hundredth time since Misty left.

"Pika-pi, pikachu," Pikachu replied, exasperated. He had grown weary of listening to Ash debate himself over whether calling Misty or not was a wise decision. Ash would ask his advice, scorn the response he received, end the conversation - and then proceed to ask the same question the very next day. The cycle had been going on for weeks.

"Oh, sure, I mean, it would be easy for me to just pick up the phone and call her, but that would make it look like I had done something wrong…which I haven't," Ash reasoned as he paced the floor of his hotel room in clean jeans and a new black jacket with a white hood. His hair was currently matted down by the water of the shower he had just taken.

Misty had actually been on his mind quite a bit since Dawn confronted him about their spat at the Ketchum residence. After discussing it with Dawn, he had begun to think that maybe the fight had been, in truth, slightly over-exaggerated by both parties. Adding to these thoughts, he had started to experience an unexpected pang of regret in going to Johto without his redheaded friend. Though she could be moody and aggravating at times, Ash had realized that these traits were, however odd it may be, endearing in some way to him. Perhaps it was the allure of their childhood memories being reincarnated through petty arguments, or that he simply enjoyed aggravating the gym leader for his own amusement; but being with Misty in a bad mood was beginning to appear favorable compared to not being with Misty at all. In addition to this, Ash also noticed that with maturation he and Misty both seemed to get along a little easier now than they had in the past.

"I'll just call her really quick and see if she's home," he determined suddenly. He had been building the strength over the past few weeks, and now he felt ready to face the young woman who was so often in his thoughts. Though he wasn't sure what sort of a reception he would be greeted with, Ash knew he couldn't go on dwelling upon the matter without acting.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Three more days until you-know-who's Day!" Violet squealed to her sister's as she entered the kitchen for breakfast. The others were already sitting at the table eating various bagels and cereals, but they turned their attention away from their food as Violet came in.

"Why are you so happy about Valentine's?" Daisy asked her sister. "It's not like you have a boyfriend or anything."

"I'm not happy for _me_, Daisy," Violet retorted. "I'm happy for our little sister!"

"Why are you happy for me?" Misty asked blankly, turning in her seat to face her sister. "I don't have a boyfriend either."

"How depressing is that?" Lily suddenly interjected dejectedly, staring mournfully down into the depths of her cereal bowl. "Four gorgeous sisters, and we'll be stuck with nothing for Valentine's except a stack of creepy fan mail."

"_Any_way," Misty continued as they turned their attention away for Lily's odd interlude in the conversation. "I don't have a boyfriend, so why are you excited?"

"Duh, Misty," Violet replied. "Because everyone knows that if a guy really likes you, then he'll call on Valentine's Day telling you about his feelings."

Misty snorted derisively. "Which movie was it where that happened?" she asked sarcastically. "Was it one of those films you guys sit around at midnight watching and crying over?"

"Hey, sometimes you watch with us," Lily reminded her sister defensively.

"Just one time," Misty shot back. "And it was only because your blubbering was keeping me awake upstairs. Besides, I already told you that I've forgotten about what's-his-name."

"You just watch, little sis," Violet continued, ignoring the argument brewing between her two siblings. "Between now and Valentine's, if he, like, really likes you, then he'll call."

"Yeah, right-"

Misty was instantly interrupted from making a snide remark by the ringing of the telephone on the wall, next to the refrigerator.

Slowly, she got up and placed her hand on the ringing communicator. As it continued to ring, she looked back at her sisters with wide eyes. All three of them were looking at her with appearances showing them to be equally surprised.

"A-answer it, Misty," Daisy ordered in a soft voice as the phone rang for the fifth time. If Misty did not answer the call soon, the answering machine might catch it.

Shakily picking the phone up, Misty stared intently at the blank video screen as she nervously greeted the caller with a shaky "H-hello?"

"Hello there young lady!" shouted a middle-aged balding man who suddenly appeared on the video screen. "I'm with Pok-é-surance, and I was wondering if I could discuss your Pokémon insurance rates for a brief moment?"

Sighing in relief, Misty smiled and replied, "No thanks. We don't have our Pokémon insured."

"But Miss!" the man replied, appearing appalled at the response. "If your Pokémon aren't insured, what will happen if-"

The man was silenced as Misty placed the phone back in its holster on the wall. Turning around, she smiled sadly.

"See guys? I told you he wouldn't-"

She was interrupted again by the phone as it started to ring. Aggravated at the telemarketer's poor timing, she picked up the phone with more confidence this time and, before registering who was on the screen, began to talk.

"Listen sir, we don't need your insurance here! We already - uh, um."

Misty stood dumbfounded as she stared at the screen to find a stunned Ash on the other side. His hair was drenched, but other than that and the scared look on his face, he looked normal.

"H-hey Mist," he greeted quietly. "What's up?"

"Um, n-nothing much," Misty replied timidly**, **unable to believe that she was actually facing her brown-eyed crush. An audible gasp escaped the lips of her three sisters as she tried to regain her breath.

"Oh," Ash remarked, his eyes darting around the room from which he was calling. It appeared that he was trying hard not to look directly at the screen in front of him. "Well, that's good, I guess. Uh, how's the gym doing?"

"It's good," Misty answered. After her rather brief response there was a long moment of silence, before the redhead heard someone hissing at her from behind. Turning around, she found Daisy on her knees, in order to avoid detection by Ash, trying to get her attention desperately.

She turned back to Ash so as not to arouse his suspicion, but she listened intently to her sister's words.

"Ask him why he called!" Daisy urged in a hushed scream.

"Why did you call?" Misty asked, rather bluntly after the break in dialogue.

"Why did I call?" Ash asked, appearing dazed by the question.

_Why _did _I call? _he questioned inwardly.

"Yeah," Misty said, the shock of the caller beginning to dissipate as curiosity set in. "Why are you suddenly calling me after six weeks?"

"It's been six weeks?"

"Oh, uh, well," Misty began, cursing herself for the slip of the tongue. "I mean, it's been almost that long I'm sure. We haven't talked since December, after all."

"I guess you're right," Ash said. He did not appear suspicious of her response.

"So why are you calling me now, all of a sudden?" Misty continued.

"I…I guess I don't really know," Ash said truthfully. "I mean, I just wanted to talk to you for some reason."

"You don't know why you called, but you did anyway?" Misty asked. She wasn't sure what to make of his confession. Was he trying to be coy? Or was he sincerely unsure of his reasons for contacting her after such a long lapse.

"Yeah, I know it sounds weird," Ash admitted. "I-I've just been thinking about you a lot since, well…you know."

Misty's heart skipped several beats as she heard his last statement. Ash Ketchum had just admitted to having thought about hera _lot_.

_Is he trying to tell me something? _she thought excitedly as her cheeks began to flush at the comment. _Is he saying that he wants me to come back and travel with him…or is he saying something even _more _important?_

"So, you've been thinking about me?" she asked aloud. As she asked, she realized what a dumb question it was.

_He just said that to me!_

"Uh, yeah," Ash admitted once again. "I was thinking about you and about our fight and everything."

"Ash," Misty began as she looked into his brown eyes on the video screen. As she watched him, in obvious discomfort, trying to gather the courage to carry on a conversation with her, she realized what she needed to do.

"Yeah Mist?"

"I'm sorry for being so angry with you back at your house," she apologized. Though she was hardly one for admitting mistakes, she had come to a quick realization. She realized how much Ash must have truly wanted to speak with her if he'd been willing to risk his own pride to call her. Despite the fact that she traced their fight to Ash's immaturity, it only seemed fair for her to humble herself after he had done the same.

"Really?" he asked, sounding incredulous. "You're saying that _you're _sorry?"

"Yeah," Misty affirmed quickly. Though she wanted to take some of the blame, it was still not fun apologizing.

"I'm sorry too then," Ash quickly ceded. Though Misty had been afraid he might take advantage of her uncharacteristic humility, Ash actually just wanted to reconcile with his friend as quickly as possible.

"You are?" Misty asked, touched that he was not taking advantage of her temporal vulnerability.

_He must really be growing up, _she thought as she looked at the young man, who was apparently staring at his shoes as he spoke to his friend.

"Uh-huh," he affirmed with a nod. Looking straight at her, he continued. "I didn't mean to get so upset when we were talking back then. I was just…I dunno." He honestly couldn't explain why he had gotten so upset that night.

_In fact, _he realized, _I barely remember what the fight was about at all._

All he knew for sure of their conversation that evening was that it had changed the dynamic of their relationship for the worst.

"I know," Misty agreed. "I don't know why I got so mad at you that night either. I guess we were both just tired from that long drive."

"That's true," Ash said, appearing pensive. "Also, we'd both had a few glasses of eggnog." After he said this, he began to laugh a little as he saw Misty crack a grin.

After this, neither teen said anything for a few moments. Both seemed unsure of where to proceed from this point in the conversation.

Ash, for his part, certainly felt compelled to ask Misty if she wished to travel with him again. However, he was unsure of whether or not it was too soon to ask his friend to suddenly drop her life at the gym _again _just so she could travel around catching Pokémon with him.

_Let's face it, _he thought silently. _We just made up. She might not want to come all the way to Johto._

On the other end of the call, Misty was dealing with her own inner-turmoil. Though she certainly _wanted _to meet back up with her longtime friend and newly-discovered crush, she definitely did not want to be the one to breach the subject. Having just reconciled after a month and a half of not talking, she felt it would be presumptuous of her to simply insist that she rejoin her dark-haired companion.

_If he would just give me a sign about what he wanted._

"So little sis," Lily said loudly as she came up behind Misty and placed a firm grip on her shoulders, while at the same time looking into the video screen at the startled Ash. "Does this mean you're gonna, like, be back on the road with Ash again?"

"Lily, what are you-"

"Like, yeah Misty," Daisy suddenly interrupted, standing to Misty's right and beaming down at the video screen. "You _are _gonna keep, like, catching more water Pokémon, right?"

"Why do you care?" Misty asked, jerking away from her sister's touch.

"Like, because we need more Pokémon Mist," Violet answered for her sisters as she used her height advantage to peer over Misty's head and smile down at Ash. "The gym battles have gotten a lot more exciting since you added all those new ones to our collection."

"You didn't, like, think we were just gonna let you stay here and battle beginning trainers did you?" Lily asked, looking surprised.

"Well, yeah, kinda," Misty replied sheepishly. She hadn't expected her sisters to intervene like this.

"Really?" Violet asked. "Then who did you think was gonna go get all our new Pokémon? Daisy?"

"Hey!" Daisy shouted, causing Misty to flinch due to the proximity of her sister. "I can catch, like, a thousand times more Pokémon than _you _could."

"Whatever," Lily said, quieting her two sisters. "The point is, we don't like capturing Pokémon." She looked at Ash as she explained the sisters' rationale.

"If you wanna go catch Pokémon, then you have to, like, go in forests and stuff," she continued, sticking her tongue out. "Not to mention walking for, like, a million miles and getting sweaty and everything." Misty could swear that at this point she felt a simultaneous shudder current through her sisters' bodies.

"That is so gross," Violet said.

"So anyway," Daisy continued, "we need Misty to, like, go back on the road and catch new Pokémon for us and stuff."

"Well, uh," Ash started, taken aback both by the sudden presence of Misty's sisters and their apparent desire for her to join him. "If you want, Mist, you could, uh, come to Johto and travel with me while you look for new Pokémon."

"I could?" Misty asked hopefully. Though she knew he would never do such a thing, she needed to make sure Ash wasn't simply playing a cruel joke on her.

"Sure!" Ash answered, instantly appearing chipper. "You could catch a ferry from Vermillion to Olivine City! We're gonna be in Budsville City on Valentine's Day, and that's only like a three hour drive from Olivine!"

"Wait a minute," Misty said, her elation suddenly replaced by confusion. "What do you mean 'we'?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" Ash asked, realizing that Misty had had no way of discovering who Ash's new travelling partner was. "I met up with Dawn here in Johto as soon as I got off of the ferry. She's doing contests while I catch more Pokémon."

"Wow!" Misty said, surprised by the news. She hadn't even considered that Ash might travel with someone else while she was away, and the thought caused her a brief stab of jealousy. Surprised by the emotion, she shook it off quickly and smiled. "It sounds like everything's working out well for both of you."

"Yeah, it is," Ash replied. "Of course, it'll be even better when you get here! Do you wanna meet at the Contest Hall to watch Dawn?"

"Sure! I can't wait to see you again!" Misty answered with a large grin, relieved by his apparent desire for her return. She immediately covered her mouth after speaking, fearing she may have inadvertently betrayed her own thoughts. She'd meant to say that she couldn't wait to see them _both _again.

Ash looked at Misty with his eyebrow cocked for a moment, before asking her why she had suddenly covered her mouth. "You act like a little kid who just used a curse word," he joked as Misty embarrassedly removed her hand and worked to regain her composure.

"Oh, i-it's nothing," she lied. "Uh, I just remembered that I've got a bunch of stuff to do if I'm gonna leave, that's all."

"Well then I better let you get to it," Ash replied happily. "I can't wait to see you again either Mist!" With that, the phone screen went black, and Misty's siblings, who had left the two teens alone after their plan succeeded, were soon crowding their sister once more as they bombarded her with a flurry of giddy statements and questions.

"He asked you to meet him on Valentine's Day!" Violet cried happily as she jumped up and down.

"Is he gonna, like, propose do you think?" Daisy asked, eyes wide with excitement.

"Who's this Dawn girl he said he's, like, travelling with now?" Lily asked. This last inquiry immediately silenced the cries of joy as all three sisters suddenly looked serious, staring questioningly at Misty for details.

"She's just this girl Ash used to travel with in Sinnoh," Misty explained. "She was the one who was with him when he beat Cynthia last year."

"How old is this Dawn girl?" Violet asked, sounding as if she were beginning to panic.

"She's like fourteen or fifteen," Misty answered, wondering why the women seemed so interested suddenly in Ash's travelling companion. "Why do you care?"

"Don't you see Misty?" Daisy inquired in amazement. 'She just _happened _to meet Ash out in Johto - just after you guys argued, when he was all by himself. She altered _her_ plans so that she could travel with him - and they've already traveled together before, so she knows him well!"

"So?" Misty questioned blankly.

Daisy rolled her eyes, baffled by Misty's obliviousness in the situation. "She could be trying to get Ash to like _her_."

"What?" Misty questioned in amazement. "You really think that a girl as nice as Dawn would try to seduce Ash?" At this, Misty began to laugh as she remembered the innocuous young coordinator whom she had met almost two years earlier. Dawn was so like Ash – spontaneous and determined, and totally obsessed with her Pokémon. There was no way she'd spare a moment to like Ash.

But even as she laughed, Misty remembered the pang of jealousy she'd experienced when Ash had mentioned his acquisition of a new companion. _No, _she told herself fiercely. _You're being ridiculous. Ash and Dawn are just friends!_

"I wouldn't laugh Misty," Daisy warned her gravely, not noticing how Misty's grin had vanished. "You think that just because she's nice, she can't like Ash too? I mean, they _did _travel together for a long time after you had left."

"Daisy, will you quit already?" Misty said determinedly. "Dawn does not like Ash!"

"If you say so," Daisy replied with a shrug. "Just remember to, like, keep your eyes open."

"What do you mean 'keep my eyes open'? If I see Dawn and Ash making out, should I take that as some kind of signal?"

"Ha, ha, little sis," Lily replied for her sister sarcastically. "I think what Daisy's talking about is to look for the, like, signs of a crush. Ya know, like if she's constantly laughing around him, or if she plays with her hair a lot when she talks to him, or-"

"I get the idea," Misty interrupted, rolling her eyes, suddenly keen to get away from her uncharacteristically intuitive sisters. "In case you forgot, I'm a girl too. Now, if you will all excuse me, I have to start packing."

Saying this, Misty turned on her heel and left the room almost in a sprint. After all, she couldn't wait to pack up.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash decided against telling Dawn about the good news of Misty's upcoming arrival. He thought it would be more fun to surprise both her and Pikachu when the redhead showed up for Dawn's contest on Valentine's.

In the meantime, the duo still had a full day of walking ahead of them in order to arrive in Budsville on time, so after Ash dressed, the teens made their way for the forest trail which, according to Ash's Pokénav, would lead them straight to the city.

"So Ash, you seem like you're in a really good mood today," Dawn noted over the crunch of dead leaves on the cold, winter soil. Since they left the hotel two hours earlier, Ash had noted the beauty of the day several times, and had broken into sporadic whistling of show tunes twice. "Did anything happen to make you so happy?"

Despite herself, Dawn hoped that Ash heard the conversation she'd had with her mother earlier and was acting peculiarly happy because of the news.

"Oh! Um, no," Ash answered, immediately quitting the incessant tune which he'd been whistling. "I-I guess I'm just excited to watch you in this new contest! It's been so long since I've seen you compete!"

"That's the truth," Dawn said. Though slightly disappointed by the root of his glee, Dawn nevertheless was glad to see her friend in such high spirits. Talking about his problem with Misty about three weeks earlier _did _seem to improve his attitude a little, but she could still tell that something was complicating her friend's emotions. Seeing him so happy was a rare event that she never took for granted.

The two continued walking through the woods for several hours, stopping only briefly for a light lunch, until they reached the end of the trail. Walking through the brush covering the end, the teens instantly saw Budsville City, a bustling metropolis, less than a mile ahead of them.

"I'm so glad I bought this Pokénav," Ash said as he put the small yellow device back in his pocket. "If we were using a map like I used to, then we'd still be in those woods for another five days!"

Dawn laughed at the comment. "I thought you said it was mostly Misty's fault for getting you guys lost all those times."

"Well, yeah," Ash affirmed. "_Usually_, it was her fault. Every once in a while though, I got us in trouble too."

"Don't worry. I always figured you must have made at least one mistake or two," Dawn replied with a wink. "Let's get to the city!"

"Alright, but be careful," Ash warned. "The highway starts right over there, and the Pokénav says that the city has really busy streets."

"I'm not a toddler, Ash," Dawn said with a smirk, placing both hands on her hips. "I know how to safely cross the street."

"I know, I know," Ash said, laughing.

"Of course, we wouldn't have to worry about crossing busy streets if we had just taken the train like I wanted in the first place," Dawn noted pointedly. She wasn't really mad at Ash, but she did resent having to walk for hours in the cold.

"But the Pokédex says that Stantler roam about these woods," Ash rebutted. "The only chance I have of catching one is in this area."

"Well, it was certainly worth that," Dawn mumbled grumpily. "Too bad we didn't see any."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After they'd checked into a hotel and cleaned up a little, the trainer and coordinator decided to walk to the local contest stadium where Dawn would be competing. She said she wanted to scout out the area before she actually competed there.

Ash was curious to see it as well because the Budsville Contest Hall had grown quite popular as one of the up-and-coming centers for coordinators in Johto, according to most magazines he read. Though Champions did not have any responsibilities besides battling trainers who reached their level, Ash had begun making it a top priority to remain aware of new research and events occurring within the world of Pokémon. In his mind, a Champion should be an expert in all matters concerning their trade. Therefore he found himself reading a lot more, and the contest hall in the city had caught his attention more than once.

As they walked down the sidewalk, a large domed structure began to enter their sight through the mess of large corporate buildings and heavy evening traffic. Both teenagers immediately recognized the dome as the contest hall, and they picked up their pace.

Within five minutes, they were standing in front of a building which largely resembled the Indigo Plateau's stadium in size. To Ash, it seemed almost out of place in the middle of such a bustling city, especially considering the relative emptiness with which it was now plagued.

"It's huge!" Dawn exclaimed excitedly as she marveled at the metallic structure. She had, of course, been to large contest halls before, but this one in particular was unique due to its location and size.

Running in, the two found the lobby to have quite a few coordinators within it, all discussing strategy. In the middle of the expansive lobby, completely illuminated by large fluorescent lights from above, were a Nurse Joy and her Chansey, who patiently stood in the middle of an island waiting to be called upon. Behind her was a Pokémon healing machine.

Walking up to the Joy, Dawn asked why the coordinators were in the contest hall this evening.

"Is there a contest going on right now?" she asked, curious. If so, she'd love to go and watch in order to see the stadium and get a comprehensive idea of where she would be competing.

"Oh no," Nurse Joy answered back. "They're all here for the Valentine's Contest in three days. Do you wish to compete?"

"Uh, yes, please!" Dawn answered. She had originally planned on signing up tomorrow, but fortunately had her Johto Contest Pass with her.

Taking the small pamphlet from Dawn, Nurse Joy began talking to the young coordinator. "You're very lucky that you got here when you did. We only have three spots left for the Valentine's Day Contest. If you had shown up just a day later, you may not have been allowed to enter!"

"Really?" Dawn asked, stunned. Had she known there was a ceiling number of participants for the contest, she would have been in a greater hurry to arrive in Budsville. "How many people are allowed in this contest?"

"Only sixteen coordinators are permitted for the competition," Nurse Joy said as she entered the information from the Hall Pass into her computer. Looking away from the screen, she asked to see Dawn's Johto ribbons.

"Here they are," Dawn said, taking out a small pink case and revealing three ribbons.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Nurse Joy said, her smile fading. "You only have three Johto ribbons. In order to compete in this contest, a coordinator must have four or more. That's why the sign-up list isn't completely filled yet."

"I can't compete?" Dawn asked, heartbroken. She had been looking forward to this competition since she'd heard of it several weeks earlier. Though it didn't give ribbons for reward, it sounded like a great chance to show off her Pokémon to a large audience, and most importantly, show off her new skills to Ash.

"Not unless you have another Johto or international ribbon," Joy replied sadly. "I'm very sorry you found out after coming all this way."

"Wait," Dawn said, ignoring the nurse's last statement. "You mean I could use an international ribbon?"

"Why, yes," Nurse Joy answered. "We must accept those because they're not restricted to any region. However, they're very difficult to attain."

"I know," Dawn replied with a smirk. "I won one back in the Sinnoh region."

"You did?" Joy asked, sounding quite surprised.

"That's right!" Ash cheered happily. "You mean the Wallace Cup ribbon you won from beating May, right Dawn?"

"Yep," Dawn answered as she took off her backpack and placed it on the counter in front of the Nurse Joy. Rummaging through her things for a minute, she soon retrieved another small pink metallic container. Opening it, she showed the nurse a blue ribbon held together by a small golden pin. "Here it is!"

"Why, that's the Aqua Ribbon!" Nurse Joy exclaimed. "That's a _very _impressive prize."

"Thank you," Dawn said with a blush. "Does this mean that I get to compete?"

"It certainly does," the soft-spoken nurse replied. "Allow me to just put your Hall Pass number in the main database, and you will be an official participant."

"Awesome!" Dawn cried joyfully as she pumped her hand in the air.

After she was given back her pass, she asked if it was possible to view the stadium for a moment.

"I'm sorry, but you can't," the nurse answered. "The city is currently renovating the entire stadium for the special Valentine's Contest, and they don't want anyone to see it before the big day."

"That's okay," Dawn said, still pleased. "I'm just glad we came down here before all the spots were taken up."

"That was very lucky." Ash nodded his agreement as well.

"I guess we can go now, then," Dawn told her friend as they stepped away from the nurse's island and made their way towards the exit. "I'm sure the Pokémon are missing us in our rooms by now."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Misty awoke early Thursday morning; five minutes before her alarm rang at six, in fact. She had barely slept the night before, but could not quell the excitement she felt at the thought of rejoining Ash in Johto. For the past two days, as she prepared for her departure by deciding which Pokémon to leave with her sisters and by packing all the essentials for a prolonged journey, all she could think about was her upcoming reunion. Though she hated to be overly-romantic like her sisters, she couldn't help but imagine her and Ash's meeting with a sweet melody playing in the background; not to mention a small confession pouring forth from her lips as they embraced.

However, despite her overactive imaginings, she did her best to remain pessimistic about their encounter while conversing with her siblings. As they cooed over how adorable the reunion was destined to be, she did her best to act disgusted by the thought. It seemed odd, even to her, that she would try to deny her feelings for Ash in front of the very people to whom she'd openly confessed them.

_Still, it's better than act all gushy like they do when they like a guy, _Misty reasoned. She knew if she acted too interested in their conversations about the champion, it would only lead to further patronizing remarks about teenage love, and eventually reminiscent tales of her sisters' own past love lives.

"You look like you're all ready," Daisy said from behind Misty, causing the young gym leader to jump at the sound of her voice.

"Oh, Daisy," Misty said, turning around. "You surprised me!"

"Is your mind, like, on _other _things?" her blond sister asked with a grin. "Like a certain-"

"I already told you to quit talking about him!" Misty reminded her sister in a threatening voice. Despite her feelings about Ash, she was still tired, and did not feel like dealing with her sisters this early in the morning.

"Oh, don't be so grumpy," Daisy replied. She was acting surprisingly disinterested in Misty's bad mood. "You, like, are the one who told us you like him in the first place."

"I'm starting to regret that decision," muttered Misty as she went back to packing her suitcase.

"You shouldn't," Daisy said. "If you hadn't told us, then you, like, never would have gone back to travelling with Ash."

"Yes I would have," Misty shot back without turning around. "I was just about to talk to him about that when you guys so rudely interrupted!"

"Nuh-uh," Daisy replied. "We all saw how you were acting around him when you were on the phone. It was obvious that you had, like, no idea what you were gonna say. Of course, it was pretty obvious that he didn't either."

"You think he wanted to say something too?" Misty asked, her attention diverted once more from the packing. She was ignoring her sister's flippant attitude towards her warning for the moment.

Rolling her eyes, Daisy looked tiredly at Misty. "Of course! I think you two were the only ones who didn't realize that you were staring at each other for, like, a minute straight!"

"We did that?" A blank expression appeared on her face as she tried to remember the phone call. She had realized that there was a lull in their conversation, but didn't think it had been that long.

"Yep," Daisy said. "And we all could tell that he was thinking the same thing you were about going to see him."

After a moment, Misty shook her head. "Nah, I bet you're just saying that to make me feel better about myself." She turned once more towards her half-filled suitcase on her bed, deciding which items to pack next.

However, Daisy was not done talking. Walking up behind her, she jerked Misty around so that they were looking at each other eye-to-eye.

"Listen Misty," Daisy said. Her face looked so stern that Misty instantly dropped the idea of telling her sister to let go. "You are one of the most confident, fiery people I've, like, ever met. Most people respect you the second they meet you because of that. But for some reason, you're acting like a wimp with Ash; which is wrong. It's fine to have a crush, and act a little weird when you have one, but that doesn't mean you should stop being confident. Ash likes you, okay?"

"O-okay," Misty answered, a little stunned by the monologue. Hearing Daisy's speech, she realized how much her sisters really were looking out for her. Though she knew they loved her, she had assumed they'd only involved themselves in her love life out of boredom. Seeing how concerned Daisy was, she began to think maybe there was more to their involvement than met the eye.

"Thanks, Daisy."

"No problem little sis," Daisy replied, backing away from her sister. "We all want you and Ash to be happy. That's why I'm being, like, so mean."

"I know," Misty answered before doing something she rarely did; she reached out and hugged her older sister. It wasn't a long embrace, but it spoke volumes to Daisy about their relationship's development.

_Just a few years ago, I barely talked to Misty, _the blond thought as they pulled away from each other. _Now we're hugging and acting like real sisters._

"Well, I better finish packing," Misty said, trying not to sound too emotional. She hated crying, but the moment almost seemed to demand it of her. She hoped to at least stave off the swell of tears until her sister left the room.

"Yeah, me and the girls will be waiting downstairs to say goodbye." Daisy walked out of the room, leaving Misty to release a few tears while packing.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Piplup, dodge and use Bubblebeam!" Dawn commanded as the crackle of electricity filled the air.

"Pikachu, quit Thunderbolt and use Iron Tail instead!" Ash ordered, understanding Dawn's plan of attack.

"Pika!" Pikachu responded, ending his electrical assault and sprinting towards Piplup. His tail began to glow as he neared the opponent.

The small penguin had rolled to the right to avoid the oncoming Thunderbolt, and was now recollecting his strength for yet another water attack. The battle had been raging for fifteen minutes, and Dawn's Pokémon was beginning to tire.

"Pip!" squealed the Pokémon as he took in a deep breath and released a torrent of bubbles upon Pikachu.

"Pi!" Pikachu was surrounded by the bright and bursting bubbles, forcing him to give up the Iron Tail attack.

"Shock Wave, Pikachu!" Ash responded to the crisis with little worry. He'd thought that Dawn might pull such a stunt and had planned accordingly.

At his command, Pikachu surrounded himself in a bright sphere of electrical energy, before, with a loud cry, opening his arms and propelling the energy forward in all directions; including Piplup's.

"Piplup!" With a cry and a thud, Piplup was found in a daze on the ground.

"Come on, Piplup!" Dawn encouraged from the sideline. "You can do it! Get back up one more time!"

However, despite her pleas to the contrary, Piplup remained on the ground, unwilling to continue battle with Ash's Pokémon.

"Looks like our battle's over," Ash remarked as he stepped onto the practice field to congratulate Pikachu. "Great job buddy!"

"I guess so," Dawn replied with a small smile. She looked at her Piplup, and then at Pikachu and recognized instantly how much lenience Ash had given her in the battle. He had been slow to attack throughout the fifteen minute period, and had probably finished it so that Piplup could finally rest. Perhaps the greatest sign of his mercy was the fact that while her Pokémon appeared battered and bruised from the affair, Pikachu did not appear in any way fazed.

_In fact, _Dawn thought, _he looks happier now than before the battle._

Grateful that her muse had been so kind, Dawn went up to Ash and congratulated him on the victory, with a tired Piplup in her arms. "Great job, Ash," she said kindly as he allowed Pikachu to climb upon his shoulder. "That was a hard battle."

"Well, you did a really good job, Dawn," Ash replied. "And I wasn't even trying to earn style points like you were. I bet if you and Piplup had just battled regularly, he would've won."

"Pikachu-pi!" Pikachu affirmed with a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, maybe," Dawn answered, knowing that both the master and the Pokémon were lying through their teeth. The truth was, by the end of the battle she was trying so hard to simply win that she'd forgotten this _was_ a contest battle practice.

"Anyway, you've gotten a lot better since we last battled," Ash remarked. "I bet this contest will be a cinch!"

"Let's hope so," Dawn said. "Let's go back to the lobby and have Nurse Joy take care of Piplup."

"Okay," Ash agreed. The two had been battling in the Budsville City Contest Hall's practice gym, and had been told by the nurse to come see her when they had completed their session.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Misty settled into the bed aboard the S.S. Harper's Ferry. She was exhausted after almost a full day of driving from Cerulean to Vermillion. After she'd parked her car in the well-deck of the massive ferry, she'd gone straight to her reserved room and climbed under the covers. Unfortunately, now that she was in bed, her tired eyes refused to remain shut.

Looking out her window at the open sea and the dark, star-punctured sky, she thought about Ash once again.

_Am I really gonna tell him the truth? _she wondered. Though she wanted more than anything to do so, it was difficult summoning the courage to admit to a secret which she'd held on either a conscious or subconscious level for so many years.

_What if he really doesn't feel the same? _She quickly dismissed this thought as her sister's words came to the forefront of her mind. She knew Daisy, Lily, and Violet would not lie to her about something this serious. She still wasn't sure, however, that he would admit to reciprocating her feelings. In truth, Ash still seemed to be slightly immature, and Misty began to worry that this would be what prevented him from realizing his own feelings for the gym leader.

_I didn't even know he liked me until Daisy pointed it out, _she thought. _How could I expect him to realize his feelings?_ Of course, the obvious answer that came to mind was to simply tell him the truth. To tell him the truth, though, was to risk having to come home broken-hearted once again.

After an hour of back-and-forth in her mind, Misty finally decided to simply wait until she arrived.

_Hopefully the right moment will just come along. _With that thought, she looked to the sea once more as she drifted into sleep.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ladies and gentlemen! Please take your seats! The Budsville City Valentine's Contest is about to begin!" boomed the voice of the battle announcer throughout the domed stadium. Due to the size, and the covering, the announcer's voice sounded ten times louder there than in any Pokémon stadium Ash had ever battled in.

Quickly finding his seat near the front and center of the battlefield, Ash sat down with a soda in his right hand and popcorn in his left. Pikachu took the seat beside him, holding several unopened ketchup packets which he'd found scattered across the ground of the crowded stadium. Why anyone would throw away such a prized commodity was beyond his comprehension.

"Do you see Misty anywhere, Pikachu?" Ash asked excitedly as the lights began to dim, and the noisy crowd began speaking in hushed whispers.

Pikachu did not answer as he used all his energy and attention to decipher the meaning of the directions upon the ketchup packet on how to open the small container. After a minute, he gave up and decided to instead simply chew through the plastic, which, though messy, awarded him with his desired treat.

"I hope she gets here soon," Ash remarked quietly to no one in particular. "I don't think they let Pokémon have their own seats usually, Pikachu."

"Pikachu-pika," Pikachu replied happily as he tore into the second packet with gusto.

Ash sighed as he realized why Pikachu seemed so happy. "That's not gonna be fun to clean off your fur," he muttered, annoyed. However, his companion didn't seem to mind his frustration at all.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You ready Buneary?" Dawn asked with a shaky voice as she stood in a long hallway leading to the contest hall. She was waiting for her turn in the appeals round, and was quite nervous. Though she'd become a significantly better coordinator, she still had terrible memories of her first appeal rounds in Sinnoh, and she could never shake the fear that she would mess up once again.

"Buneary!" cried her Pokémon from her arms. She looked determined, and as Dawn examined the creature, she realized that she mustn't worry.

_It's hard to relax with such a big audience though, _she thought as the roar of the crowd outside filled the empty hallway. She'd seen the filled stadium for a moment as the contestant before her opened the door with a Chikorita at his side. The arena was completely packed, and Dawn estimated the crowd to number in the tens of thousands. She'd never had such a large live audience before.

"And now will you all give a big round of applause for our final contestant, who came all the way from Twinleaf Town in Sinnoh to compete…Ms. Dawn Stone!"

Hearing her name from above, Dawn took a deep breath, returned Buneary to her pokéball, and walked through the sliding door to the wild cheers of the crowd. Knowing that she couldn't stand in awe of the size of the arena, the coordinator's mind immediately went to the routine which she laid out for her Pokémon. She walked to the coordinator's box of the contest field in her scarlet dress with hearts imprinted upon it and called out her Pokémon, who flashed onto the center of the field in a dazzling array of red hearts.

"Buneary, use Ice Beam on the ground!" Dawn ordered, hoping all went according to plan.

"Bun!" cried the rabbit Pokémon as she jumped high in the air, hung upside down, and shot the ground with a large amount of ice. The force of the attack managed to keep her in the air long enough to draw a large heart in the center of the stadium made completely of ice.

"Wow!" cried the announcer in her typical excitement. "Buneary has made a literal heart of ice! That's certainly going to impress the judges!"

"Now use Fire Punch!" Dawn continued, ignoring the woman's voice.

Appearing focused, Buneary quit her Ice Beam attack and formed her fist into a small fireball as she spun headfirst towards the icy ground, which she hit with a loud "crack". Steam arose from the combination of fire and ice, but it was thin, and throughout the stadium there was a general gasp as everyone saw that the fire type attack had resulted in a smaller, smoldering heart shape being formed in the middle of the large, icy one.

"What a spectacle! This is a rare combination of fire and ice; and its coming from only one Pokémon!"

"Now use Attract!" Dawn commanded, hoping to finish strong.

"Buneary!" cried the Pokémon as hearts flew from the tips of her ears, which began to spin in order to create a tornado of hearts. After a minute, the attack stopped, and Dawn and her Pokémon completed the Appeal round with a bow.

Following a moment, of silence, the crowd burst into applause. Ash stood up and whistled happily for Dawn.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I can't believe how wrong Ash was," Misty said to herself as she sped down the highway. Ash had said Budsville was no more than three hours from Olivine, but Misty had been driving since nine and was already a half-hour late for the contest. According to the signs she passed, she was drawing rapidly near to the city, but she hated to be late at all for Dawn's contest.

She hated even more to be late for her and Ash's reunion.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"For his first opponent of the battle round, Mark Smith of Goldenrod will be facing off against Dawn Stone of Twinleaf," announced the woman.

"I can't believe Misty still isn't here," Ash told Pikachu, who had finished the ketchup packets during the Appeals round and was now laying comfortably upon the woman's reserved seat. "She'll miss the entire contest at this rate!"

Realizing there was nothing he could do, Ash turned his attention back to the battlefield where Dawn was about to start. Each battle was given a time limit of ten minutes, but Ash was sure Dawn wouldn't need that much time.

"Go Quilava!" Dawn said, throwing a pokéball onto her side of the field. It also erupted in a shower of hearts as the fire type emerged, his head and back covered in flames.

"Wow, her Cyndaquil evolved," Ash noted quietly as he observed the powerful Pokémon.

"Go Hitmonlee!" ordered the opposing trainer, sending his fighting type Pokémon out in a flash of rainbow colors.

The timer began to tick away, and both coordinators quickly implemented their strategies.

"Hitmonlee, Hi Jump Kick now!" commanded Mark from the opposing side of the field.

"Quilava, Dig!" Dawn countered.

As the long-legged Pokémon propelled itself forward at high speed, Quilava swiftly burrowed underground. Because of the move, Hitmonlee couldn't stop itself from consequently flying, and hitting, the partisan wall separating the audience from the battlefield.

"Oh no!" cried the announcer. "Not only will that mistake cost Mark several style points, but his Pokémon looks like it took some damage from that collision as well!"

Sure enough, the large scoreboard reflecting the status of the coordinators and their Pokémon showed the opposing trainer's style points cut by a full quarter.

_He really paid for that mistake, _Ash thought happily.

"Now Quilava, come up with a Fire Spin attack!" Dawn continued quickly. She saw her opportunity to attack while Hitmonlee was still struggling to stand up, and she didn't wish to miss it.

The ground beneath Hitmonlee began to glow a dark red, before suddenly the fighting Pokémon was entirely surrounded by a large whirlwind of fire. The attack was very close to the audience, and extracted a few yelps of surprise from people sitting near Ash. However, the champion was more intent on seeing the outcome of the attack than the attack itself.

After a moment, the fire dissipated, and through the smoke Quilava could be seen jumping out of the hole. Amazingly, though, Hitmonlee managed to stand up to face its opponent. Now both Pokémon were staring each other down along the horizontal middle of the battlefield.

Despite its resilience, Hitmonlee lost two more quarters of its style points left on the board, and after less than two minutes had almost been completely knocked out of the battle.

"Uh, Hitmonlee, Rolling Kick!"

Following its master's orders, Hitmonlee jumped on one leg and quickly headed for Dawn's Pokémon in a blurry spin. Before Dawn could declare an attack, the move hit Quilava head on, forcing him back several feet.

"Oh, it looks like this may be the start of a comeback, folks!"

Dawn's style points were reduced by about a fifth. However, this did not calm Dawn, because she knew that comebacks were a real possibility; especially considering how much time was left in the battle.

"Quilava, time for your finishing move!" Dawn announced. She needed this battle to end quickly before more points could be taken from her.

"Hitmonlee, use Rolling Kick again!" ordered Mark as he heard Dawn.

Propelling itself into another cycle of rapid kicks, Hitmonlee quickly made its way towards Quilava. However, the Volcano Pokémon countered by dodging with an Agility attack and moving himself to the opposite end of the battlefield. Hitmonlee stopped its assault when it realized the absence of its opponent; and though Mark quickly identified where Quilava was, it was too late to stop the inevitable.

Quilava curled into a ball and began to charge toward the fighting Pokémon while covering his body in flames and stars.

"What a combo! Dawn's Quilava is using a Swift attack, Flamethrower, and Rollout attack all at the same time!

"Watch out Hitmonlee!" Mark cried, though even he seemed to know it was in vain to do so. Hitmonlee began to run, but was soon intercepted as the trio of attacks came into contact with its body, ramming it once again into the partisan wall with great force.

As Quilava ended his attack, and subsequently unfurled his body, the remaining style points vanished from Hitmonlee's side of the scoreboard, and the Pokémon did not stand again.

"It looks like Dawn of Twinleaf has proven herself to be quite the battler!" announced the woman happily. "What a wise combination of strength and style. Of course, everyone has to be wondering if she'll be able to keep this up!"

"That was great Dawn!" Ash cheered from the sideline as Dawn returned her fire Pokémon to its pokéball. She didn't seem able to hear him, but that was no surprise considering the general noise of the audience as everyone cheered and discussed the battle in-depth.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What do you mean I can't enter?" Misty asked angrily. She was an hour late for the contest and knew Ash was wondering about where she was. "I told you my friend bought me a seat."

"I'm sorry ma'am," replied the security guard who was not allowing her to pass from the lobby into the main stadium. "I'm not allowed to permit anyone entrance without a pass."

"But can I just tell him that I'm here and ask him for my ticket?" Misty asked nicely. "I promise to be just a minute."

"Sorry miss, but I can't do it," replied the burly, middle-aged man in uniform.

"Yeah, you _are _sorry," Misty retorted angrily before turning around and stomping off towards a bench in the middle of the expansive lobby.

_Maybe I'll luck out and they'll see me when they're exiting, _she reasoned unhappily.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What a spectacle!" cried the announcer once again as Dawn finished off yet another opponent. This was the third, and she had been much more difficult than the first two. However, through elegant precision, Dawn's Pachirisu tactfully took down the young woman's Furret with less than a minute remaining.

"Ms. Stone will now be advancing to the final battle of the contest," continued the announcer, "which will be starting in five minutes."

At this news, many in the audience, including Ash and Pikachu got up from their seats and began to head for the exits to purchase more snacks.

"Maybe she got stuck in traffic," Ash said sadly to the yellow Pokémon on his shoulder as they walked out the doors of the stadium into the general lobby. However, someone caught his attention as he made his way towards the food corner: it was a girl with long red hair.

"Hey, Pikachu, it's Misty!" Ash cried excitedly, as he caught a glimpse of the girl sitting at a bench before one of the hundreds of people flooding the lobby blocked his eye's path. "Let's go see her!"

With that, Ash hurriedly pushed through the crowd with quick apologies. After what felt like several minutes, he finally broke through to the bench, where several people were now scrunched together upon the cushioned seats. Ash quickly examined them before realizing that Misty was _not _there.

"I could've sworn I saw her," he said, scratching the back of his head. Looking to Pikachu, he shrugged and sighed. "I guess my imagination's just playing tricks on me."

Trudging back through the crowd to the snack corner he replayed the instant in his head again and again. Unfortunately, he did not see her at the snack line, and as he returned to the inside of the stadium with nachos in tow, he checked the bench once more to find it empty. However, when he went to sit back in his seat, his heart rapidly sped up in his chest. Standing near the railing was Misty. In fact, she was standing directly in front of Ash's seat.

Ash ran to greet her, and in the process dropped his nachos.

"Misty!" he cried happily as he came within a few feet of his best friend.

"Ash!" she cried, sounding equally, if not more, happy at the sight of him.

He quickly brought her into his arms and gave her a tight hug. Misty couldn't help but feel a little differently as she hugged him back.

Drawing away from the hug, Ash held her at arm's length. "What took you so long to get here, Mist?"

"I couldn't get in because I didn't have my ticket with me," Misty explained.

"I forgot about that!" Ash said, slapping his forehead in frustration. It was no wonder then why Misty was so late in her arrival. "So how did you get in now?"

"Well, when everybody went out to take a break, I quietly snuck in with a group of people who had their tickets checked," Misty explained. "I decided to stand down here so I could maybe see you as you came in."

"Well, you chose a great place to wait," Ash said excitedly. "I'm sitting right here." He gestured towards the two seats directly behind the gym leader.

"Oh, wow!" Misty said with a laugh. "I did make a good choice, didn't I?"

As they sat down, Misty felt her stomach crawl into her throat as she tried to decide whether or not to talk to Ash about her revelation now or later.

_If I wait until later, I may never do it, _she worried. _But is this really the appropriate time in such a crowded place?_

As she heard the one-minute bell sound before the final battle began, she decided to wait; a decision which had the consequent effect of relaxing her stomach. Sitting back in her seat, she looked over at her best friend with new eyes.

The last time they'd been together, she couldn't appreciate her true feelings for him, but now that she'd realized how she felt, she had an entirely new admiration for everything about him. She studied his face, which appeared determined even as it watched the battlefield for the upcoming match; she also noted how strong and tall he really appeared to be. Though he had told her he'd been working out with his Pokémon for a while, for some reason, the actual physical effects of these workouts had not made themselves known to Misty until now. However, what she couldn't help but admire most about him was his personality. Though it wasn't showing itself now, Ash's perky attitude towards life and confidence in all he did made him so appealing to her for an unknown reason.

Unfortunately, she couldn't continue admiring her friend because the announcer's thunderous voice began to roar overhead once more.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Please take your seats as the final match for the Budsville City Valentine's Contest takes place."

As the lights dimmed once more, two spotlights shown on the opposite sides of the battlefield; revealing Dawn on one side, and her opponent on the other. Her opponent was a young woman in her older teens named Audrey Ingalls.

"Coordinators, for this battle there will be no time limit," instructed the woman. "Whoever runs out of style points, or has the least amount of style points after a Pokémon faints, will lose this battle."

Both coordinators nodded their understanding, and a moment later a loud buzzer rang through the stadium.

"Go Bellossom!" shouted Audrey, as her grass Pokémon came out amongst a shower of leaves.

"I choose you, Piplup!" announced Dawn as Piplup emerged in a throng of bubbles.

"Use Sunny Day!" ordered Audrey quickly.

"Bell," responded her Pokémon as the two flowers emerging from her head produced large rays of light, reaching to the top of the stadium's dome.

"Piplup, use Bubblebeam," Dawn commanded, hoping to interrupt whatever plans Audrey had in store for the battle.

Piplup quickly gathered his breath and shot several dozen bubbles at his opponent, who waited patiently for her master's remarks.

"Magical Leaf," the older trainer responded.

Bellossom began to spin back and forth, swaying her petal skirt and sending out a large number of multi-colored leaves at Piplup's attack. The leaves caused the bubbles to burst in mid-air, which forced Dawn's points to fall slightly.

"It looks like Dawn's plan of attack wasn't effective," commented the woman from above upon seeing the decline of the young coordinator's points. "She'll have to try something else!"

"Piplup, use Water Gun on the ground!" Dawn commanded.

Using the powerful water attack, Piplup forced himself into the air.

"Now use Peck on Bellossom!"

Piplup used his small wings to propel himself forward in a spiral as his small beak began to glow. Unfortunately, Audrey seemed prepared for this stylish offensive as well.

"Bellossom, Solarbeam now!"

Because Bellossom was attracting light with her Sunny Day attack, the Solarbeam took no time to charge. As the ray of solar energy emitted from the grass Pokémon's mouth made contact with Dawn's starting Pokémon, the penguin cried in pain as he fell from the air onto his back.

"Piplup!" yelled Dawn. "Are you okay?" She was afraid that such a strong grass attack would spell the end of her battle.

Luckily, Piplup managed to regain his balance and stood up. However, his points on the board fell by about a third, while Bellossom's bar remained full.

"Now use Hyper Beam!" yelled Audrey quickly. It was clear she wanted this battle over before Dawn could reorganize her strategy.

"Piplup, use Water Gun on the ground again!" Dawn ordered, sending her Piplup flying above the mark of the Hyper Beam attack. Knowing that the attack would leave the grass type tired and in need of a quick break, Dawn decided to take advantage and reuse her strategy from before. "Use Peck again!"

Once more the penguin Pokémon began to spin forward, his beak glowing, but this time the attack made direct contact with the tired Bellossom's cranium, causing her to fly backwards.

The points on the board reacted poorly both to Bellossom's failed Hyper Beam and her direct hit, and fell to almost half.

"Now use Whirlpool!" Dawn exclaimed excitedly. She knew the balance of power was shifting her way.

Looking upwards, Piplup created a whirlpool of water which was then ejected from the Pokémon's beak toward the tired grass Pokémon.

"Ingrain, Bellossom!" ordered Audrey immediately before the attack made contact.

As the swirling water surrounded her Pokémon, Audrey looked on in curiosity as to whether or not her strategy would be effective. As the attack came to an end, and the water dissipated to a puddle, Bellossom was seen still standing, with her petals, glowing and gathering nutrients from the ground below. It appeared as if Dawn's attack was completely ineffective, causing her points to drop further. She now had about a third of her style points remaining on the board.

"It's okay Piplup!" Dawn remarked cheerily to her disappointed Pokémon. "It's not over yet!"

"It will be soon, though," Audrey replied with a smirk. "Use Grass Knot!"

"Piplup!" cried Dawn Pokémon as he suddenly fell over from a root which protruded from the ground. The fall caused Dawn's points to fall to a quarter of their original proportion.

"Piplup, get up and use Hydro Pump!" Dawn ordered.

Standing up, Piplup gathered all his strength and quickly shot a high pressure of water towards his opponent with effective results. The ingrained grass Pokémon was pushed out of the ground and off the battlefield. It was also quite obvious that she'd taken a large amount of damage; which was reflected in her points falling to about the same amount as Piplup's.

"They're almost tied, folks," the announcer boasted. "What will the coordinators do now to wrap up this battle with a victory?"

"Let's show 'em what we'll do Piplup," Dawn told her Pokémon, who was wheezing slightly after such a hard attack. "Give me one last attack. Use Bubblebeam Spin!"

Recognizing the attack which Dawn had created specifically for him, Piplup shot himself into the air one last time. However, instead of a Peck attack, he used Bubblebeam instead as he spun rapidly forward.

"Use Leaf Storm!" responded Audrey as Piplup came dangerously near to her Pokémon. Though she didn't like using the powerful grass attack often because of its deleterious effects on the Pokémon using it, she needed to stop the Piplup's assault.

"Bell-ossom!" cried the small grass Pokémon as the flowers upon her head began to spin, and instantly hundreds of razor-sharp leaves emerged to not only block Piplup's attack, but also to cause severe damage to the penguin Pokémon.

"Piplup, watch out!" cried Dawn; but she was too late. With a small thud, the blue Pokémon hit the ground once again. However, this time he remained on the ground.

"It looks like Ms. Stone's Pokémon is too weak to battle," announced the woman. "Ms. Ingalls is the winner!"

On the scoreboard above the battlefield, Audrey's picture was enlarged, and the word "Winner" appeared underneath it.

Dawn gracefully withdrew her loyal companion back to his pokéball and shook hands with the winner. After that, she briskly walked towards the competitor's exit, which led to the hallway where she had originally waited to enter.

"We better go check up on her," Ash said knowingly. He certainly understood how it felt to lose a big match.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Dawn, you did awesome!" Ash cried loudly to the young teenager as he approached her. She was sitting alone on a bench outside the locker room of the stadium. Her fancy contest dress had vanished in favor of jeans and a sweatshirt, and her bright, confident smile had disappeared with it. But when she looked up and saw him approach, she couldn't resist a small, grateful grin.

"Thanks Ash," she said sweetly. "It really means a- who's this?" Dawn asked as she looked up to find a familiar face besides Ash's.

"This is Misty, remember?" Ash asked. "We met her back in Sinnoh."

"Of course I remember her," Dawn said, standing up. _You've only spent the last six weeks bringing her up in conversations_.

"How are you Misty?" she asked, keeping a cheerful tone.

"I'm fine, thank you," Misty replied equally cheerful."And Ash was right, by the way. You did a great job out there. That was one of the most exciting contest battles I've ever seen!"

"Thanks," Dawn said, her heart softened by the compliment. "So are you just travelling through town, or…"

"Oh no," Ash answered for the redhead, grinning. "I wanted it to be a surprise. I called Misty a few days ago and apologized for our little fight, and she said she wanted to travel with me again!"

Dawn blinked rapidly, stunned. "Sh-she does?" she asked, her voice faltering.

"Yeah," Misty answered happily. "I know you and Ash have been working on attaining your dreams together, so I thought I'd come back and keep working on my dream of becoming a Water Pokémon Master."

"How **- **how nice," Dawn said, smiling painfully as she fought to conceal the resentment brewing inside her.

_Who does Misty think she is, barging back into Ash's life like this?_ Dawn fumed inwardly_. And why did Ash have to apologize to her anyway? She was clearly wrong. And how come she gets to travel with Ash whenever she wants to?_

Dawn's thoughts raged as she followed the two older teens out of the stadium, watching them carefully. They talked incessantly, Ash recanting various adventures from the last few weeks and Misty excitedly describing her Dratini's improving performance in her many Gym battles. They each hung on the other's words, smiling and laughing, as if this entire six week long dispute had been nothing but their usual quarrel over who got them lost.

Dawn stared at Misty with resentful eyes, sure that Misty was taking advantage of Ash's kindheartedness and easy, forgiving attitude. And perhaps more importantly, she couldn't help dwelling on how Misty's presence was sure to force itself between her and Ash.

* * *

Author's Notes: Did you like this chapter? Then REVIEW PLEASE! Did you hate it and wish I had never been born? Then REVIEW PLEASE! I don't care what you think, as long as you tell me.

Anyway, I am fairly proud of this chapter. Like I said, with LJB's unwanted help, I think this has certainly become one of my best installments yet, and though I don't want to write something this long regularly (it takes forever), there certainly is an amount of pride you feel when a chapter of this length is completed.

Moving on, as was commanded of me by my ancestors in a dream once, here are this weeks reviews:

"The Language of Mistynese" by Warlordess – Though I haven't read it yet, I was just so happy to see that one of my favorite authors published something new for Valentine's, that I had to recommend it. The only part I have read so far is her author's notes at the beginning, where she says that the story is for "any pokeshippers left out there". If you're a pokeshipper and have not already done so, please just go review her story really quick and reassure her that these great stories she writes are still very much appreciated. I intend to do so as well right after I publish this chapter.

Okay, that's it for this week. Sorry, but again I've been busy. But hey, at least I got you one great fic to look at! Due to my hectic schedule at the moment, if anyone has a great story which I haven't recommended yet, and they think I should, please tell me about it in your review or in a PM. It could be your story, or someone else's, but the only rule is it must be a Pokémon fic. I'd be happy to recommend it over the next few chapters!

Alright, well, I'll talk to y'all later. Hopefully, everyone has a great Valentine's Day, and with any luck you'll hear from me again within the month!


	23. An Unexpected Event

**Hey Everybody!** Wait a minute…it hasn't been a month since my last update! I better wait another week before I publish this then. Ha,ha. Can you believe it? This only took me two weeks to write! Of course, I waited to publish it until now because I wanted a head start on the next chapter, and (if you can believe this), it looks like chapter 24 will be out, latest, two weeks from now! Is this the start of a trend? Only time will tell, but for now I hope you, my hungry readers, will be appeased with this awesome chapter. Seriously, I think it's one of my best ones yet (LJB agrees with me too, if you take her opinion seriously…though I don't). As I always mention, I won't give away details, but I will say I hope you like installments that are full of awesome-ness, because that's what this one is stuffed to the brim of.

By the way, I've come to discover something about mine and **licoricejellybean**'s beta "transactions". It seems that I always help her with the important thing, a.k.a. grammar, and she helps me with the unimportant stuff (detail, dialogue, descriptions, proper characterization). So yeah, I think I'm on the losing end of this business deal/archrivalship. Anyway, in keeping with her unnecessary help, she was the one who wrote Misty's appearance later in the chapter.

Alright, go ahead and read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 17

* * *

"Do you see anything, Pikachu?" Ash asked in a hushed whisper as he saw his companion's cheeks begin to electrify intensely.

"Pika," Pikachu murmured with a nod, staring intently ahead. Though the forest was quite dark, the yellow Pokémon seemed to notice something that his master had missed.

Following Pikachu's quiet steps forward, Ash held an empty pokéball with an iron grip in his right hand. He had not believed what he'd seen before, but once the pokédex proved his assumption correct, he had immediately ran out of the Pokémon Center where the group had spent the night, and into the lush forest near Route 39. Unfortunately, as he wandered blindly through the thickets of bushes and trees, he'd begun to wonder if his venture was worthwhile.

"Whoa!" Ash suddenly cried, as a tall yellow creature emerged suddenly from behind one of the thick trees which Pikachu had begun to approach cautiously.

"Amph!" cried the electric Pokémon as it eyed the trainer and his Pikachu.

"There he is!" Ash declared to the already-aware Pikachu. "Hit 'im with a Thunderbolt!"

"Pikachu!" cried the small electric Pokémon as he unleashed his pent-up energy upon the opponent.

"Ampharos!" replied the creature. Though it certainly appeared hurt, the fact that it was an electric type prevented its immediate disposal by the assault. Pivoting on its right foot, the Ampharos hit Pikachu with its large tail.

"Pikachu, get up and use Double Team!" Ash commanded.

Regaining his balance, Pikachu ran small circles around the tall adversary to avoid collision with the surrounding trees and bushes. Fortunately, the attack seemed enough to confuse Ampharos as it tried unsuccessfully to crush its opponent with the bulb of its tail.

"Now use Iron Tail!" Ash ordered, wanting to complete the battle.

"Pika, pika!" Pikachu responded as he stopped running and swung his own enlarged, metallic tail at the wild Pokémon.

The attack sent Ampharos flying backwards into a tree, and Ash saw his opportunity.

"Go pokéball!" he yelled from habit. After several seconds of intently watching the capsule rock back and forth, Ash's and Pikachu's efforts were rewarded as the ball's center faded from red to white.

"Great job, Pikachu!" Ash congratulated happily as the pokéball was instantly teleported to Professor Oak's laboratory. "You were excellent out there!"

"Pikachu, pika," the Pokémon replied cheerily with a thumbs-up.

Though Ash had already captured both a Mareep and a Flaafy, finding Ampharos in the wild was going to save him a lot of time from having to train either of the two. Ash and Pikachu quickly ran back to the Center to tell the young women about their successful, though impromptu, adventure.

As he entered the Center, however, Ash was disappointed to find that only Nurse Joy stood in the lobby, slowly mopping the floor.

"Are my friends awake yet?" Ash asked eagerly, running up to the pretty nurse.

Turning around, Joy appeared shocked. "You're awake at this hour? I thought I would be the only one moving about this time of day."

"I saw a Pokémon outside that I didn't have," Ash explained, "so I went out with my Pikachu to go capture it."

"Is it hurt?" the nurse asked. She suddenly sounded much more alert. "Should I treat it?"

"Uh, no, it's alright," Ash replied. "It was sent to Professor Oak's laboratory. He'll take care of it over there."

"Oh, okay then," the woman replied with a yawn as she went back to her mopping.

"I guess they're both still sleeping then, Pikachu," Ash told the friend on his shoulder as he looked at the clock. It _was _six in the morning, so he supposed Misty and Dawn could sleep a little longer before they headed on the road again.

Returning to his room in the Center, Ash took off the hoodie which he'd put on before running into the brisk, early-morning March air, and sat on the bed. The truth was, he wasn't very tired. He had been up since four in the morning after a restless night of thinking about his schedule. Originally, he'd told his mom that he could be done with his travels by the next January, but as it appeared now, he wouldn't even be able to leave Johto for Hoenn until May, and Sinnoh would require a bit of travelling as well. According to his calculations, he would not be done capturing until the end of March _next_ year at his current progression rate.

"That barely gives me any time to battle both Gary _and _the master before school starts in August," he said to himself. Pikachu was already asleep again on the bed.

A knock on his door suddenly interrupted his thoughts. Standing up, he opened the door to find Nurse Joy.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ketchum, but I forgot to tell you that a phone call arrived for you late last night," the woman informed Ash. "It was past midnight, and I didn't wish to disturb your rest, but the call was from Lance; the champion of the Kanto region."

"A call from Lance?" Ash asked. He was both surprised and perplexed by the news.

_Why would someone as important as Lance call me? _he wondered. However, he quickly came to the realization that the dragon trainer and he were technically equals due to his champion status. _Still, why would he have called?_

"Yes, he called and left his number. He said for you to return the call as soon as possible and that it was urgent."

"Uh, thanks," Ash said. "Can I have the number?"

"You sure can," the nurse answered with a smile. "Just follow me."

Ash followed the nurse to the telephone in the lobby, where she instructed him to sit and wait one moment. A few seconds later, she came out from her office in the back and gave him a small piece of paper.

"I'll leave the two champions to talk alone," she said with a small smile before walking away.

Thanking her again, Ash quickly punched in the numbers. The phone rang twice before the champion's face suddenly appeared on the screen. It was the middle of the day in west Kanto, so Ash knew he wasn't interrupting Lance's sleep with the call.

"Ah, Ash, I'm glad to see you got my message," the champion said happily as he saw who was on the other end of the line. "I was afraid you may take off before I could catch you. You're a very hard man to track down!"

"I've been travelling a lot," Ash replied stiffly. Despite that fact that they'd met on several occasions and were now officially equals as trainers, Ash still felt nervous when talking to his childhood Pokémon idol in such a familiar manner.

"I'll say you have," Lance said. "I had to call your mom to figure out where you were!"

"You talked to my mom?" Ash asked, both surprised and a little worried. "What did she say?"

"She just told me that you called yesterday and told her where you were," Lance answered. "She was very friendly."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. He'd worried that perhaps Delia had inadvertently said something to embarrass her son in front of someone so important. "I'm glad to hear that."

"So you're probably wondering why I called you," Lance said. Ash remembered his forgotten curiosity.

"Yeah, I kind of am," he answered.

"Well, I wanted you to know that we're having a rather exclusive dinner party in a few days, and you, of course, are invited."

"A-a dinner party?" Ash asked, not feeling at all satisfied with what he'd just been told. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the Pokémon League is hosting a dinner party, as it usually does a few times per year, and all the champions are invited to come. It's basically a get-together where you meet some high-ranking members of the PLB, and you can also introduce yourself to other champions. There are also several local gym leaders who usually show up, and a slew of lower-ranked territorial champions as well."

"Um, where is it?" Ash asked. He didn't know if perhaps it was just because he was tired, but he didn't seem to understand why Lance had worked so hard to find him just to invite him to a party.

"It's in Goldenrod," he replied. "It's actually gonna be a pretty big deal. These parties usually have a lot of press wanting interviews, and photographers looking for pictures. Also, since you're new, they'll probably be curious to see who you come with."

"Who can I come with? Can't I just go alone?"

"Well, it's not very customary," Lance said. "I'd suggest you bring someone, even a friend, just to avoid paparazzi speculation."

"I'm travelling with two friends right now, though," Ash said. "Could I bring them both?"

Lance looked doubtful. "I'm sorry, but I don't think so. They plan these parties months in advance, and the plans are made specifically for a major trainer or PLB member, and their friend."

"Well, Misty's a gym leader, so she can come automatically, right?" Ash asked.

"Only if she's a local gym leader."

"Well, I don't think I can make it anyway," Ash said. He suddenly remembered his delay in scheduling, and didn't believe it wise to put off training and capturing any more than he already had.

"What?" Lance asked, sounding instantly worried. "But you have to come!"

"Why do I have to come?" Ash asked, slightly taken aback by the shift in attitude.

"Listen," Lance said, leaning closer to the screen. "Pick up the phone."

Ash picked the phone off the hook and placed the receiver to his ear. Staring down at Lance, he listened closely.

"Ash, we, and I mean me, the Hoenn champion, and Cynthia, need to speak with you. We have to discuss some extremely important…_topics_ that are very relevant to our work. You need to be there. Especially since…"

"Especially since what?" Ash asked, eager to hear what he said.

"Nothing," Lance replied, looking suspiciously around him. He appeared to be sitting alone in a very comfortable leather chair. Behind him were books lining the walls on large wooden shelves. However, he still seemed afraid someone would jump out at him unexpectedly. "We can talk more when you come, but you _have _to be there. Okay?"

"Uh, o-okay," Ash answered. The champion's tone of voice alarmed him. "W-what time?"

"March 15th, three days from now, at eight in the evening at the Goldenrod Banquet Villa downtown. You'll be able to find it pretty easily."

"Alright," Ash said. He wanted to ask many more questions, but assumed they would all be answered with a "wait until we meet". Instead, he waited for Lance to say something else.

"I'll see you at the party," the champion continued after a moment of silence. With that, he hung up. Ash stared at the blank screen for a second longer before clumsily replacing the handset on the cradle and leaning back in his chair.

_What do they wanna talk to me about?_

"Ash, you're up already?" Misty asked, surprised as she emerged from the lodging wing of the Pokémon Center.

"Uh, yeah," Ash replied, not really paying attention. His mind was racing about the possible sources of Lance's concern. Was it possible that he had done something wrong, and was going to be punished?

_But what did I ever do wrong?_

"You want some coffee?"

"Huh?"

"I said, do you want some coffee?" Misty repeated, rolling her eyes. She may have fallen for Ash, but love hadn't blinded her to his sometimes frustratingly slow mental functions.

"Ugh, no thanks," Ash answered, hearing the question clearly. He had never enjoyed coffee. "That stuff tastes like muddy water."

"Thanks for the imagery," Misty muttered dryly as she poured a hot glass from the machine, located in the right corner of the Center. "So why are you up this early? You don't usually get out of bed till nine or ten."

"Oh, well, I was just doing the math on our schedule last night," Ash began. Unfortunately, he was interrupted by Misty's guffaw.

"_You _were doing the math last night?" she teased. "Did you remember how many months there are in a year?"

"Ha, ha, Misty," Ash said sarcastically. He wasn't very amused by Misty's antics, due to both the early morning tiredness which was beginning to envelope his body, and because of the strange phone call which was still plaguing his mind. "_Anyway_, I was doing the math last night, and I estimated that I'm about three months behind in my schedule. I wanted to be back home to battle Gary by January, but it looks like we won't even be done with Sinnoh till April…and that's if we hurry!"

"Whoa, really?" Misty asked, floored by the news. She often teased Ash, but she had seen how hard he was working, capturing at least one new Pokémon everyday for the last few weeks. It was difficult to believe he'd fallen behind. "What could have caused such a problem?"

"Well, it wasn't one thing," Ash answered honestly. "There've been a few distractions since I started hanging out with Dawn."

Misty almost choked on a mouthful of coffee. "Like what?" she questioned quickly, alarmed.

"Well, I mean, we go shopping a lot more than I did with you and Brock, and we also have to go in earlier because she gets cold quickly."

Misty allowed herself a sigh of relief. _Maybe she shouldn't wear such short clothing in winter, _she thought with the slightest tinge of derision. However, she quickly shook the thought from her head.

"But Ash, she hasn't done any of that stuff since we've all been travelling together," Misty reminded the trainer. She couldn't help but feel as if she were defending Dawn to ease her _own _concerns about the teenage girl.

"That's the weird thing," Ash said. "I mean, since you came back with us, she's gotten a lot more, uh, I dunno…agreeable?"

Impressed that Ash knew such a word, Misty asked Ash to elaborate.

"Well, like the other day," Ash explained. "You remember, when we were near that forest where the pokénav said Stantler roamed? Do you remember how Dawn asked if we could visit the local mall instead?"

"Yeah, but then you said you needed a Stantler and she said 'okay'."

"See? Before you came, I would always end up having to give in to what she wanted to do. But now that you're here with us, it seems like she's really trying to keep up with what we want."

"Maybe she doesn't wanna feel left out," Misty thought aloud. "It makes sense, right? She might be thinking that she'll become less important because one of your older friends has come back, so she's agreeing to everything so she doesn't seem like a nuisance to the group."

Ash gaped at Misty a moment, trying to follow her logic. To his surprise, the explanation _did _make sense. "You could be right Misty. I mean, we're older than her, and maybe she feels kind of like the little kid trying to fit in."

"Exactly," Misty agreed.

"Well, then that's another good reason for you to have come back, Misty," Ash said, smiling. "At least now we're making decent progress."

"Glad I could help, Ash," Misty replied. She reciprocated the smile, the faintest hint of a blush dusting over her cheeks.

_She's definitely the most insightful person I know, _Ash thought as he looked into the redhead's green eyes from across the table.

"Pikachu, pika, pika!" Pikachu suddenly cried as he jumped out of the lodging wing with Dawn right behind him.

"Oh, alright, alright," she said, leaning against the wall to catch her breath. "You win, Pikachu. Here's a tomato berry!" She handed the mouse Pokémon the pokéblock ingredient, before walking over to the table next to the phones where Misty and Ash sat.

"Hey guys!" she greeted cheerily, taking a chair from a neighboring table and seating it between the two trainers. "How has your morning been?"

"Well, Ash was up before either of us," Misty informed. "Weird, huh?"

"Kind of," Dawn agreed. "Why were you up so early?"

"Well, I was…thinking about something," Ash said, not wanting to repeat the bad news of his delay, "and I looked out the window and saw an Ampharos near the woods."

"Really?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah," Ash answered with a nod. "So I put on my clothes quickly and followed it into the forest with Pikachu. It wasn't that hard of a battle, so I caught it and came back here."

"That's great news, Ash!" Misty congratulated, giving Ash a high-five.

Dawn frowned slightly at the sight of this, glancing quickly between the two grinning trainers. _She_ was the one who high-fived Ash when he achieved something.

_I'm reading way too far into this, _she suddenly realized, wiping the grim look off of her face. _They've been friends for years now. Of course they high-five._

Still, the coordinator, much like the gym leader, could not shake the incessant feeling that her counterpart's motives were deeper than they appeared.

"Oh, by the way," Ash said, disrupting Dawn's thoughts. "I got a phone call from Lance this morning."

"You mean the champion of the Kanto Elite Four?" Misty asked with wide eyes. "Why did he call _you_?"

"Well, we _are _both champions now," Ash replied as coolly as he could. Though the call had been a surprise to him too, there was no need to allow Misty to know that. "We talk to each other all the time – y'know, about important Champion things that I'm sure you wouldn't understand."

"Uh-huh," Misty said, yawning. "Quit lying and tell us why he called."

A scowl on his face, Ash replied, "I'm _not _lying. Anyway, he called me _this _time to tell me about a big dinner party in Goldenrod, and he said that I'm invited."

"A big party?" Dawn asked excitedly. "What's it for?"

Glad to see someone was so interested, Ash explained the party was for VIPs in the Pokémon League. However, he left out the part about why he _had_ to go.

"So this is in three days?" Misty asked, shocked. "That's like a twenty hour drive! We have to leave right now!"

"I know, I know," Ash said.

"But what about you getting back on schedule?" Misty asked. "You're really going to ditch catching Pokémon for five days just so you can go to some party in Goldenrod?"

Ash looked directly across the table at the redhead, somehow unsurprised that she had hit upon the only hitch in the plan. He sighed, deciding that he owed her the truth. "I can't talk about _why _I need to be there, but I do. Lance seemed really worried about something and said that he needs to talk with me."

Misty looked surprised by the news. Though she knew Ash was now one of the strongest trainers in the world, it was still hard for her to imagine Lance personally calling him about a problem.

_He's a lot more important than he used to be, _she thought with a smile. Ash saw the grin and brightened instantly.

"So you'll take me there?"

"Of course, Mr. Champion," Misty replied. "I can't wait to hear what's so important that Lance needs to talk to you about it."

"Me neither," Ash said. He was glad that Misty seemed just as interested as he was about hearing the news. He looked at Dawn, who seemed to be thinking quietly.

"What's the matter Dawn?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really," the blue-haired coordinator answered. "It's just…well, this is one of those big League parties that are always in the magazines, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Ash affirmed.

"Well, in all of those magazines, I've always seen the guests go in with someone," Dawn continued carefully. "Will you be taking anyone to the party with you?"

"Oh, um, well, I-I dunno," Ash answered, blushing slightly. Though he wasn't the most sophisticated socialite, even he understood that taking either of the young women to the dinner would constitute a "date" in the eyes of the tabloids. He wasn't keen on attracting that kind of attention.

"Dawn's right, Ash," Misty said, her eyes suddenly growing larger. "You _have _to go with somebody."

"Well, actually, I was thinking about going by myself," Ash replied honestly. He'd hoped that this subject would be avoided altogether. Despite what Lance had said earlier, he didn't think a date was a good idea or even necessary.

"You mean you plan on going to a big social event alone?" Misty asked. "Do you wanna look like a loser?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash shot back, immediately wrangled by her provocative comment.

"She means," Dawn interjected swiftly, "that anybody who goes without a date is automatically the center of attention. Everyone wonders why you couldn't find someone to go with."

"You won't even be able to enjoy the party," Misty finished triumphantly.

Ash leaned back in his chair, dazed by this information. He'd hoped to avoid the spotlight by going alone, but now it sounded like he'd be the black sheep of the party if he didn't bring a woman in his arm. "So what do you guys think I should do?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Well, I wouldn't want Dawn to have to spend a boring night with a bunch of ol' gym leaders and League members," Misty said before Dawn opened her she endeavored to keep her tone casual, she was determined to volunteer before Dawn had a chance to interrupt**.** "So I guess I can go as your date."

"You can?" Ash asked, relieved. He was afraid that neither girl would be interested in going with him from fear of looking like his date at the party.

"Sure, I mean-"

"Wait a minute," Dawn said quickly. "I don't mind hanging around the gym leaders and other important people. Besides, I'm the one with a dress. Remember the one that I used for the Budsville Contest a month ago? I just need to iron it, and then I'm all yours!"

Misty's gaze snapped from Ash to Dawn, her eyes narrowing. She didn't like how the younger girl phrased the last sentence of her statement.

"Actually, Dawn," Misty responded lightly, trying hard to keep the edge from her tone and her expression neutral, "_I _have a dress too. I brought it with me in the car. And since I haven't worn it and gotten it all dirty or anything, then I think I should be the one who goes."

"Dirty? Who said my dress was dirty? It was barely ruffled in the contest!" Dawn replied curtly to the gym leader. The two young women were staring each other down from their respective seats, and Ash was beginning to wonder why he'd worried about them not wanting to come. "Really, Misty, I'd be happy to go."

"Well, I'm just saying that it probably got all sweaty from you ordering your Pokémon to do all those interesting tricks," Misty explained, straining to maintain her cheerful demeanor. It was as if Dawn didn't want her to go with Ash.

"I don't get _sweaty_," Dawn rebutted thickly, the tense atmosphere increasing. She was feeling the same inexplicable resentment for the redhead that Misty was feeling for her. "And besides, I'm sure that my dress will be perfect for the occasion."

"Well, I'm sure _my_ dress is fine too."

"Maybe we should decide who goes later guys," Ash interrupted awkwardly, suddenly very keen to break the almost fiery gaze between the young women. "We have a long drive ahead of us, and I'd like us to get a head start."

Dawn's dark expression vanished immediately and she turned to Ash with a bright smile. "Sounds good, Ash!" she said cheerfully. "I'll be ready in just a couple of minutes."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The drive could not have been more pleasant for Ash; or more miserable for his travelling companions. Throughout the trip, Dawn began to feel insecure when Ash and Misty began to argue or reminisce. Compelled to take action, she would often interrupt their conversation to ask Ash a question, or talk about one of _their _past adventures.

Misty, on the other hand, would not try to counter by interrupting Ash and Dawn's conversations. Her reason for not doing so was two-fold. One; she did not want to appear too eager to converse with the dark-haired boy, since she had not as of yet revealed her feelings for him. Two; she could not be sure of Dawn's motives. There _was_ a possibility that the blue-haired teen was simply bored and wanting to talk. Despite their early-morning uneasiness, Misty didn't have real proof that Dawn harbored feelings for Ash and was not about to accuse her younger friend without it.

Pikachu simply did not enjoy the ride because of the lack of food onboard the vehicle. Ash had forgotten to buy more snacks for his friend, and because of their hurry, Ash explained it would be a while before they could stop.

However, in spite of his friends' motives and disgruntlement, Ash had a great ride talking to both Misty and Dawn. Though it was impossible for him to remain oblivious to the peculiar attitude the young women seemed to possess earlier in the day, now both seemed quite happy just talking with him.

"I think we should stop for the day," Ash said following a humorous tale of his and Dawn's adventures in the Johto region. "We've been on the road for eleven hours. We can finish the drive tomorrow and have a full day to get ready for the party."

"You're probably right," Misty conceded. "We're near Ecruteak City, so we can stay in a hotel here for the night and finish the drive by tomorrow afternoon." The redhead was quite ready to stretch her legs and was tired of watching the seemingly endless highway unfold before her vehicle.

"Oh, Ash!" Dawn said excitedly, popping her head between Ash and Misty in the front seat. "We oughta stay at that nice hotel we stayed in last time we were here! They had that nice restaurant, remember?"

"Good idea, Dawn," Ash said, yawning. "I don't feel like having to look for a place to eat tonight anyway." He looked down at the car's radio to find that it was almost eight in the evening; just about time for dinner.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So what'll you have tonight, Ash?" Dawn asked as she peered over her menu to question to brown-eyed trainer. She liked how he always seemed to take his meals seriously as he poured over the list of food with a determined glint in his eye.

_He's so cute._

"I dunno," he said, squinting. "Everything looks really good."

"Oh, good grief Ash," Misty said, rolling her eyes. "Just pick something. It's not like this is gonna be your last meal or anything."

"I _know _that, Misty," Ash replied haughtily as he glared at the gym leader. She didn't appreciate food to the same degree he did. "That doesn't mean I should just order some random meal that might not taste as good."

"What are you gonna have Misty?" Dawn asked hesitantly. Despite her private reservations, she still wanted to establish good relations with the redhead, and they'd barely spoken since that morning.

"Oh, I'm not sure," Misty said, glancing down at her brown leather-bound booklet. Everything _did_ appear appetizing.

"Now who can't decide?" Ash asked sarcastically, sticking his tongue out at Misty.

"Shut up," Misty grumbled. "I haven't made a decision yet because I'm so busy trying to help you choose."

"Well go ahead and choose now then," Ash said. "I've already decided, and it looks like the waiter's coming." Indeed, the tuxedo-clad employee was making a beeline past the numerous tables seating dozens of diners towards the trio's area.

"I will, just be quiet for a second so I can think."

A moment later, the young waiter appeared at their table, pad and pencil in hand.

"What will you be having this evening Mr. Ketchum?" the twenty-something year old asked politely.

"I'm gonna have the grilled chicken!" Ash announced eagerly.

"And what sides would you like with that sir?"

"A baked potato and a roll!"

Misty shook her head disapprovingly at her crush's immaturity. However, despite herself, she couldn't help but smile at his excitement.

_He gets this excited over food?_

The waiter then took the orders of Misty and Dawn, and quietly excused himself to the kitchen.

"So Ash," Dawn began as soon as the young waiter was out of earshot. "Do you know what kind of food they'll have at the dinner party in Goldenrod?" She knew this was a weak reason to bring back up the party, but she wanted the invitation.

"Oh, uh, I dunno," Ash said, taking a sip of water. However as Misty and Dawn both looked at him quite intently, he felt obliged to build upon his response. "I mean, I don't know what kind of food they'll have there. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will taste really good."

The silence continued as both girls stared at Ash. He wasn't sure if they realized what they were doing was terribly awkward, but he decided against saying so aloud. Instead, he began to hum quietly to himself while acting very interested in the stitching of the tablecloth.

"Uh, Ash," Misty said after what felt like twenty minutes. "Have you thought about who _you_ want to go to the dinner party with?"

"Huh?" Ash asked, startled out of his reverie and back into reality. He assumed he'd misheard his friend.

"I mean, since both me and Dawn obviously want to go to this big party thing, have you thought about who you might wanna go with?"

"Y-you, want me to decide?" Ash asked nervously. This was the situation which he'd hoped to avoid by not letting them know guests were invited in the first place.

"I think that's a good idea Misty," Dawn said with a large grin. "Ash, you should get to choose who you want to go with." The coordinator couldn't help but smirk at the trainer, already knowing who he was going to choose.

"Uh, hmm, let me think," Ash said, taking off his red cap and scratching his wild and mangled hair thoughtfully. In truth, he saw the waiter coming near their table with the food and was trying to stall.

"Oh look, the food's here," he said after a moment of pensive appearance, pointing to the young waiter.

"Here's your chicken sir," the young man said, placing the large portion of poultry in front of the champion. "And here are the two Caesar salads for the young ladies."

After each teenager mumbled a "thank you", both sets of eyes fell back on Ash.

"So you were saying?" Misty urged as she watched the trainer swallow his first succulent piece of chicken.

"Let's talk about this after we eat, okay?" Ash asked, his mouth half-full. Knowing Misty, he was sure this would convince her to cease her prying until at least after the meal.

Sticking her tongue out, Misty agreed. "Okay, okay, just close your mouth Ketchum."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What do you think I should do Pikachu?" Ash asked, pacing the floor of his suite. He'd escaped the supper early by feigning a stomachache. He didn't want to end the meal with the two determined young women; knowing they would demand a decision of him the moment the check fell on the table. "They're gonna be up here any minute wanting an answer. I'm gonna have to hurt someone's feelings."

"Pikachu-pi, pika, pikachu," Pikachu responded after a moment of thought. He was sitting on the bed, watching his master with interest. It was clear that whatever was about to happen was not making Ash feel well.

"I mean, Dawn's nice, and she's a great friend," Ash began. "But on the other hand, Misty's closer to my age." He stopped talking for a moment, wondering why that was important.

_We'd just be going as friends. Who cares who's older?_

Suddenly, a knock could be heard from the door, causing Ash to trip on his own feet.

"Ah!"

"Are you okay in there?" Dawn's voice asked through the large door.

"O-oh yeah, I'm fine," Ash said, picking himself up quickly. Walking to the door, he took a quick breath before opening up to Dawn. "Hey Dawn."

"Hey Ash. Are you feeling any better?"

"Uh-huh, I'm fine," he answered truthfully.

"That's good news," she said, a smile emerging on her face. "I brought you an antacid for if your stomach still wasn't well. I bought it down in the lobby." She handed him a small blue pill.

"Thanks, Dawn," Ash said gratefully. "That was really thoughtful."

"No problem," she responded. "I was just worried about you."

"I appreciate it a lot," he said. "Of course, with as much as I ate, I shouldn't have been surprised that I got a stomachache."

"Well, you did seem like you were in a hurry to finish supper," Dawn noted. "I think I know why."

"You do?"

"Yeah, you don't wanna tell us who's going to the party yet, right?" Dawn asked knowingly.

"Well yeah, kinda," Ash answered. "I just can't make up my mind, because I don't want to hurt either of your feelings."

"Well, I'm sure that neither me or Misty'll get upset if you don't choose us," Dawn reassured Ash. "I mean, we're both pretty grown up, so I wouldn't worry about someone's feelings getting hurt."

"You really don't think you'd be upset?"

"Nope, and I'm sure Misty won't be either." She bit her lip before correcting herself. "I mean, I'm sure Misty _wouldn't_ mind either. She's very mature."

"Thanks Dawn," Ash said. "I'm so glad to hear that!"

"You're welcome, Ash," Dawn replied sweetly. She lingered at his doorstep for a moment longer in silence before turning around and walking back down the hall towards her room. "I'll see you in the morning!"

Ash closed the door and looked at Pikachu.

"That was really nice of her, huh Pikachu?"

"Pika," the Pokémon agreed with a nod.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You'd better be careful Misty," Daisy warned over the telephone screen. "It sounds like this Dawn girl, like, really, likes Ash."

"I just don't know if that's true," Misty said. "I mean, sometimes I think she does, but other times I think she's just trying to fit in with me and Ash. What if I'm just overreacting?"

"It'd be better than, like, not reacting at all," Daisy replied. "You don't know what's happened since you left."

"I think I would have learned by now if Ash and Dawn were in a relationship," Misty said sarcastically. "I'm not a moron."

"I didn't say they were in a relationship," Daisy responded. "I'm saying that maybe her feelings have changed for Ash since you last saw her. If you're not, like, careful, then his feelings might change for her too."

"First, I don't think Ash would ever like Dawn," Misty began.

"Why not?" Daisy interrupted. "From what you've told me, she sounds like a really nice girl."

"Whose side are you on?" Misty asked, enraged at her sister's apparent treason.

"Yours, of course," Daisy answered while rolling her eyes. "But that's why I'm saying this. You said you haven't told Ash how you feel, and that he seems like he thinks everything is back to normal. That's like the worst thing possible if this other girl _does_ like him."

"Well, I haven't found the right time to tell him how I feel," Misty explained, somewhat sheepishly. Usually she was the one to scare her sisters, but now she was feeling inferior to them.

"When _will_ be the right time?" Daisy asked.

"I dunno," Misty said. "I just don't think Ash is ready to hear something this big yet. I mean, like you know, he's acting like everything's perfectly normal."

"Of course he is, Misty," Daisy said. "That's because you've been treating him perfectly normal. You haven't, like, shown him even a little that you might like him, so he still sees you as just a friend."

"So then there's no way for him to ever like me!" Misty yelled in frustration. "I might as well go home and give up!"

"No you shouldn't," Daisy said, in a reassuring voice. "What you _should _do is, like, start to let on about your feelings. But don't do anything brash, like tell him straight out, because that really might scare him away."

"So how do I let him know without letting him know then?" Misty asked, confused.

"Well, to start, you _have_ to go to this dinner party with him."

"Why is that so important?"

"You always said you were the smartest of the Waterflower sisters," Daisy replied, "so you figure it out."

"I _am_ the smartest of the Waterflower sisters," Misty replied acidly. "I'm just not experienced in this one thing."

"Sure little sis," Daisy said with a wink. Having hundreds of miles between her and her hotheaded sister made her a little less frightened of the consequences of joking around with Misty. "Well, if he invites you, then that'll give him a chance to, like, you know, see how you would be on a real date. It would kind of be like a test run."

"Oh, okay," Misty replied. She felt like a child learning about basic arithmetic, and it was not an emotion she relished.

"It would also be good because if Dawn really does like Ash, then him choosing you might send her a clear message about who he, like, is interested in."

"But I've already insisted that he choose who he wants to go with," Misty said in a defeated tone. "How do I convince him?"

"C'mon little sis," Daisy said in an upbeat tone. "Remember what we talked about before you left? You're a _very_ confident and headstrong person. Don't sound so down. Just think of something that will, like, guarantee he chooses you."

"So you don't have any ideas?" Misty asked.

"I do, actually," Daisy answered, "but I think that this is, like, your life and you should learn to do some of these things on your own."

Misty cocked an eyebrow. "When did you become so insightful?" she asked loftily.

"I'm the oldest of four sisters," Daisy replied knowledgeably. "I might not be, like, the ideal sibling, but I know about helping with guy problems."

Thanking her sister, Misty said goodbye before hanging up. Looking at the clock she found the time to be half past nine.

_I talked for almost an hour? _Misty thought in disbelief. Though she'd known for a while that her and her sisters had grown closer, it never ceased to amaze her.

Sighing, she stood up, ready to go to bed. She decided that she'd sleep on her sister's advice and think of a plan of action in the morning on how to convince Ash he should choose her. However, inspiration struck her with the force of a Thunderbolt as she opened her closet.

Grinning, Misty knew how she was going to convince Ash.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I guess we should go to bed, huh Pikachu?" Ash asked his Pokémon as he turned the television in front of the queen-sized bed off. "We've got another long day of driving ahead of us, buddy."

Rolling off the bed, Ash made his way to the bathroom as Pikachu climbed upon the pillow next to Ash's and settled in for the night.

Ash had just begun to brush his teeth when he suddenly heard a knock upon his door. Knowing it was a little after ten, he assumed it was probably Dawn wanting to check up on him.

To his surprise though, upon opening the door he found a blushing Misty. However, it was not the redness of her cheeks which attracted his attention nearly as much as what she was wearing.

Her dress was of primrose silk, the pale golden yellow material clinging to her curves before flaring into a bubble skirt that sensually skimmed the middle of her thigh. The sweetheart neckline was accentuated with a spray of golden sequins and embroidery in golden thread, which perfectly matched her dangling earrings encrusted with jewels.

Her fiery hair was loose and wavy, her wispy side bangs framing her face as they fell in front of a thin gold band adorned with an embellished flower, the color of its petals echoing that of her dress. A pair of gold heels completed the ensemble and grasped in her hands was a matching yellow clutch.

After a second of examination, the toothbrush fell from Ash's mouth with a small 'thud'.

Blushing madly, Ash quickly bent over to retrieve it and, with his eyes off Misty, began to speak. "Uh, hey, Mist. Did you need something?"

"Uh, y-yeah, kinda," Misty started. "I-I just wanted to show you the dress I would be wearing i-if you wanted me to go with you to the, um, party thing." She hated how nervous she sounded, but she couldn't help it. She'd never really put herself on display like this before.

"Uh, could you give me a minute?" Ash asked, standing, but still avoiding eye contact, or any contact with Misty's body.

"S-sure," Misty answered, seeing a small amount of toothpaste on Ash's chin. "Can I wait in here?"

"Yeah," Ash answered in a squeak. He ran quickly to the bathroom, where Misty distinctly heard him spit over the sound of running tap water. She smiled slightly, noticing that he seemed at least a little nervous too.

_Maybe he likes the dress, _Misty thought, hoping her plan was working. However, he certainly seemed calmer than she felt. Feeling very hot from the blush on her cheeks, she decided to sit on the bed and try to cool off.

After a moment, Ash walked back into the main room, his face now devoid of toothpaste.

"Uh, so this is what you'd wear, huh?" Ash asked, his heart hammering. He hadn't felt like this since they'd first started travelling together again and he saw her in that skirt and cropped jacket almost nine months earlier.

"Uh-huh," Misty nodded. "I-I just thought you might want to see it so you'd know it's appropriate for the party. You know, after what Dawn said earlier."

"Huh?" Ash asked, appearing somewhat unsure of what Misty was talking about.

"About how her d-dress might be better for the party than mine," Misty explained. Though those words weren't exactly Dawn's, Misty assumed that that was what the younger girl had been implying. "I thought, you might want to, uh, see it before you made a final decision."

"You really wanna go?" Ash asked, still appearing dazed.

Standing up, Misty came closer to Ash. In the background, she could here Pikachu slumbering peacefully.

"Yes, I really want to go…with _you_," she answered; her voice almost a whisper. Her face was a mere two or three inches from Ash's. She could see he was perspiring on his forehead.

_What am I doing???!!!_ She screamed in her head. She had no idea where this newfound courage was coming from. It felt as if all the pent-up feelings for her crush were waves suddenly breaching the large wall of her consciousness; a wall she'd spent years building in her mind.

In a shuddered breath, Ash released an "O-okay."

But Misty was not satisfied. She was sure, this close to him, what he wanted was the same as what she did; he wanted the truth. Knowing that the truth didn't need to be said with words, she simply tilted her head to the right at a slight angle. To her aching heart's relief, she could see through her now-closing eyes that Ash's head was reciprocating the act.

For some reason, she tried to count how fast her heart was beating. She couldn't keep up.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she found the courage to lean upwards, sensing Ash's lips about to meet her own.

"Ash, are you in there?"

Shattered.

The two teenagers stumbled back from each other, their heads immediately snapping towards the door. Ash began gasping for air, his head spinning, as Misty's eyes began to swell with tears.

"Uh, y-yeah Dawn."

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure you're feeling better," came the coordinator's muffled reply through the door.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine."

"Alright, goodnight Ash."

"N-night."

Hastily gathering her wits, Misty grabbed her little purse and made for the doorway.

"Uh, Mist?" Ash asked in a confused voice. "You okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine Ash. I'd better get some sleep if I'm gonna be driving tomorrow though."

"Oh, uh, well, alright," Ash replied, noticing that his entire body was trembling. "Goodnight Misty."

Turning to smile at him, though her bangs covered her eyes, Misty replied. "Goodnight Ash."

As soon as she closed the door, Ash simply sat on the ground, holding his head in his hands as he replayed the events which had just taken place.

_What was I about to do?_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Misty walked directly to Dawn's door, having withheld the tears which had seemed almost inevitable after the interruption. Rapping upon the young teenage girl's door, Misty tried to think of what she was going to say.

_Why am I here?_

However, upon the door's opening, Misty's reflexes did the questioning for her.

"Oh, hi Misty. Why are you so dressed-?"

"Do you like Ash?" Misty demanded.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

About one in the morning, Ash finally got up from his seat on the floor. He didn't even notice that time had passed. As if hypnotized, he simply climbed into bed with his clothes on, turned off the lights, and shut his eyes.

However, about five minutes into his slumber, he was awakened by the rude sensation of someone pulling him out of the bed. Instantly awake, he looked up to find two Rocket grunts carrying him towards the window. On the bed, he found Mallory had sealed Pikachu in some machine, and was holding his other pokéballs in her right hand.

His cries for help were muffled by some cloth which had been stuffed in his mouth.

"Shut up," Mallory ordered quietly as Ash was handed to someone waiting outside on a silently hovering Dragonite. "You're gonna have a little meeting with the boss."

* * *

Author's Notes: If experience has taught me anything, it's that my readers love nothing more than a good cliffhanger…right? Uh, I may have gotten that backwards, but it's too late now. Ha,ha. You'll just have to wait for chapter 24 to see what happens next. However, I will go ahead and tell you that the next chapter breaks away from my normal "time skip" format and instead picks up directly where this one left off.

I would like to mention that this was one of my favorite chapters so far, and that's because the story is really going to pick up its pace for the next several installments starting with this one. I am going to progress simultaneously with the Ash/Dawn, Ash/Misty, Ash/Team Rocket, and Misty/Dawn aspects of the fic, and that is guaranteed to keep y'all interested. Also, next chapter an old…acquaintance, of Ash's reappears to turn this fic on its head, so I hope you're all prepared.

Anyway, as the oracle proclaimed on the night of my birth, here are this weeks recommendations:

"There were no lies" by Angelstars – Actually, I haven't read any new stories worth mentioning recently, so I pulled this one from my favorites list. However, I actually am not sure if I should recommend it, since it's probably the most depressing thing I've ever read in my life (and I read the New York Times). Seriously, it's like this author secretly hates Pokémon and she tried to rip the will out of its fans to continue living with this fic…but it's one of the only things I haven't recommended to y'all that is actually quite entertaining and well-written (no matter how gloomy). So if you've got a couple of hours and a big bottle of Prozac, try this fic out.

Sorry guys, but that's all I've got for recs this week. Hopefully I'll have more next chapter, but like I said before, if you have a fic you'd like me to mention, just give me a REVIEW to tell me about it and I'll put it up. Also, if you find a couple of seconds, PLEASE REVIEW this chapter anyway. It's for you guys that I write, so I want to hear your criticism and (hopefully) your praise. Flame it or praise it, but please REVIEW!

Okay, until next time, keep on truckin'! (or carin' if you don't have a truck).


	24. Secrets Revealed

**Hey Everybody!** This can't be, can it? A new chapter after only two weeks? Y'all better Google it, because I think this is mentioned as one of the signs of the apocalypse, along with Adam Sandler getting an Oscar. Ha,ha. But seriously, I am so glad that I am able to bring this to you guys after having such a poor on-time record. I hope this at least partially makes up for all the sleepless nights you've surely suffered wondering if I was going to update or not. I will not lie though. This chapter was difficult to write. I mean, I'm very happy with the end result, but to give you an idea of how hard this was for me to complete, I actually finished this last week. That's right, I almost had a new chapter up after only a week. However, I could not stand to send it, because it was just not up to par, so I went back and rewrote all seventeen pages, and though I'm much more satisfied with this version, it was difficult to grind out along with schoolwork and other stuff. I'm still not going to tell you anything specifically about what passes in this installment, but I will say that even more happens this chapter than did in the last. So please, read and REVIEW PLEASE!

Actually, speaking of reviewing, I want to give my sincere apology to my reviewers from the past couple of weeks. I am truly sorry for not writing you back and expressing my gratitude for your input. Believe me, I took all suggestions into consideration. However, as you just read, this has been a hectic two weeks trying to get this sucker published. Please, please forgive me, and review this chapter. I promise to respond to all reviews for this installment.

Okay, one more matter of business before you read the chapter. I owe** licoricejellybean** my gratitude. Again, there is a lot of Misty-Dawn dialogue in this chapter, and once more she has taken my jumbled mess of a conversation between the two girls and turned it into something legible. Not only that, but she was up until the early morning hours completing her editing of this chapter…not because she had procrastinated, but because I had been selfish enough to ask her yesterday to have it done by today. That's right, I didn't even give her twenty-four hours to work on this, because obviously she has nothing else more urgent or fun on her agenda to do. Okay, LJB, you're off the hook this week from my scathing criticism…but wait until next chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 17

* * *

"W-what?" Dawn asked blankly, assuming she had misheard the redhead.

"You heard me," Misty insisted heatedly. "Do you like Ash or not?"

"Uhhh…well, th-that's kinda personal, dontcha think?" Dawn asked, playing for time as she quickly tried to discern the Gym Leader's intentions. The suddenness of Misty's disconcertingly probing demand meant she was ill-prepared to conceal her emotions, but Dawn was determined not to give anything away.

"It's not personal," Misty responded sharply. "You've been acting weird around Ash ever since I came back, and I think I deserve to know why."

"It _is_ personal," Dawn shot back, her face beginning to flush angrily. She was not one to indulge in aggressive discussion frequently, unlike her redheaded counterpart, but such aggressive questioning in relation to Ash was bound to provoke her dormant temper. "And it's none of you're business! You're asking about my personal feelings for Ash, and that's between me and him. And just because _you've_ been acting weird around him lately doesn't give you the right to start banging on my door in the middle of the night, demanding to know things that have nothing to do with you!"

Misty gritted her teeth, ignoring the guilty feeling swirling in the pit of her stomach. Dawn was right; her private hopes and emotions were none of Misty's business. However, this was different. Misty _had _to know.

"Besides," Dawn continued snootily, before Misty could speak up. "Why do you care anyway? I thought you and Ash were just friends." She crossed her arms and glared fiercely up at the older girl.

"We are just friends!" Misty interjected defensively, endeavoring to keep her expression neutral in the tide of emotions threatening to overtake her. She was acutely aware of the danger of revealing her true feelings for Ash to Dawn, and the last thing she wanted was for her apparent rival to discover such lucrative information.

"Then why did you wake me up just to ask me how I feel about him?" Dawn questioned triumphantly.

Misty paused, narrowing her eyes. "You weren't asleep!" she exclaimed scornfully. "I heard you say goodnight to Ash just a minute ago when you went by his room!"

"You did?" Dawn began, momentarily dismayed by this surprising bit of information. "Wait a minute! How did you know that I said goodnight to Ash? Your room's on the whole other side of the hallway, and I didn't see you anywhere near me!**"**

"Uhhh…" Misty began awkwardly, rapidly trying to conjure an explanation for her apparently excellent hearing. She had forgotten the fact that she wasn't meant to have heard Dawn's final farewells to the black-haired trainer.

The Coordinator narrowed her eyes, glancing critically at Misty's attire. "Why are you so dressed up Misty?" she asked, determined to get the reason this time.

Misty sighed, wishing that she'd stopped long enough to get changed instead of barging into the Coordinator's bedroom so incriminatingly dressed. There was no way she could talk herself out of this one, and given Dawn's dangerous previous inquiries, this was not information she desired to share. "I was talking to Ash," she relented unwillingly.

Dawn's face paled. "You were in his room?" she demanded in a shrill voice.

"Yes," Misty said slowly, carefully watching Dawn's reaction. The Coordinator's expression was a mixture of shock and horror, and Misty watched as her rival swallowed sharply.

"What were you doing in there?" Dawn continued, lifting her chin stubbornly as she tried to keep her tone steady. She was almost too afraid to ask such a question, but she wasn't about to let Misty know that.

"We weren't _doing_ anything," Misty responded, sounding indignant. "I don't need a reason to go to and see my best friend, you know!"

"Okay then - why were you in his room dressed like _that_?" Dawn insisted, indicating Misty's outfit.

"I was showing him the dress I'd wear to the party if he decided to choose me," Misty explained, trying not to sound too pleased with herself. She considered divulging the information of Ash's choice, but opted against it.

_I'll let Ash tell her. It'll be easier for her that way._

"So you just suddenly like him?" she questioned rudely, sounding incredulous.

"That's personal," Misty bit back acidly, smirking triumphantly down at her younger counterpart.

Dawn's eyes widened and she stepped backwards, immediately understanding the weight behind Misty's provocative remark. Misty paled, watching Dawn's reaction and wishing furiously that she could snatch back those last few words. She hadn't realized just how revealing they were.

However, Dawn wasn't interested in discussing what she already knew. "You already told him that you like him?" she asked urgently, not caring if she sounded desperate. Had her and Ash already professed feelings for each other, and she had just been the naïve, oblivious third wheel?

"Well, not yet," Misty muttered, still furious for herself for being so careless.

_So there's still time._

"Why did you wait till now to decide to tell him how you feel?" Dawn demanded, though she was immensely relieved to hear the Gym Leader's answer.

"That's none of your business,' Misty shot back heatedly.

_You had six years to tell him, _Dawn estimated sardonically. _And you suddenly decide that now's the time to tell him… just when you realize that someone else is interested in him too?_

Dawn smirked up at the older girl, beginning to understand exactly why Misty was so desperate to make her move.

_Looks like someone can't handle a little competition._

"Well, good luck with that," she replied mockingly as she began to close the door, but Misty wasn't giving up so easy. Her arm shot out and grabbed the handle before the door could close in her face.

"You never answered my question," the redhead insisted stubbornly. She'd come here to quit the mind games and she was going to get a straight answer; whether Dawn liked it or not. "Do you like Ash or not?"

Dawn raised her eyes to Misty's, staring challengingly up into the Gym Leader's face. When she spoke, her voice never wavered.

"Yes."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Several hours later, Ash's head was spinning as the Dragonite finally seemed to land. He'd been lying horizontally facedown upon the beast for at least an hour, and had long since lost his bearings on which direction he was flying. He had tried several times to sit up, but every time he did, the Rocket grunt supervising him would threaten to knock him off. Seeing that they were hundreds of feet in the air, Ash opted to remain quiet until he was at a more advantageous angle to rid himself of the Rocket member.

As he felt the dragon Pokémon make contact with the ground, Ash decided to make a run for his life. Sliding off the Dragonite and falling hard upon the cement beneath him, Ash quickly stood up, removed the cloth which had been suffocating him the entire ride, and began to sprint away. However, a vine quickly grabbed a hold of his right leg, and sent him plummeting to the ground in a heap before he made his escape. Grunting from the pain, he looked back to find that the Rocket member had called upon a Tangela to stop the champion with its Vine Whip. Ash was lifted into the air, and from where he hung he could see a car driving towards him.

"Grunt number three to base," reported the man wearing a black Rocket uniform and dark hat over his eyes. "We have the prize."

"Roger, Grunt," replied a muffled voice over what sounded like a walkie-talkie. "The car should be there momentarily. Be prepared to use force if necessary, but remember what the boss said."

"I know, I know," the grunt answered tiredly. "Don't hurt the idiot."

"Over and out."

As the black car neared him, Ash looked in vain at the windshield, hoping to catch a glimpse of the driver. Unfortunately, the glass seemed to be tinted, and the headlights were far too bright in the dead of night to look very long upon the automobile.

"Put him in and hurry," ordered a feminine voice from inside as the car came to a screeching halt. "The boss wants this done quickly."

"You know what to do Tangela," the man behind Ash said, as the trainer was flung closer to the car. The grass Pokémon halted his approach just a few inches in front of the door, with which Ash had been expecting an impact and had braced instinctively for. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ash saw the door open upwards suddenly, and felt his body shoved into the vehicle swiftly. Before he had time to react, the door slammed shut, and the car's wheels screamed against the pavement once more as the driver accelerated down the road.

_What the –_

"Don't bother trying to escape, Mr. Champion," came a voice from overhead. There was a wall between the backseat and the front, so he could not see who was talking to him. "These doors have all been locked from the inside. I suggest you just sit back and enjoy the ride."

"What's going on???!!!" Ash yelled suddenly, finally finding his voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?" He banged upon the wall separating him from the driver, but to no avail. No voice came back on the overhead, and he could hear nothing except the quiet hum of the engine.

_Where am I?_ he wondered, suddenly realizing that he had no idea how long it had been since he'd been forced to leave his hotel. He could only imagine where Team Rocket was about to bring him.

_Probably some warehouse where they'll…_ Ash tried not to think of what Team Rocket would do to him.

Looking out the window, he found that the glass had been tinted both from the outside and inside. Stomping his foot in aggravation, he sullenly folded his arms and lowered his cap.

Several minutes passed before Ash felt the car come to a halt.

"Get out of the car," ordered a gruff voice. The door opened and, to his surprise, Ash found himself in front of a large, brick mansion. He felt his arm suddenly gripped by the grunt.

"Let go of me," Ash demanded, ripping his arm angrily from the unknown criminal. However, a clicking sound attracted his attention. Looking down, he found the grunt cocking a small pistol.

"Which way do you wanna go?" asked the criminal, a smirk apparent under his hat. "To the building, or to the ground?"

Silently, Ash turned stiffly around and began walking towards the mansion. On both sides of the path leading to the front doorstep were large marble fountains. As he came up to the door, Ash noticed a brass Persian doorknocker.

"We're here Charlie," mumbled the grunt behind Ash. The door instantaneously swung open, and the grunt pushed Ash into the dark building. Despite its outer beauty, the inside of the structure was cold and dark. Ash could not see his own hand in the inky blackness of the building, and as the grunt grabbed his arm once again, he wondered where he was being led.

Walking, very cautiously, down a flight of stairs, Ash saw a glowing number pad on a far wall. The grunt walked directly to it and entered several numbers, forcing an unseen door to automatically open. As he was shoved inside, Ash was surprised to find the room well-lit and furnished beautifully.

Lighting the room was a crystal chandelier slightly out of his reach, to his left were seven bookshelves, all filled to the brim with various pages of knowledge. To his right was a fireplace with a green marble base and a golden hearth. Underneath his feet was a thick and soft red carpet, and directly in front of him was a large oak desk.

However, what captured his attention beyond all this was who sat at the desk; Giovanni.

"Leave us alone," he ordered the grunt, who gave a quick salute and instantly retreated behind the closing door.

"Welcome Ash Ketchum," the Team Rocket leader said in a calm, polite voice. "Have a seat." He extended his arm to the front of his desk where a single plush brown chair waited, impaled to the ground by a thick metal bar directly underneath.

"Where am I?" Ash asked, not heeding the invitation. "What am I doing in this place?"

"I'll answer all of your questions in a moment," the boss answered with a small smile. He appeared satisfied that he'd confused the teenager. "But first I must insist that you take a seat."

"No," Ash said, eyeing the chair suspiciously.

"Very well then," Giovanni said with a shrug, malice underlying his tone. "I guess you can just be locked in the attic until you learn to comply. We're a great distance from civilization out here, so I wouldn't count on being found for quite some time."

"What do you wanna talk about?" Ash asked, ignoring the last statement.

"I just have a small…_business_ presentation I would like to give you," Giovanni explained with a smirk. "At the end, you can decide whether or not you accept."

"I'm not going to give in, no matter what you threaten to do," Ash snarled. "I'd rather die than work for Team Rocket."

"Die?" Giovanni asked, sarcastically. He feigned a surprised expression. "Who said anything about killing you? No, no, my dear boy. Team Rocket certainly has no problem with murder, but only if it's beneficial to our interests."

"So killing me's not an interest?" Ash asked incredulously.

"Of course not!" Giovanni exclaimed. "Why, if we killed you, what would we gain?"

"M-my Pokémon, for one," Ash answered. As he looked upon the powerful man, a new wave of fear began to overtake his emotions. He suddenly realized that he was giving a reason for his own destruction.

"Ha!" Giovanni guffawed while staring at the young man in his office with disbelief. "Do you really believe I want these?" He opened a drawer and placed five pokéballs on his desk. He then reached under his desk and put Pikachu, who was trapped in a glass container asleep, next to the capsules.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, running towards the desk.

"Not so fast, Ketchum," Giovanni warned holding up his hand. Ash stopped, worried what may happen to his Pokémon. "You take one more step and I'll call security. You'll never see this…_precious_ rat again."

"Leave Pikachu alone!" Ash ordered.

"Very well," the man replied. He pushed a small red button on his desk, and the top suddenly split in half. From the middle arose a large metallic box. "I'll teleport your Pokémon directly back to the hotel if you agree to _sit down_." He hissed the final two words. Though Ash was necessary for his plans, he was not a man who enjoyed bargaining with others.

"How do I know you'll even bring them back?" Ash asked.

"Please," Giovanni said with a frown. "What do you think I would want with a few measly Pokémon? I'm the head of the most powerful criminal syndicate in the world! I have more Pokémon than you could ever dream of!"

"Fine," Ash relented. He could barely believe that he was allowing himself to be ordered around by the man, but the only chance he had of saving his Pokémon was through submission. "Just let 'em go."

"As you wish," Giovanni said, returning to his lighter tone. He placed all the Pokémon, including Pikachu, in the box and closed the lid. "First, you must sit down."

Slowly, Ash took a seat in the comfortable brown leather. Immediately, though not surprisingly, his arms were bound to the chair by once-hidden metallic bands within the armrests. He didn't attempt to break loose as he awaited Giovanni's teleportation of his Pokémon.

"Very well then," the middle-aged man said with a sadistic smile as he pressed a green button on the lid of the container. The box shook temporarily before standing still once more. Giovanni pushed the red button again, and the chrome capsule lowered as the desktop slid back into place.

"Now, let's talk business."

"Fine," Ash said as calmly as he could. He couldn't help but think of old spy movies he'd watched where the hero, even in the presence of the villain, maintained cool superiority over his foe. However, as his heart raced in his chest, he realized that sounding calm was a greater feat than he'd imagined. "W-what do you wanna talk about?"

"Mr. Ketchum," Giovanni began as he sat back in his lush black chair. Though Ash's view was blocked by the large desk, he could see the Rocket C.E.O. was scratching behind the ears of some pet. "For some time, Team Rocket has been a successful business enterprise. As the head of this enterprise, it is my job to insure that we stay successful, which is why we have been so interested in talking to you."

"That's why you've tried to steal my Pokémon?"

"Yes, or at least that's why for the past several months. You see, we knew if we simply sent you an invitation, the cops would show up in your stead, but our logic followed that perhaps we could convince you to speak with us privately by-"

"Getting me to chase you," Ash interrupted, having already realized this.

"Precisely," Giovanni said with a nod. "You know, Mr. Ketchum, you're not nearly as… shall we say dense, as your youth would suggest."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, squinting his eyes at the man across the large foundation of oak wood.

"As you've surely noted, we had a few of our…_lesser_ agents following your trail for quite some time. Though they were apparently never successful in any of their ventures to capture one single mouse Pokémon, they were _very_ helpful in giving us information about you."

With this, Giovanni took a remote from inside the drawer of his desk.

"What good would information about me do for you?"

"Take a look," the Team Rocket leader said with a flourish as he pointed the remote towards the bookshelves on Ash's left. Suddenly, one set of the shelves began to spin clockwise, as a large television screen opposite it took its place in the office.

When the screen turned on, Ash saw himself as a much younger trainer, wearing his original travelling clothes, with Brock and Misty by his side. It seemed he was battling an equally young rookie trainer's Squirtle with Pikachu.

"Where'd you get this?" Ash asked as his chair was suddenly spun in the same direction as the screen.

"Those morons who followed you all those years ago used our video viewers to spy on you constantly," Giovanni explained as Ash watched Pikachu emit a very weak Thundershock attack on the turtle Pokémon. "Even though they look like simple binoculars, they actually transmit all information brought to their lenses to the Rocket database where the footage is stored in our archives."

Instantly, the tape changed to more recent footage, when Ash and Treeko were training with May and her Torchic in the middle of some forest.

"Why is this important?" Ash asked, realizing that this footage, though indeed creepy, was in no way harmful in terms of blackmail.

"Because I have hundreds of expert trainers who work for me. They've gone through all the hours of footage which shows you battling and training, Mr. Ketchum, along with of course your battles at Indigo Plateau, the Silver Conference, the Ever Grande Conference, and with Cynthia. They know each Pokémon you possess, along with its weakness."

"So what?"

"So if I wanted to, I could have your position as Champion taken away in the blink of an eye," Giovanni explained, smiling. "I hope you bear this in mind as I bring forth my offer."

_Just get on with it,_ Ash thought bitterly as he stared at his hated enemy from across the desk. Though he hadn't seen the Rocket leader in almost six years, when Mewtwo had almost been killed atop Mount Quena, he noted that the man seemed to have barely aged at all. His brown hair was still pulled sleekly back, and though he now wore a dark sports jacket with a black tie and white shirt, his crisply-ironed clothing still gave him an air of importance.

"What's the offer?" Ash asked keeping his voice as hollow as he could to show that he was not afraid, nor intimidated by the man.

"It's quite simple really. You allow us to make you the Pokémon Master, and in return I am appointed the new president of the Pokémon League."

"Wha-did you say you wanna be the Pokémon League president?" Ash questioned, stunned by the request.

"Yes," Giovanni answered, maintaining his smile. "Surprised? As you know, if you become the new Pokémon Master you will, of course, have that power."

"Why do you wanna be the president?" Ash asked, his eyebrows raised at the request. For the moment, at least, he seemed to have forgotten that he was kidnapped; instead he appeared very interested in the Rocket leader's motives for such a desire.

"I thought you would ask such a thing," the brown-haired man said with a cold chuckle, turning towards the television once more. Ash's chair turned him in the direction of the television as well.

Pressing a button on his remote, Giovanni brought a picture of a Mewtwo on the screen.

"This, as you no doubt already know, is Mewtwo. He was, arguably, the last Pokémon found on the Kanto continent."

Ash, of course, was well acquainted with the rare psychic Pokémon, and he found it intriguing that the last time he'd seen Mewtwo was the last time he'd seen Giovanni. He wondered if there was a connection.

"Mewtwo was my father's greatest innovation. He was perhaps the strongest Pokémon to be created, and he would have brought about the ultimate goal of Team Rocket, global domination, had a few glitches been avoided."

"Glitches?"

"Yes. You see, apparently my father, while a brilliant man, had not foreseen that his ultimate creation may not be pleased with its existence. With all the power it contained, my father's Mewtwo destroyed both my father and the lab in which he was created on Cinnabar Island and fled; never to be heard from again."

Ash remembered hearing this story long ago, when he was a small child. However, most people were not sure of the story's accuracy, only knowing that the mysterious psychic Pokémon existed because of its place as the 150th Kanto-native creature.

"The last time I met you, Mr. Ketchum," Giovanni continued, "we were not far from here. We were in Purity Canyon. The reason for why I, or my elite team of bandits, was there in the first place continues to plague my mind to this day. However, though my memories of the events leading to that encounter remain foggy, I clearly remember that moment in the canyon as the moment I was inspired to recreate my father's invention."

"Mewtwo?" Ash asked, his eyes wide with curiosity. He remembered that Mewtwo had wiped away Giovanni's memory before taking away the clean spring water which had revived him. Apparently, the amnesia brought upon by the psychic Pokémon had never been lifted.

"Precisely. The sheer power of such a Pokémon would make me a formidable opponent to all. However, while I was poring over the research of my father to achieve such a goal, I was continually nagged by something."

Ash, who had been turned back to the Rocket executive, was now completely absorbed in the story he was being told. Though he would not admit so aloud, the tale was quite interesting.

"I could not shake the feeling that the process which I formulated, along with my engineers and geneticists, was ultimately going to fail. I suppose it was the example of what happened to my father which guided me to this belief…though it almost felt as if I'd experienced the failure of this project firsthand already."

Ash did not really understand what the leader was talking about now, but didn't dare to interrupt.

"Anyway," Giovanni said after a moment of silence, shaking his head, "I ordered my geneticists to completely ensure that nothing was wrong with our plans for the creation of the powerful Pokémon. Though they insisted upon the plan's perfection, I continued to urge them for months, until at last they found a problem."

"What was the problem?" Ash urged, his voice giving away his interest.

Giovanni grinned and continued. "They found what we have labeled the 'Berserk Gene' in our computer prototype. Though I will not bore you with the advanced details of such a phenomenon, I will briefly explain the gene's purpose. Apparently, after so much genetic abuse brought about by significant splicing in order to give it unparalleled psychic abilities, the Pokémon becomes inherently hostile to the world around it and will more than likely be uncooperative to a human master."

_Makes sense, _Ash thought.

"Therefore, we have worked hard and discovered a very effective, and extremely expensive method for removing this gene from the Pokémon," Giovanni concluded. "This is where _you_ enter the picture, Mr. Ketchum."

"How will becoming president help you take the Berserk Gene out of Mewtwo?" Ash asked, regaining his air of cool disconnection at the end of the leader's story.

"Every year the Pokémon League brings in hundreds of billions of dollars," Giovanni explained, once again turning his and Ash's seat towards the television set. Pushing a button upon the remote, a large bar graph appeared with dozens of small, colored lines pointing upward. "This graph shows the several ways in which the organization profits. Here you can see that Pokémon battle tickets actually make up a very small percentage of their total revenue. Much of their income comes from the several television stations, radio companies, and toy manufacturers that they own. Not to mention all of the money their investments have made over the last several years."

"I'm not going to help you Giovanni," Ash informed the man after a moment of quiet observation of the chart. He had heard all he cared to about the organization's plans.

"I don't think you understand, Mr. Ketchum," Giovanni began, turning Ash to face him once more. He looked at the boy straight in the eye, appearing gravely serious. "If I can create just a dozen of these psychic Pokémon, who are completely subservient to their human masters, then no man, Pokémon, or machine could stop me. Bullets and bombs would melt before the very presence of such psychic energy." The man's voice grew more excited as he explained his motives.

"The entire planet would have to bow down before Team Rocket."

"That's exactly why I won't help you," Ash responded coolly. "Besides, even if I did make you president, do you honestly think they would just allow you to give all this money to Team Rocket?"

"Mr. Ketchum, I'm surprised at your lack of awareness," the Rocket leader said, regaining his sadistic grin. "Team Rocket would receive none of the League's money. However, I believe the League would, under my supervision, take a new interest in Goodwill Management." With this, he clicked a button on the remote once more, and a plain, black-font logo reading "GM" appeared on the screen.

"Goodwill Management is a study organization dedicated to the improved standard of living for all," Giovanni announced in a monotonous tone, indicating that the line was well-rehearsed and untrue. "I think they would be a good investment for the League to venture upon. Don't you, Mr. Ketchum?"

Though he did not understand economics, Ash certainly understood Giovanni's intentions. "Goodwill Management won't be getting any money from the Pokémon League."

"I see you're still resistant," Giovanni whispered with sarcastic hurt evident in his tone. "That's really quite disappointing. I was hoping I could work with you rather than that other, quite appalling young man. Frankly, you seemed better-mannered and a far better trainer than he."

"A young man?" Ash asked, surprised once more. "Who are you talking about?"

"Why, this young man," Giovanni said, pressing another button.

Upon the screen, Paul Ikari's solemn face appeared.

"Paul???!!!" Ash yelled in shock. "Paul's working with _you_?"

"You sound surprised," Giovanni remarked lightly. "Yes. You see, after you defeated Paul in the Sinnoh Conference, he vowed to make a comeback and win in his next battle against you. I knew you may not be 'on board' with this plan, so several months ago I made a deal with Mr. Ikari promising him your defeat and his promotion to Master if he agreed to my plan."

"He agreed to this?"

"Quite readily, yes. He seemed very intent upon defeating you in battle. In fact, my sources have told me that he won his first battle of the Sinnoh Conference earlier today quite handily. Of course, he hasn't even received _our_ support yet."

Ash had completely forgotten that the Sinnoh Conference had indeed begun the day before, and the preliminary battles started today to decide who continued in the tournament. It was hard for him to believe that only a year ago _he_ had been one of several hundred trainers competing in the popular conference.

"I don't care," Ash responded stoically. He refused his mind from even considering what was being told to him. "I will not make a deal with Team Rocket."

"As you wish, Mr. Ketchum," Giovanni replied as his smile disappeared. He pushed one final button on the remote and the television returned to its original location behind the bookshelves. "You will be returned to your hotel room. Don't expect to remain Champion much longer."

Ash tried to argue, but a suffocating tiredness crept suddenly over him and his protests died in his throat. Though he could not turn his head, he heard a Gengar quietly utter its name as he began to fall asleep.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ash, are you awake yet?" Dawn asked, rapping timidly upon the young champion's door. "It's ten o'clock!"

"I'm up, I'm up," she heard him mutter through the door.

Dawn took a deep breath. "Can I come in and talk for a minute?" she blurted out in a rush, biting her lower lip as she awaited the answer. Dawn knew that now was not the ideal time to confess her feelings for the young man - moonlit sky and soft music being notably absent - but after Misty's revelation the night before, she knew she couldn't afford to delay any longer. If the gym leader chanced to speak to the Champion first, there was no telling how things would turn out, and Dawn was convinced that getting there first was the best chance she had of securing Ash's affections.

"We can talk later," Ash responded, still sounding groggy. "I have to get dressed."

"Well…okay," Dawn relented, somewhat relieved to hear his negative reply. She didn't wish to rush her news anyway. Also, she was now sure that Misty hadn't already spoken to him, since he didn't even seem to be out of bed. She would simply have to wait until nighttime when she could once again be alone with the trainer. "I'll see you downstairs. Me and Misty are already packed and ready."

"Alright."

Walking down the stairs, Dawn found Misty sitting atop her suitcase in the lobby. She was wearing jeans and a form fitting yellow sweater, her long red hair pulled back by a blue ponytail.

As she neared the gym leader, Dawn felt her temper begin to rise. However, she did her best to maintain a calm and impassive persona in front of the redhead. She didn't want their morning encounter to be any more awkward than it was already destined to be.

"He said he'll be down in a minute," Dawn informed Misty in a level voice.

"Okay," Misty muttered, looking at the ground. She had already pulled around the car to the front of the hotel, and hoped Ash would come soon. She wasn't sure how long she and Dawn could remain alone together.

Dawn plopped down on a large blue sofa placed next to the entrance of the hotel. Misty was seated to her left, and was technically facing her, though the redhead immediately averted her gaze towards the reception desk upon the coordinator's choice of seat.

"So…" Dawn began uncomfortably, casting about for a topic of discussion. Anything had to be better than this awkward silence. "Did you sleep well last night?"

Misty started a little at the sudden break of silence, raising her eyes and looking curiously at her companion. "Uh, yeah, sure did," she managed to reply, hoping she sounded tolerably polite. She had no desire to talk to the person who was trying to steal Ash from her. "Did you sleep well?" she pursued, trudging ahead with the conversation so as not to seem rude.

"Uh-huh," Dawn answered with a nod. "Very, uh, comfortable beds. Huh?"

"Sure are," Misty replied flatly. This was physically painful. She was not in the mood to deal with Dawn and her drama; at the moment, her thoughts were taken with a more pressing issue, and the person it concerned was due to arrive at any moment.

The two girls had just fallen back into the awkward lull of silence when Ash finally emerged in the lobby from behind the elevator doors. He looked haggard, as did Pikachu, but neither girl took notice of this for long.

"Morning," he grumbled as he came upon the young women. "Is the car ready to go?"

"Um, yeah," Misty replied, her tone vacillating between shyness and eagerness as she smiled up at him. The events of the previous night flashed vividly before her eyes and she flushed, dropping her eyes to the floor.

"Good," he responded, no sign of excitement in his features. "Let's hit the road."

"Pika," Pikachu agreed wearily. Ash had a difficult time awaking the small Pokémon that morning, and he realized that his beloved companion must have been drugged. He came to this realization upon remembering Pikachu's slumbering form when Giovanni put him on his desk the night before. It was clear that the Pokémon was still dazed as he clumsily followed the three humans out the door, and tried to climb into the vehicle unsuccessfully two times before Dawn picked him up and placed him next to her in the backseat.

"Pikachu is worn out, huh?" she asked as Pikachu lost his balance, fell on his stomach, and instantly went back to sleep.

"Uh, yeah," Ash answered, his mind completely preoccupied. In spite of barely getting any sleep, he was completely alert. However, he did not heed the chit-chat of the young woman as his mind replayed the news he received the night before. He had come to terms with the fact that he had not simply dreamed up the encounter, but he was still trying to decide how he was going to handle the situation.

"Are you okay Ash?" Misty asked tentatively as she pulled the car away from the hotel, her eyes flicking from the road to his face and back again. She now noticed that Ash was not acting as he usually did in the morning; annoyingly upbeat.

"Huh?" he asked, already entrenched in his own thoughts moments after getting in the car. "Yeah, I'm fine Mist."

Chilled by his indifference, Misty's hands tightened on the wheel and she focused on the road. All her fears over the placing of Dawn's affections were suddenly quelled as a flurry of questions arose in her head. The night before she had been sure that Ash felt the same way…but what if she'd accidentally trapped him into reacting that way? What if he'd been so stunned that he hadn't been able to think straight? Or had she simply conjured his reciprocated affection in her mind? She decided to attempt conversation once more as they pulled onto the highway, hoping that perhaps he was just a little groggy.

"So did you sleep well?" She winced at her weak attempt at conversation; apparently, was no better than Dawn at creating topics for discussion.

"Uh-huh," Ash answered mindlessly as he continued to stare out the passenger window. He rested his head upon his right palm as he looked placidly out upon the Johto region

"Did your stomach feel better after you rested?"

"Uh-huh."

_Did a brick fall on your head and cause you to forget what happened last night? _she wanted to ask as fear grew in the pit of her stomach. _Does he even want to go to the party with me?_

Dawn sat in the back seat, carefully observing all that passed in front of her. As Misty fell silent once again, her eyes worried in the reflection of the rearview mirror, Dawn could not suppress a grin. Perhaps all was not lost.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Misty sure is acting a little weird, don't ya think?" Dawn asked as Ash tried yet another tuxedo jacket from the rack.

"I guess," Ash mumbled as he realized the sleeves were several inches too short for him. Half his forearm protruded from the dark outerwear. Sighing, he took off the jacket and handed it to the woman standing next to him.

"Did you like that one, Mr. Ketchum?" the young lady asked the champion politely as she placed the jacket back onto its hanger.

"Yeah, but it was a little short."

"That's no problem," the woman responded kindly. "Just let me get your measurement real quick and we can have that style ready for your big party tomorrow."

"Thanks," Ash said as he lifted his left arm so the saleswoman could measure its length. He was beginning to grow tired of standing in the stuffy tuxedo shop while the employee measured his every ligament, but he knew that he must look nice for the party.

"I mean, she's been acting all goofy around you recently," Dawn continued as the woman rolled back up the measuring tape and wrote something on a pad of paper she had placed next to her.

"Uh-huh," he replied, not really listening. Besides remembering to find the proper attire for such an event, Ash had thought of nothing else than the meeting with Giovanni. He wasn't quite sure whether to trust the Rocket leader or not. He'd known that Paul was an abusive trainer, as had all others who'd had the pleasure of meeting the soulless young man. However, it was hard to believe that even _he_ would stoop so low as to join with Team Rocket.

_He even seemed like he was becoming a better guy, _Ash reflected as his eyes roamed a wall dedicated to bowties. Though Paul certainly wasn't huggable before their Sinnoh League match, Ash had begun to notice a shift in his personality. It was as if he was beginning to truly respect Ash's Pokémon-rearing methods.

Of course, Ash also realized quickly that just because Paul had started to understand there was more to training Pokémon than simply haranguing the poor creatures, that did not mean he was not still a bad guy. Though he'd shown more respect for Ash as their match drew closer, that deference probably did not translate into the end of their rivalry; and it certainly did not translate into the end of Paul's dream to be Champion. Therefore, Ash concluded, it was entirely possible that he _did_ join with Team Rocket out of a mixed desire to become Champion and defeat his archrival of the Sinnoh region.

"Isn't that weird?" Dawn concluded.

"W-what?" Ash asked, shaken from his thoughts by the question. He turned to find Dawn still sitting in the blue fold-out chair, eyeing him intently.

"I was saying that she's been talking about you a lot," Dawn repeated after a sigh. "Isn't that a little weird? I mean, why would she keep talking about you to me?"

"I dunno," Ash answered with a shrug, trying to regain his thoughts. He'd originally agreed to let Dawn come along because she was usually so fashion-conscience. However, today she was much more a burden on him than an asset. It seemed that she'd spent their entire trip out discussing Misty, and since Ash hadn't listened to a word she'd said so far, he had no idea why she was suddenly so keen to discuss the third member of their trio.

"Here you are Mr. Ketchum," the saleswoman said as she reappeared from behind a large rack of suits. "This is your receipt for the tuxedo. It should be ready by tomorrow afternoon as you requested."

"Thanks," Ash said with a smile, glad to see his time in the stuffy suit shop was almost at an end. He grabbed the receipt and looked to Dawn.

"You ready to go back to the hotel?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Dawn answered dejectedly, getting to her feet. She'd hoped that talking about Misty would give her a chance to assess Ash's feelings for the gym leader, and thus help her decide the best way to reveal her own feelings to the Champion. However, since Ash had barely acknowledged her presence all afternoon, let alone entered into a conversation, her attempts had gone unnoticed.

As they walked out the store and down the sidewalk towards the hotel which they had consented upon staying at, Dawn decided to simply breach the subject of the party. After all, it was tomorrow evening, and she didn't want to wait until the last minute to be given the news.

"So Ash," she began carefully.

_I don't wanna be too straightforward._

"Am I going to the dance with you?"

_Dang it!_

"Oh, um, actually I told Misty she was going with me," Ash answered, once again awoken from his reverie. Though he'd hardly had time to think about their encounter two nights earlier, he did remember his agreement to Misty's invitation.

"You did?" Dawn asked, crestfallen.

"Yeah, she came and asked me a couple of nights ago, and I said she could," he answered vaguely, oblivious to Dawn's disappointment. When she didn't reply he turned to look at her, and noticing her visible unhappiness, he attempted to cheer her up. "But the next time there's one of these parties, I promise you can go instead of her, okay?"

Sighing, Dawn muttered a "thanks" dejectedly.

_So that's why she was in his room,_ Dawn realized. _She got all dressed up just so she could take advantage of Ash_. Suddenly, she felt her blood boil and her fists clench as the walked down the sidewalk.

_It wasn't fair of Misty to cheat like that! Ash was supposed to make his own decision, not have others influence his choice,_ Dawn thought angrily as nasty thoughts of the gym leader began to race through her mind. She conveniently forgot that she had done the same thing by giving him medicine and talking privately in his room about the party. Upset as she was though, Dawn decided that she wouldn't be deterred by Misty's cheap tricks.

_This isn't close to being over, _she vowed as the two continued silently towards their temporal residence. Even though she wouldn't be going to the dinner party with him, she was determined not to give in without a fight.

* * *

Author's Notes: So there you have it. The next chapter will have Misty pulling a gun on Dawn…ha,ha not really (though that would be awesome, wouldn't it?). I hope everyone enjoyed learning of Team Rocket's plans (finally!), and I'm sure you all liked the Misty-Dawn dialogue. Please tell me what you thought by REVIEWING PLEASE.

Also, as was foretold by the Chinese in an ancient prophecy, here are this week's reviews:

"Victory or Death" by Templar of Honor – Okay, this guy gives awesome reviews, so I'm going to assume his story is awesome too. I actually haven't gotten a chance to look at it yet, but if his comments to me are anything to go by, then he's certainly a discriminating author with excellent writing abilities. Check this out the moment you have a chance (so will I, TOH).

"The Saviours" by Princess Tiger – I actually have read the first two chapters of this expansive fic, and thus far I really like what I've read. PT's writing abilities are second to no one's and she gives this fic (a complicated wartime Pokémon story) a grim air of realism as she sends her main characters off on a quest to rescue the Pokémon protagonists who have almost all mysteriously disappeared. PT, I promise you as well that I'll get to chapter three soon, and I recommend this to everyone looking for a deep, exciting story.

Alright, those are my recommendations for this week. I want to point out that both these fics were requested to me by their authors, so if you have a story which you think is good, recommend it to me in your review, and I'll probably share it in my next chapter.

Okay, well that's all I got for this week. Remember, look both ways when crossing the street and REVIEW PLEASE!


	25. Dinner Surprise Party

**Hey Everybody!** Well, believe it or not, here's another two week installment! I'm very happy to say that I've had no real trouble with writer's block recently, and I've even started work on chapter 26 already! Anyway, I don't want to make these notes too long because I really want you to start this chapter. I really like to think it's one of my better installments.

One thing before I start though. Two weeks ago, I checked my stats for this fic and found out that I got more hits (over 800!) than ever before in one day! I just wanted to thank y'all for your interest in this story and for your commitment to it! I also wanted to point out, since the stats showed that many readers are not FF members, that I also accept anonymous reviews, so if you're a fan of this story but not a patron website member, still feel free to leave a review. I certainly won't mind!

Oh, and I also have to say thanks (though I prefer not to) to **licoricejellybean** for her help betaing this latest chapter. I'm pretty sure the grammar problems and sentence structure mishaps were perfectly fine before she told me to fix them, but I decided to take her suggestions so she'd feel better about herself (editing my fic is the only reason she has for getting up in the morning).

Okay, now please go READ AND REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Gary: 17

* * *

"Watch out for Dawn, okay buddy?" Ash asked as he scratched behind his companion's left ear. "I don't want Team Rocket pulling any tricks while I'm gone, but if they do, then I'm counting on you to keep her safe."

"Pika, pikachu," replied the Pokémon responsibly. He wouldn't allow anyone to touch the blue-haired coordinator or her Piplup.

"Me and Mist should be back in just a little while," Ash proceeded, talking to Pikachu in a voice usually reserved for parents giving a babysitter information. Ash was still shaken after the encounter with Giovanni three nights earlier, and he wouldn't put it past the wretched man to try and kidnap one of his travelling partners while he was away. Also, though he would never say so aloud, Ash harbored slight doubts over Dawn's battling abilities. Despite her great strides in the contest circuit, she had never been as good at direct battling, and he knew if Team Rocket was to try anything underhanded, Pikachu would be much better suited to deal with them than Piplup.

"Pika, pika," responded Pikachu happily, nodding.

Looking up at the clock on the wall, Ash realized it was almost seven o'clock. Standing up, he reached for his jacket which he'd slung haphazardly over a wooden chair provided by the hotel. Walking over to the full-length mirror by the bathroom, he shrugged the jacket over his shoulders, and couldn't help but grin at his appearance. His hair, after remaining matted to his head under a hat for the past several months, had been extremely difficult to hold down even with a large amount of hair gel. However, he had it somewhat presentable; having spiked it forward in the front, and plastering it down in the back.

Looking down to his left side, he counted five pokéballs; he wanted to have the rest of his battling partners ready, just in case.

Ash's preening was interrupted by a solid knock on the door, and opening it, Ash found Dawn, who was smiling perkily up at him.

"Wow! You look great Ash!" she commented as she stepped past him into the room. Glancing around and quickly identifying his quarters as a complete mess, she turned back to him with a dazzling smile. "Are you excited about your big night out?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda," he responded, a little thrown by her enthusiasm. Though he was definitely relieved to see her smiling again, it was a little odd to see her speaking with such gusto after she'd done nothing but mope after hearing that Misty was going to the dinner party with him. However, it was far from Ash to question someone's reasons for being happy, and he grinned back at her. "It sounds like there's gonna be a lot of food there, so I'm excited!"

Laughing, she lightly slapped his upper arm. "You _would_ be excited about the food."

After joining in her laughter for a moment, Ash remembered what he needed to tell her. "By the way, Dawn. I'm leaving Pikachu with you tonight."

"Oh, really?" she asked, ceasing her chuckles. "Why don't you want him going?"

"It's not me," Ash explained, waving his hands to dismiss the idea. "It's just him. I don't think he'd like going to some stuffy party. Would ya Pikachu?" Looking down at his friend, Ash gave a slight wink.

"Pi," Pikachu replied while shaking his head.

"So would you mind if he stayed here with you for the night Dawn?" Ash asked, already knowing what her answer would be.

"Of course he can!" Dawn replied enthusiastically, though not surprisingly. "He and Piplup will have a great time together. I bet Buneary would like to hang out with you too, Pikachu!"

Fear struck Pikachu upon hearing his admirer's name, but he remained faithful to his master's plan and shot a weak smile up to Dawn. "Pikachu."

"Well, I better get going," Ash said, looking at the clock once more to find that he had less than a minute before he was going to be late. While being tardy for the party didn't bother him, incurring Misty's wrath for making her wait completely frightened him.

"Okay Ash," Dawn replied, still cheerful.

Walking out his room and closing the door after Dawn left with Pikachu in her arms, Ash turned to his two friends. "I'll see you guys in a little while! Pikachu, take care of Dawn."

Dawn laughed as she heard this, but Pikachu nodded solemnly in understanding.

As he walked down the hallway and into the elevator, Ash's mind turned once again to the party. After his encounter with Giovanni, he'd become even more anxious to learn what it was that the League members wanted to talk with him about. Even more importantly, he was eager to divulge the information he'd been given and was excited to see how the other champions would react to all that he had learned on his own. He had been nervous the last few days about how to handle the situation before he realized that he was about to go to a party with some of the smartest trainers in the League. They would know how to help him sort out this Team Rocket problem.

As the elevator door slid open, he walked through the dimly lit lobby and out to the front of the hotel where Misty said she'd be waiting with the car. However, as he stepped outside, he was surprised to see that neither she nor her vehicle was there. Looking both directions, he couldn't find a trace of her headlights either.

"Oh, shoot," he heard a woman say behind him. Turning around, he temporarily lost his breath.

There she was, once again wearing that…_outfit_. He took a moment to memorize how she looked in it. However, after a second he couldn't help but feel awkward. Thoughts of Team Rocket and Paul had filled his head for the last two days, and he'd hardly paid attention to anyone, including the redhead. But now that he saw her in the dress again, Ash couldn't help but remember what had passed between them a few nights earlier, and he felt a blush begin to creep upon his cheeks.

"Sorry, I meant to be down quicker," Misty apologized as she leaned back against the glass door of the hotel entrance. Ash thought for a moment that she was trying to regain her breath, but quickly realized that she was actually using the door as support as she slipped her left foot into one of the golden heels. She soon did the same with the right one.

"You look really nice, Mist," Ash complimented in a hoarse whisper. He didn't know what was wrong with his voice, but it caused the blush on his face to glow a little brighter.

"Thanks, Ash," she replied, her tone suddenly becoming icy as she stood up straight. "I'm gonna get the car."

Because it was mid-March, the sun was down, but there was still a faint afterglow from its radiant shine in the air, and as Ash watched her walk away, his heart leapt, despite the growing uneasiness in his stomach upon hearing her voice.

"I'll go with ya," he cried, racing to catch up.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So, er, are you excited about the party?" Ash asked as he twiddled his thumbs in his lap mindlessly. The drive to the Goldenrod Banquet Villa was a painfully long twenty minutes; the first ten of which had been filled with nothing but awkward silence as the car sped hurriedly, almost frighteningly, along the highway towards their destination.

"Uh-huh," Misty answered frostily. She had the steering wheel clutched tightly in her hands, and though her eyes were on the road, Ash saw distance in her gaze.

Though he hated to even ask the next question which formed in his throat, he couldn't stop himself. "Misty, are you mad at me for something?"

Jerking her head in his direction, he immediately regretted asking such a thing. He could see his own death in her eyes. "Of course not Ash," she replied sarcastically. 'What could have possibly happened that would have made me upset?"

_The kiss,_ Ash thought instantly. His mind returned to the hotel room three days earlier, and his stomach clenched upon hearing her words. _She didn't want to be kissed_.

"It certainly couldn't be that you haven't talked to me the last two days straight except for a few grunts and nods," Misty continued angrily as she pressed upon the accelerator and caused the motor to roar in loud agreement. "I mean, after all, why would that make anyone upset? I didn't even think I was going to the party with you anymore until you asked if I'd be ready at seven."

Despite her rage, Ash couldn't help but breathe a silent sigh of relief. At least he'd been wrong about _why_ she was angry. However, this didn't change the fact that he didn't know _how_ he could help the situation. Looking over at the redhead, whose face was illuminated by the glowing numbers on the speedometer, he regretted his preoccupation over the last few days.

"I'm sorry Mist," he apologized, his voice sincere.

Misty glared at him briefly before turning her attention back to the road. He may have sounded honest, but that didn't change that she'd been worried sick the last two days, wondering if she'd ruined their friendship for good by approaching him so boldly.

Realizing it would take more than simple apology to bring Misty around, Ash continued. "It's just that, well, I've had a lot on my mind these last couple of days. I didn't want to bother you or Dawn with it, so I've been thinking quietly. I didn't mean to act like I was ignoring you, because I wasn't." He looked back over and saw she still had her aqua-green eyes focused on the road ahead. He reached for something more to add.

"I-I'd never ignore you on purpose, Misty."

Though she didn't say anything for a moment, the loud whirring of the motor began to die down, and Ash noticed that the street signs were flying past the vehicle at a slower rater. After a moment, Misty finally found her voice again.

"What have you been thinking about?" Her tone was still flat, but Ash took it as reassurance that she was beginning to forgive him.

"J-just the party, and what they wanna talk to me about," Ash lied. He was determined not to tell either of the young women about what happened to him the other night; both from fear that Dawn or Misty might tell someone else and anger Team Rocket, and because he saw no point in worrying them. He hadn't suffered any injury from the encounter except for a few minor bruises, and it seemed pointless to divulge what happened and risk making Giovanni madder. Though he'd escaped unscathed, he wasn't sure that the criminal syndicate would be as generous to his friends if it was discovered they had knowledge which could cause trouble for the organization.

Misty finally looked back at Ash, and though her expression had softened, he could see a doubt in her eyes that didn't match her words. "Ash, I know you're nervous about this party. Especially since it's your first big social event since becoming Champion, but you should've told me. We're best friends and…"

He couldn't help but feel a little guilty as Misty went on. He hadn't paid attention to her at all for the last two days, and now he was lying to cover up why he had treated her so badly in the first place.

_I'm scum._ He winced as if in pain at the thought. However, he knew he could do nothing about this feeling. Telling the truth would be far worse for Misty than protecting her with this little white lie.

"So we're okay then?" she asked, looking over to Ash once more, having summed up her sermon.

"Yeah, we're great, Mist," Ash replied. "I'm really sorry."

"It's fine Ash," she answered. Then, with a dark smile adorning her face, she continued, "As long as you never ignore me again. The next time you pull this, I'm not gonna be so forgiving, got it?"

"I got it," Ash replied, laughing a little. He was glad to have taken care of the problem _before_ they arrived at the party.

"There it is!" Misty cried suddenly, pointing over the dashboard to a large white structure in the distance. Looking in the direction of her finger, Ash also caught sight of the Banquet Villa. In spite of the serious reasons underlying his going, his stomach lurched a little as Misty made the exit, and he saw dozens of camera lights flashing in the distance. It had been a while since the press had bothered him, mostly due to the low profile he had managed to maintain over the past few months, and he felt nervous as he prepared to enter the center of attention again.

As the car drew towards the domed white structure, a gate came into view. In front of the gate appeared to be a couple of guards and Machoke, who were trying to keep the large amount of reporters from forcing their way through the tall black metal bars and into the party. As their car approached, the journalists and cameras took notice and started to surround the car while it was still twenty feet from the gate. Misty slowed the car to a near standstill so that she wouldn't hurt anybody.

"Move along, move along," Ash heard a few men crying as one of the Machoke carefully lifted several reporters in his arms and carried them away from the automobile.

"Mister Ketchum!" Misty heard one woman cry from the back of the car. "Can I have just a moment, please?" Suddenly, her voice was joined by scores of others as it became known that the Sinnoh Champion was indeed the passenger in the luxury sports car.

Throughout the process, Ash and Misty remained silent, knowing that any courteous response to their inquiries would only lead to further questioning, while at the same time not wanting to be rude and have the next day's magazines' covers reading "Sinnoh Champion and Friend Fiery Duo".

Eventually, and to the two teenagers' general relief, the Machoke were able to clear a gap for Misty to drive through. The gate was open, and the Pokémon and security guards were working together to hold the press back as Misty raced through the gate and up a smooth path towards the building.

Stopping in front of the complex, Misty looked for a place to park, but couldn't find any.

"Where do they want us to park?" she wondered aloud; the first words spoken in the car since they'd exited the highway.

As if on queue, a rather scrawny middle-aged man knocked on the driver's window. Startled, Misty saw the person was wearing a dark red blazer with golden buttons and white gloves. Rolling down her window, she asked who he was.

"I'm the valet ma'am," he replied promptly. "Would you allow me to take your car to the garage?"

"Uh, sure," Misty answered, a little embarrassed that she did not recognize the man's position in the first place. She'd never had a _valet_ pick up her car before, and as she stepped out she realized how nervous she was. As she looked upon the yellow brick building and its tall white dome, with spotlights illuminating the structure in the middle of Goldenrod, it dawned upon her that she was in over her head. This was by far the ritziest party she'd ever attended.

"You okay Mist?" Ash asked, staring at his seemingly dumbfounded friend, who was staring with glazed eyes upon the dome.

"Huh?" she asked, snapping her attention back to the young man. Despite her nervousness, she saw that he seemed perfectly calm as he questioned her with a smile. Knowing that he was just as inexperienced, but not at all queasy at the thought of entering, reassured her. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Well then, let's go in!" he exclaimed excitedly. Though he _was_ nervous, for other reasons, he decided that he must put on a brave face for Misty; especially after almost severing their friendship by acting so distant the last few days.

Together, the two made their way up a winding path towards the large entrance, where the mahogany doors had been left open for the evening so guests could come and go as they pleased. As they were about to enter, Misty felt Ash grab her arm and she instantly turned around.

"What is it?" she asked, half-worried and half-aggravated. She was trying to appear smart and sophisticated as she entered, and Ash had almost caused her to tumble over in her heels.

"Sorry Misty, it's just that I thought we should, you know, like wrap arms or something," Ash explained, feeling his face blush slightly at the suggestion. He had seen the couple before them enter in such a fashion, and it seemed appropriate. However, after hearing Misty's tone, he began to reconsider his action.

"Oh," Misty replied, her eyes growing a little wider. "Uh, okay. Let's do that." Turning around, she held out her left arm, which Ash immediately placed his right arm under with a sigh of relief. Entangling their limbs, they continued at a steady pace through the threshold of the villa.

Both teenagers gasped. In front of them were at _least_ a couple hundred famous trainers, Elite Four members, politicians, and their dates. Looking up, Ash and Misty saw that the ceiling of the domed roof was painted to resemble clear blue sky dotted with a few white clouds and several bird Pokémon. Bringing their attention back to the ground floor, they could see a large white marble staircase which began in the center of the foyer, facing the entrance doors, and divided into two smaller staircases which led to an indoor balcony on the second floor. Though viewable from the outside, Misty finally noted the three very large windows which adorned both sides of the front of the building, and Ash took an almost immediate notice of the various waiters who were carrying various silver platters of food and drink to and fro the small clusters of important individuals who had formed circles of strategy, gossip, and idle conversation.

Walking slowly on the polished hardwood floors, the two looked anxiously about for a familiar face. Ash was suddenly very glad he had Misty with him; it would have been so much more daunting to enter alone.

_I have to know somebody_, Misty assumed as she scanned the seemingly endless ocean of faces. She recognized several people from television, but could not find a single acquaintance as she and Ash continued their slow progress through the room.

As Ash's eyes roamed through the crowds, he wondered where Lance was. However, his focus was broken by a woman who seemed to be waving at him from across the room.

"Hey Mist, I think we know that girl," Ash whispered to his friend. Though there was no need to stay quiet in such a boisterous setting, he did so anyway.

"Really?" she asked, eager to blend in. Squinting hard, she couldn't quite make out the person's face, but was glad to see that she did indeed appear to be waving them over. "Let's go see who she is!"

Clambering through the multiple VIPs and waiters, Ash and Misty finally saw the face of the woman who was waving them over. Though it took Misty a moment to register her face, Ash's eyes instantly gleamed in memory.

"Whitney!" he exclaimed.

"Hey Ash," she greeted with a toothy smile and a small wave. She was wearing a navy blue satin dress with matching heels, and a pair of long white gloves that reached past her elbows. Her long, pink-dyed hair was loose from its usual pig tails and hung down past her shoulders.

"Oh, hey Whitney," Misty said, extending a hand.

"Hello, uh – I'm sorry, the name eludes me."

"Oh, Misty Waterflower," the redhead replied cordially.

"That's right! You were with Ash when he challenged me for a badge last time, right?"

"Uh-huh," Misty affirmed. "That was a long time ago though, so I'm not surprised you don't remember."

Laughing, Whitney replied. "Well, it's not so much the time difference. I've kinda always have been a little air-headed."

Misty did remember that specific trait of the gym leader from their original encounter. Though she was a very sweet woman, Whitney had never seemed to be the sharpest in wit. However, she was not surprised to see that she remembered Ash considering his still recent fame in the Pokémon League.

"How are you?" Ash asked, sparking a conversation.

"Oh, I'm fine, thanks," she answered happily. "Actually though, I called you over for a reason. You see, my boyfriend told me to keep an eye out for you in case he didn't find you first. He wanted me to tell you that you're meeting is gonna be in just a little while. Do you know what I'm talking about?" She included the final question after she noticed the somewhat confused look on Ash's face.

"Uh, I think so," he replied cautiously. "Um, who's your boyfriend?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Whitney asked as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"No."

"I'm going out with Lance right now!" she informed Ash in a high pitch which momentarily garnered the attention of a few passersby. She didn't seem to mind the glances however. "We've been dating for a few months, but he's been trying to keep it quiet."

"Really? Why?" Misty asked, wanting to be a part of the conversation and not just a mute spectator to the discussion.

"I dunno actually," Whitney answered with a shrug. "All I know is that he's been really busy since we first met. He keeps talking about some secret mission thing. Speaking of which, Ash, can you tell me what this big meeting's about?" The pink-haired gym leader looked at the champion with curiosity in her eyes.

"Uh, actually no," he answered truthfully. "He just called me a few days ago and invited me to this party. He said I'd be told everything tonight, though, so maybe he'll tell you too."

"I hope so," Whitney replied with a sigh and a faraway glance. "He's a really nice guy…when he has ten seconds to spend with me. I'm hoping this whole secret mission thing ends pretty soon."

Not quite sure what to say, Ash and Misty simply mumbled in agreement before bowing out of the conversation. As they walked away, Ash noticed that his arm was still entangled with the redhead's. However, she didn't seem to mind, and he decided that it felt rather comfortable.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"How about we watch some T.V. guys?" Dawn asked in a lame attempt at an enthusiastic voice. Though all she wanted to do was curl up in bed and cry, Dawn had attempted to appear cheerful all evening, entirely for Pikachu's benefit. Dawn was terrified that if she moped about the whole evening, the little electric type would "tell" his trainer of her unhappiness, and that was the last thing she wanted.

She sighed as she looked over at Pikachu and Piplup, who sat on her bed enjoying an assortment of Pokémon foods. Throughout the night Buneary had been hiding her face in the wool of the heart vest Johanna had made, and though Dawn's attempt at helping the rabbit Pokémon overcome her shyness around Pikachu through a meal had failed, she still hoped to salvage the night for her battling companion and friend.

_At least I'm not the only one unlucky in love._

Without waiting for an answer, Dawn flipped on the television. A second later, she gasped in surprise.

On the screen was Paul Ikari, standing in the middle of a battlefield and staring solemnly at the camera as applause roared about him.

"Congratulations Paul Ikari! You are going to the Sinnoh League finals!" roared the announcer's voice over the P.A. system.

A young blond woman stepped onto the field with a microphone and held it to her lips.

"Mr. Ikari," she started as the roars continued after what had surely been an exciting battle. "You have a chance to become the new Sinnoh League tournament winner! How do you feel about this opportunity?"

"I don't want to win the Sinnoh League," he replied, still staring fixedly at the camera.

"Uh, you don't?" the reporter asked, obviously thrown off by such an answer. Pulling the hair from her eyes, she quickly countered. "Then what do you want?"

"I want to be the new Sinnoh League Champion."

Dawn felt her blood run cold for a moment as she saw Paul grin for what had to be the third time in his life.

_Something's extra creepy about him_, she thought as she watched the reporter's eyes grow wide.

"Oh, so you're wanting to get back the chance to become Champion after Ash Ketchum defeated you, almost exactly a year to this day, in the Sinnoh League?" she asked, obviously hoping to get some juicy, unexpected, gossip from the young man. However, he said nothing more. He quickly replaced his smirk with his usual grim facial expression and muttered that he wouldn't take any more questions.

"But Mr. Ikari!" the woman called after the trainer as he walked away.

Shaking her head after realizing she had not moved since seeing his face on the television, Dawn rolled her eyes.

_Ash beat him once, and he'll do it again…that is, if he can even make it past the Elite Four._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash stood with Misty, pretending to admire yet another of the large paintings which hung on the walls of the Banquet Villa in intricately designed golden frames. After not recognizing many faces, the two had opted to remain together for the moment, still joined at the arms, and discuss the multiple post-modern works which surrounded them.

"Whadya think this one looks like Mist?" Ash asked as he observed what appeared to be a large white canvas with a black line and a red dot staining the middle.

"Uh, art?" Misty guessed, assuming this was what it must feel like to be her air-headed sisters. She had been unable to grasp the meaning of the last dozen artistic "masterpieces", and Ash had enjoyed hearing her interpretation; as well as sharing his own with her.

"Really?" he asked humorously. "'Cause to me it looks kinda like what I drew in art class when I was six with finger paints."

Misty broke out in laughter once more. She'd initially worried that without anyone else to talk to, Ash would grow restless in her company, but to her surprise they'd been keeping each other amused for the last hour without anyone's assistance.

Suddenly, their laughter was interrupted by the sound of an orchestra in the upper-level of the building. Looking up and to his left, Ash saw that two large balcony doors had been opened, and that dozens of the guests were flooding through the doors to the outside. Confused, he and Misty hastily made their way up the stairs to see what was happening.

"Excuse me sir," Misty said, tapping the shoulder of an older gentleman who was gently leading his wife towards the door. "What's going on?"

Turning to face the redhead, the man replied, "Why the moonlight dance, of course! Every party, we have a dance on the veranda with the Goldenrod orchestra."

"Oh, um, thanks," Misty replied as the man hurried with his wife to take a place out on the balcony. Watching everyone around him hurriedly scuttle through the large doorway, Ash could only assume that the people must have really enjoyed dancing to be so eager to go outside. However, Misty understood that with the cool weather and the clear evening sky, many were probably eager for the romantic ambience which the veranda provided.

Both teens stood quietly for a moment as people continued to brush past them.

"Hey you guys!" a feminine voice suddenly cried from behind. Turning around, the two saw Whitney waving at them as she completed her ascent up the stairs.

"Are you gonna go dancing?" she asked as she approached their blushing faces.

"D-dancing?" Ash asked, startled at the intrusion into his and Misty's uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah," Whitney replied with a sigh. "Lance is still in some meeting, so I can't go yet…even though he promised he'd take me. It's supposed to be really romantic. So are you guys going or what?"

"Uh, well, I-I don't know how to dance," Ash explained nervously. He could feel his palms begin to sweat in excitement at the thought of a dance with Misty.

"Yeah, m-me neither," Misty chimed in. She was lying, of course. She had done several hundred underwater ballets for her sisters before leaving and after returning to the gym, and a key component of her ability to do so resided in the thousands of hours of dance classes she took as a child.

"Oh c'mon you guys!" Whitney pleaded with the two teenagers. "If I can't have any fun, at least have some fun for me! I'll go watch, and if you do anything wrong, I'll tell you!"

"I don't think-" Ash began, before Whitney shoved him and Misty forward.

"I'm not taking no for an answer you guys! Let's go out and have some fun!"

Suddenly, Ash wished that he'd never tried for the Plain Badge all those years ago.

As they were shoved onto the veranda, Misty could see why so many people wanted to be a part of this romantic, picturesque scene. From the back of the structure, several of Goldenrod's sky scrapers pierced the skyline, and from above the full moon shone with brilliant luminosity upon the guests. To the left were at least thirty string musicians who were slowly playing some classical serenade, and surrounding her, despite the balcony's quite large area size, were dozens of couples tightly packed together twirling slowly to the music.

Gulping, Ash felt his forehead sheen in the moonlight as his face turned red once again. He didn't realize that this dance was going to be so…_fancy_.

"Go on, you guys," Whitney urged as they pushed through a rather solid wall of dancers and suddenly found themselves with space to move freely. The veranda was not near full capacity yet, but for some reason many of the couples had remained close to the doors.

"Um, a-alright," Ash said, looking more scared than Misty had ever seen him. Though she'd been lying when she'd said she couldn't dance, Ash had been perfectly serious. While he had certainly done "fun" dancing before, he'd never been asked to dance to such slow, melodious music that didn't have any relevance to him just winning a big battle. "What do I do?"

Without saying a word, Misty slipped her arm away from his, which caused him to immediately worry. However, he was quickly reassured when she took his right hand in her left and entwined their fingers together. She did the same with the opposite hand, and they slowly started moving back and forth, in what had to be the most awkward movement ever.

Ash watched uncomfortably as Misty swayed in perfect time with the beat, her movements light and purposeful despite the awkwardness. He could hardly believe how good she was, especially for someone who claimed they didn't know how to dance. Misty just concentrated on trying to cool her flushed face as she looked directly up at the sky.

"You two look like little kids," Whitney suddenly interjected, breaking up what felt like an eternity of uncomfortable silence.

"What're you talking about?" Ash asked.

"You're staring at your shoes, and she's looking for the Big Dipper!" Whitney criticized. "You two have to get more comfortable!"

"Uh, okay," Ash said. Neither teen had quit their "dancing" during the gym leader's interruption, and so they continued their slight rocking motion; this time while staring directly at each other.

_This isn't fun_, Ash noted as he tried his best to appear normal while feeling himself sweat through his jacket despite the cool climate. He couldn't help but feel as if he'd missed nothing by avoiding dances altogether growing up.

Misty's thoughts weren't far from Ash's. Being so close to the object of her affections was not only terrifying, but also embarrassing. She knew they weren't doing any particular dance, and that this appeared dumb not only to each other, but to any of the other VIP witnesses who happened to glance in their direction.

"There you are, Ash!" a man suddenly cried, instantly causing Ash to break away from Misty to see who was so mercifully calling his name. To his relief, Lance was standing beside Whitney. "I've been looking all over for you!"

"Is it time for the meeting?"

"Yeah, they're all waiting for you downstairs. Follow me." As he walked away, Whitney grabbed his arm.

"But you said we were going to do the Moonlight Dance!" she whined, in a voice that reminded Misty of a pesky child.

"We will later Whit, I promise," Lance vowed as he pulled her arm from his grip. "This is really important, and-"

"I know, I know," the gym leader interrupted. "And you have to help Ash before he gets in trouble."

"That's right," Lance nodded. "Come on Ash."

Obediently following, Ash gave a half-hearted wave to Misty before disappearing with the Kanto Champion into the swarm of dancers. "See ya in a little while Mist."

"Okay Ash," she replied with a sigh.

"You wanna go sit at a table?" Whitney asked, brushing a strand of hair from her eyes. She pointed to several rows of metal tables and chairs lined along the edge of the balcony. "We could get something to drink and catch up."

Smiling, Misty politely declined, her eyes already following Ash as he followed Lance through the crowd.

"I think I'll go wait for Ash."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ash, this is Steven Stone, Champion of Hoenn, and I'm sure you remember Cynthia, the Champion of Sinnoh," introduced the redhead as he and Ash walked through a small, hidden door at the base of the staircase. Ash was surprised to find that the small office held little more than a fold-out card table and the important trainers sitting in two small plastic chairs. He also noticed that his head almost reached the ceiling, and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

_Giovanni's office was a lot cooler_.

"It's great to see you again Ash," Cynthia greeted with a small wave.

"Yes, it's nice to meet again after so many years," Steven commented with a smile. Pushing a third plastic chair out with his foot from under the table, he invited Ash to take a seat.

Sitting on the opposite side of the table, Lance began the conversation while Ash remained quiet.

"Ash, it's been a couple years since we last met, hasn't it?" Lance asked with a serious face. Steve and Cynthia were both looking at each other silently as if they were having a telekinetic conversation, but otherwise all was quiet within the fluorescently-lit cement-walled room.

"Uh, yeah, it has," Ash answered truthfully. The last time they'd seen each other was in Hoenn, after Groudon and Kyogre's epic clash of titans. Since then, he'd heard nothing of the champion.

"Do you remember the first time we met? When we were both here in Johto?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Ash replied. He had to admit that, since the meeting was almost six years earlier, his memory was a little blurry on specifics, but he of course remembered meeting the champion as an eager young trainer. "That's when you caught that red Gyarados."

"That's right!" Lance said eagerly, surprising Ash by the change in his voice. "And do you remember why I was there in the first place?"

"Not exactly," Ash said, wracking his memory for any clues to the answer. "I think you said something about being in an organization."

"Right again," Lance replied, smiling. "I was, and am, a member of the Pokémon G-Men. We're an undercover group who go about uncovering nefarious plots by criminal groups like Team Rocket and Galactic. We use this information to help the police make arrests and have put a lot of criminals behind bars."

"That's cool," Ash commented in awe.

"Anyway, the G-Men is an exclusive group, for obvious reasons," the champion continued to explain, the smile fading from his face. "We have about a hundred trainers who are members. Several of them are working undercover as we speak to dig up the next big plan of one of these big criminal syndicates. That's why we've called you here."

"Because Team Rocket wants me to make Giovanni the President of the Pokémon League?" Ash asked curiously.

Suddenly, Cynthia and Steven both jerked their heads in his direction, gazing at him in what was surely stunned disbelief. Lance had the same look plastered on his features as well.

"How did you know that?" he asked after a brief moment of silence.

"I was kidnapped a couple of days ago by Team Rocket and Giovanni explained what they wanted to happen," Ash answered. It felt good to finally tell someone about what had happened.

"Y-you met Giovanni?" Steven asked, shock still apparent.

"Yeah," Ash replied with a sigh of relief. "That's why I was so glad to have this party. Lance had told me about it the morning before I was captured and said that you guys," he nodded at Steven and Cynthia, "would be here. When Team Rocket brought me back to my hotel, I realized that you guys would probably know how to help me."

"Um, why don't you tell us what Giovanni told you?" Cynthia asked, clearly wanting details. "We thought you wouldn't know anything about Team Rocket's scheme, but now it seems like you probably know more than us."

Glad to bare the details to _some_one, Ash explained the entire ordeal from a few nights earlier, including what Giovanni told him.

After he finished, roughly forty-five minutes later, the three champions had replaced their looks of disbelief with those of disappointment.

"Is something wrong?" Ash asked after concluding his tale and seeing that all three adults were frowning and staring worriedly at each other.

"No, it just that we already knew that," Steven answered for the group. "Don't get me wrong, we're glad you know about their plot and that you said no of course, but we were hoping that maybe he'd have revealed more to you than our agents had already uncovered."

"The G-Men detectives already figured this out?" Ash asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they've been studying up on this for a while," Lance explained. "Team Rocket's _very_ protective of who rises in their ranks, so most of our agents are only grunts, but over the last year they'd been collecting rumors from various sources and piecing the information together for us."

"So what are you gonna do?" Ash asked, quite eager to hear of the G-Men's plan of action to take down Team Rocket and prevent them from unfairly taking his title of Champion of Sinnoh away.

After a long pause, Lance looked directly at Ash. "Nothing," he replied calmly.

Feeling his heart sink at the news, Ash's mind raced.

_Is this some kind of joke? How could they not do anything? They know what's going on!_

However, the only word which left his lips was "Why?"

"Because there's not enough evidence," Lance explained, regret very apparent in his tone. "We can only help the police when there's reasonable proof that the hypothetical transgressor is indeed committing an illegal act. We're not vigilantes, and we don't have the people or resources to gain access to Team Rocket's secret files. We've already lost a few agents in the past trying to do just that."

"But what am I supposed to do?" Ash asked, beginning to panic. "Team Rocket is supporting Paul!"

"I'm not saying this is easy," Lance replied, casting his eyes downward for a moment before returning Ash's gaze. "It's true that Paul seems to have already 'acquired' several rare and powerful Pokémon during his last seven battles according to his Pokédex information. However, he doesn't have something that you do…us."

"Huh?" Ash asked, still panicked, but also confused.

"Ash, we've all set aside the next two weeks, which we're expecting is how long Paul will take to fight his way through the Elite Four, to help you train," Cynthia explained with a helpful smile.

"We're not letting Team Rocket just take over the Pokémon League," Steven continued in the woman's place. "We're ready to help train you and your Pokémon to your fullest physical and mental capacity so that Paul doesn't make it."

"But what if he does?" Ash asked, not feeling any less concerned. In fact, having some of his biggest idols take time off their busy schedules to help _him_ train made him even more uneasy at the prospect. "What if he manages to beat me with all those super rare and powerful Pokémon that Team Rocket has? He'll just be able to waltz up to the Master and take over!"

The three adults looked at each other again guiltily before gazing at Ash and nodding simultaneously.

"If you lose, the Master's the only one who stands in Team Rocket's way of domination," Lance added, unhelpfully. "That's why we're dedicated to helping you, Ash. Even though you're at or beyond our level, we're still some of the highest-ranked trainers in the Pokémon League, and we have some of the most rare and powerful Pokémon around. After two weeks with us, you'll be ready."

Ash was still reeling from the news that all he had worked for to become a Master, not to mention becoming Champion in the first place, was still on the line. However, he realized how ungrateful it would be of him to explain so. Instead, he offered a quiet "thank you very much" before standing and solemnly shaking the hands of each of his heroes.

As he walked out, Lance called after him.

"We'll pick you up tomorrow morning at eight sharp! Remember to have your best team selected. We'll start training immediately!"

"Okay," Ash replied, turning and feigning a confident smirk. "See you tomorrow."

Closing the small door behind him, Ash walked back onto the main floor to find that it was almost devoid of guests, save for a few people who were postulating their own theories on the paintings' meanings.

As he began to climb the stairs, he was pleasantly shocked to find Misty. She was leaning over the railing of the steps, probably staring at the hardwood floors with disinterest. Walking over to her, Ash tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ah!" she cried, spinning around. Her eyes wide from surprise, she was about to scold Ash before realizing how terrible he looked. The smile which had illuminated his face for most of the night was now replaced by that troublesome frown, and the light which shone in his eyes when he was excited seemed to have once again flickered out.

"Sorry I scared ya Mist," he apologized, hoping he could curb her fury.

"What's the matter Ash?" Misty asked immediately. "You look really upset."

"It's nothing," Ash responded, prepping his voice with fake sincerity as he carefully avoided her gaze. She could tell that something was amiss.

"No Ash, it isn't nothing!" she barked, causing Ash to jolt in shock. A few of the people admiring the paintings turned to see what was happening, but soon lost interest after Misty lowered her voice. "You've been acting weird the past several days, and then today, when it seems like you're finally normal again, you act all depressed again! What's going on with you?" The agitation in her voice covered the worry which was growing inside her for the teenage boy.

Sighing, Ash realized where he'd gone wrong. He'd tried to hide his feelings, despite the fact that he normally wore his emotions on his sleeve. It had become apparent to Misty that something was wrong, and he'd simply allowed her to worry without any reassurance. Looking directly at the redheaded young woman, he swallowed…and told the entire story.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I can't believe you didn't tell me this before," Misty said sympathetically as she stood close to Ash and listened to his conclusion of what had happened in the meeting minutes earlier. "You were kidnapped? And Paul's working for Team Rocket?" She had remained silent, in part out of respect, and in part out of shock, and wanted to ensure that she'd heard correctly. And despite the tumult of worry and fear that had descended upon her during the course of his story, Misty couldn't help but feel the slightest tinge of relief. At least she knew now that Ash's weird behavior over the last few days hadn't been because of what almost happened between them that night in his bedroom.

"Yeah," Ash replied, feeling better now that his best friend knew. However, he was still troubled.

"But they said they're gonna help you train, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"So why do you still look worried?" Misty asked, impatience creeping into her tone. "The most powerful trainers in the world agree to help you train for one of the biggest battles of your life, and you act like a kid who's Growlithe got hit by a car!"

"It's just…" Ash began before fading. He didn't want to admit this aloud, since he'd rarely ever done so in his time as a trainer.

"Just what?" Misty asked, still sounding incredulous at the thought of him being troubled by something.

"It's just that I don't know if I can do it," he replied, looking at the ground in shame. "I know I'm the champion and everything, but…I mean, Paul's got all those resources and new Pokémon. Team Rocket has trained him, Mist. I saw the tapes, they know my exact battle style and how it's changed since I was a kid."

The redhead was quiet for a moment, but surprised Ash by taking his right hand in a firm grip and leading him down the stairway.

"Where are we going?" he asked, not pulling away.

However, the gym leader did not respond. Instead, she continued her steady but determined march towards the exit of the building. When they were outside, she removed her heels quickly, grabbed Ash's hand once more and led him away from the winding path into the rather large, grassy field which surrounded the mansion. When they were at last several hundred feet away from the building, with the entrance gate less than a speck in the distance, Ash yanked his arm away.

"Where are you taking me?" he questioned, completely confused.

Opening her small purse which she'd kept clutched in her right fist, she pulled out a single pokéball and dropped the bag to the ground.

"You don't think you're ready?" she asked loudly and demandingly, her eyes ablaze even in the moonlight. "Then battle me right now."

"Battle you?" Ash asked, even more confounded. What was she talking about?

"You heard me Mr. 'I'm not good enough to beat some wimp with purple hair'. If you really think you're so weak then prove it! Lose to me in a battle!"

"I'm not gonna battle you Mist," Ash replied slowly backing away. He didn't know why she was doing this. He wanted comforting words, not belligerent harassment.

"Ash, why are you so afraid of losing to Paul?" Misty asked, her voice just as stern, but at a lower decibel.

"Because everything I worked for will have been for nothing."

"That's not it," Misty refuted. "You've had everything you've worked for demolished dozens of times, but you were always eager about the upcoming battle and the future in general. Why are you so afraid of _losing_ to Paul? Where's your confidence?"

Realizing that she was right, though not shocked by the finding, Ash admitted the truth. "Because he's got strong Pokémon. I haven't battled seriously since my match with Cynthia…what if I don't have the talent anymore?"

"That's why we're gonna battle," Misty replied determinedly. "To see if you really _do _have the talent anymore. I've been your coach for the last seven years, and I'm one of the best trainers around." Ash did not take this as the time for an argument over that. "If you've lost your talent, then I'll know after battling you. So choose your Pokémon!"

At her order, a small grin pervaded Ash's lips. He took off the expensive tuxedo jacket which he'd paid special attention throughout the night to not stain, and threw it on the ground beside him. Reaching to his left waist, he grabbed a pokéball, not even sure which battling companion it withheld, and enlarged it. Holding it in front of Misty, he challenged her. "Bring it on."

Smiling herself, Misty threw her shoes next to Ash's jacket, and the two ran in opposite directions before finally deciding they had enough space between them for an adequate battlefield.

"You ready to lose Ketchum?" Misty yelled from across the open field.

"I'm never ready for that!" Ash cried back, feeling his heart begin to race as a _real_ test of his skill began to unfold. Loosening his bowtie, he took a deep breath before launching the red and white sphere high into the air. "C'mon out!"

In a blaze of white light, Ash's Croconaw appeared, immediately taking a battle stance.

_Not bad for a random choice_, Ash thought as he quickly drew up a mental strategy. Since he was a water type, he would only be weak to electric and grass attacks, which Ash was confident Misty's Pokémon were not capable of. However, Croconaw didn't have any moves which would be super effective against Misty's water Pokémon either, so the battle was going to require some creativity.

"Then I choose Gyarados!" Misty cried. Upon his release, the blue monstrosity roared approvingly of his master's choice. Looking down upon Ash's big Jaw Pokémon, the teenage boy could almost swear he saw the water creature smirk.

"Headbutt!" Misty ordered before Ash could think through his plan. In response, Gyarados brought back his long neck before launching his head directly into Croconaw. Ash's battling partner was pounded into the ground underneath the weight of the attack, and as Gyarados lifted himself back up, Croconaw struggled to regain his balance before another offensive move was made by his opponent.

"Croc, use Screech!" Ash ordered. Opening his massive mouth, the blue Pokémon emitted a high pitch squeal that caused both trainers and Gyarados to flinch.

"Now use Ice Fang!"

Running up to Gyarados' large underbelly, Croconaw's teeth glowed an eerie blue-white color as he opened his mouth and viciously tore into Gyarados. The flying and water type cried in pain, louder even than his opponents Screech.

"Hey, what's going on out there?" someone asked in the distance, though both trainers were too focused on what they were doing to care.

"Protect, Gyarados!"

His eyes glowing red, the atrocious Pokémon released small shockwaves from his mouth down to Croconaw, who was momentarily shocked before letting go of his opponent. "Now use a Hydro Pump!"

Opening his mouth, the dragon-like Pokémon unleashed a torrent of water, aimed perfectly at Ash's friend.

"Use Hydro Pump too!" Ash ordered. Reenacting his opponent's actions, Croconaw shot a large jet of water at Gyarados', resulting in the two fountain's collision. For several seconds, the force of the jets seemed contained to directly between the two Pokémon, but slowly Ash noticed that the area where the two jets met was closing in on his Croconaw.

Thinking quickly, Ash remembered a move both his Squirtle and Dawn's Piplup had used which may help. "Croconaw, Hydro Pump the ground!"

Obeying his master, the Pokémon redirected his attack and was instantly launched into the air before the opposing Hydro Pump could make contact with his body. Though Piplup had done this with a Water Gun, Ash reasoned, Croconaw would have to use a Hydro Pump in order to keep up his heavy body weight.

Landing on the ground once again, Croconaw stared at Gyarados fiercely as he awaited the next order. Gyarados reciprocated the action, and both Pokémon breathed a little heavier after having used such powerful water attacks for such long periods of time.

"Gyarados, use Body Slam!" Misty commanded, not wanting to waste anymore of her Pokémon's precious water power until absolutely the right time.

Leaping forward, Gyarados straightened his entire body and fell directly on top of Croconaw, who still stood waiting for an order.

"Use Crunch!"

Opening his large jaw once more, Croconaw waited for the Pokémon to fall on top of him. When he did, it appeared that Ash's Pokémon had been completely enveloped beneath the weight of his opposition, but Ash knew better. After several seconds of watching Gyarados' face directly in front of him, the champion saw what he'd been waiting for; a flinch. Lifting his massive upper-half off the ground, Croconaw was found holding a death grip onto Gyarados' body, which caused the Pokémon to roar in pain once again. However, this time Croconaw was much higher on his neck, and Ash realized the inadvertently gained potential of the situation.

"Use Protect again!" Misty commanded, though this time Croconaw was too near his head for Gyarados to shoot him off.

As Gyarados tried to unsuccessfully rid himself of the pesky Pokémon, Ash took advantage. "Slash attack Croconaw!"

Raising his right claw, the Pokémon scored critical damage by striking the area directly under the water and flying type's chin.

"Keep doing it, buddy!"

Croconaw repeatedly slashed through the scaly surface of Gyarados' body, emitting larger and more revealing roars of pain.

After this continued for at least another minute, Gyarados seemed to lose patience with his master's inability to think of a proper move, and he began to thrash about and wave his head at a dangerous speed.

Ash recognized the Thrash attack and realized that despite his strength, his Pokémon would not be able to hold on much longer. When Gyarados was relatively still for a moment, Ash ordered his companion to let go. Croconaw landed back on the ground, and now Gyarados had a clear aim.

"Finish him quick!" Misty commanded, afraid her Pokémon might act up again if she did not take charge once more.

Charging a Hyper Beam as he opened his mouth, Croconaw looked back at Ash, who decided to take on the attack with his own.

"Croconaw, when he shoots, use Hydro Pump!"

Though his Pokémon's eyes widened a little in shock at the order, he nodded and turned back, waiting for the attack to complete charging. With another roar, this time of power, Gyarados shot the large beam of light downward, which Croconaw stopped with his own Hydro Pump. However, it was obvious to all that the water attack wouldn't be sufficient to hold off the impending ray of light, seeing as the Hyper Beam was drawing ever-nearer, and Misty ordered Gyarados to continue. "He's almost finished!"

Waiting until the last possible second, when Croconaw's entire face was illuminated by the bright light of the attack, Ash told him to jump out of the way. Doing just that, the Hyper Beam plummeted straight into the ground. Breathing hard, and having taken large damage from Croconaw's biting attacks, Gyarados growled menacingly as he saw his attack had been ineffective.

Knowing that a recovery time would be necessary before he could strike again, Ash ordered a joint Ice Fang and Slash attack on Gyarados. Running to his underbelly once more, Croconaw took another large bite of his opponent and began slashing away, causing more and more pain.

Ash didn't know how he was able, but Gyarados remained up for another minute; though he was completely incapable of using any of the moves Misty was commanding of him. Despite his resilience, after taking so many direct hits from his opponent, the Pokémon started to sway, and eventually fell over on his right side.

Grinning, Ash realized what had happened. He had _beaten_ Misty's much stronger Gyarados with Croconaw!

Pumping his fist in the air, he cheered, and Croconaw ran over to him and jumped at him, causing Ash to fall over. He was too happy to care though, and while they celebrated a hard fought victory, Misty consoled her Pokémon who looked at her with apologetic eyes. Returning him to his pokéball, she noticed the sound of voices. Looking to her right, she saw that much of the party was standing and applauding the excellent show.

"What a great battle!" one gentleman exclaimed.

"Your Gyarados did a great job!"

"I couldn't believe how powerful that Croconaw was!"

"I guess there's a reason he's the Sinnoh Champion."

Ash recalled his Pokémon and was about to make his way over to Misty, who was already surrounded by a group of VIPs congratulating her on her performance and commenting on how well she'd trained such an unpredictable Pokémon. He hesitated, seeing how much she appreciated the praise, but just as he debated how best to approach her, Misty turned and saw him staring at her. Her face broke out into a beautiful smile and she shot him two thumbs up, her eyes glittering triumphantly in the moonlight.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Laughing, the two teenagers entered the hotel lobby. It was past midnight, and they'd just come from the Pokémon Center where both Croconaw and Gyarados were going to spend the night and receive some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

"We really became the life of the party, huh?" Misty asked as they walked into the elevator. Ash pushed their floor's button and agreed.

"Yeah, we were pretty popular."

"So do you feel nervous anymore?" Misty questioned.

"No. I think you were right. That battle was exactly what I needed to help calm my nerves down."

"I'm glad to hear I was right…as usual," Misty kidded. As the doors opened, the two walked down the hallway towards Misty's room, still joking and laughing. However, their laughter ceased when they saw a door open and Dawn walk out in her pink pajamas.

"There you guys are!" she cried, sounding relieved. "Why were you out so late? I thought you said you wouldn't be that long."

"Well, the party was more interesting than we thought it would be," Misty answered truthfully. "So we decided to stay a little longer."

Not liking Misty's tone, which sounded slightly vindictive to her ears, Dawn ignored the answer and looked at Ash. "Well, Pikachu fell asleep playing with Piplup and Buneary. Do you want him to just stay with me for the night?"

"I guess so," Ash answered with a smile. He was glad to know that Pikachu's services hadn't been required. "I don't wanna wake him up if I don't have to."

"So are you guys going to bed now?" Dawn asked, hoping to deflate the situation. She could tell from their delighted expressionsthat something special had happened, and she couldn't help but try to break up their late evening fun before it got out of hand. "Or do you wanna stay up and watch T.V. or something?"

"Uh, no," Ash answered. He couldn't help but feel like Dawn was rushing him and Misty to their respective room, and her presence felt oddly intrusive. "It's pretty late, and I have to get up early in the morning."

"Yeah, I guess we'd better go to bed," Misty reluctantly agreed, wishing Dawn had never heard them coming down the hallway. She'd hoped to maybe reenact the scene from a few nights earlier, but the blue-haired coordinator had all but completely obliterated that possibility. "I'll see ya tomorrow Ash."

"Hold on Mist," Ash said, catching the gym leader off-guard. "Uh, Dawn, could you give me and Misty a sec? Y'know, uh…alone?"

Misty's and Dawn's hearts leapt at the news, but for different reasons. "Uh, s-sure Ash," she replied shakily. "Goodnight, you guys."

Shooting daggers through Misty with her eyes, she turned and went slowly back into her room. Once the door was closed behind her she pressed her ear tightly to the smooth wooden surface, listening intently and hoping to catch what the champion was saying.

"Mist, I just wanted to say thanks for tonight," Ash said gratefully, looking directly at the redhead trainer. "If you hadn't been there, I think I'd still be worrying about this battle, but you knew how to help me."

"It's no problem Ash," Misty answered with a blushing smile. "It was just a lucky guess."

"No, it wasn't," Ash refuted, shaking his head. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he continued. "You knew that I needed my confidence back, and you _knew_ how to give it to me."

"Okay, Ash," Misty answered, trying to laugh a little, but finding it hard to breath with his hand draped over her shoulder like it was, and with him in such close proximity to her. "Th-thank you."

"I guess what I'm saying Mist, is just…I dunno," Ash continued, starting to feel idiotic. He couldn't express what he wanted to say, and he accredited this mainly to his limited vocabulary. However, to Misty, he was saying more than he ever had before. "I guess I'm just trying to say thank you."

Though he'd concluded his speech, neither teen moved, and he kept his hand locked onto Misty's shoulder.

"I guess we should go to bed, huh?" Misty whispered after a moment. This was the last thing she wanted, but she didn't want them to stand there until it became awkward, and she wanted Ash to decide whether he wanted this night to end or not.

"I-I guess so," Ash responded, whispering as well. However, he felt the powerful urge he'd felt a few nights earlier rise within his chest like a balloon, and he knew he wanted more than a simple "goodnight".

Taking Misty by surprise, the hand on her shoulder pulled her closer to the champion, and leaning down quickly, as if afraid something might ruin the moment at any second, Ash pressed his lips to hers, causing a sensation which neither teen had felt.

Though it was their first kiss and thus a little awkwardly placed as their lips meshed together, both Ash and Misty could've sworn that it was the most romantic and electrifying event of their lives.

Continuing to hold her shoulder in his right hand, Ash's hand crept unconsciously around Misty's waist as her eyes fluttered shut, her fingers threading into his long hair. Ash responded by pulling her closer and pressing his lips even harder onto hers.

Though it couldn't have lasted more than a minute, when the two separated and stared at each other with wide eyes, they both could've sworn from their heavy breathing that they'd been going for several hours.

"Wow," Ash stammered in a shaky breath after he somehow found the ability to speak amongst the millions of thoughts whirring through his head.

"I know," Misty replied after a second more of catching her breath. She seemed equally shaken by the event, but she couldn't help the grin which suddenly emerged. She felt as if she were flying as she looked over at the boy who was now staring at the ground and had a face as red as a tomato berry.

"Thank you," she whispered, leaning up once more and pecking his cheek lightly. She gazed at him for a moment longer with an irrepressible smile, her eyes dancing with happiness, before biting her lip and turning away, flushing like an embarrassed child. Her long red hair streamed out behind her as she ran for the safety of her own quarters, but once in her room Misty didn't even bother to take off her shoes, though they'd been rubbing her feet for the last several hours. She simply flopped onto her bed and stared blankly up at the ceiling, loving the thrilling sensation which still plagued her lips as she replayed Ash's words and gentle caresses over and over again in her mind. A silent squeal escaped her as she covered her face with her hands and turned to bury her head in her pillows, knowing that there was no chance she'd sleep that night.

Ash simply continued to stand for a moment in the hallway trying to understand what had taken place. He then walked in slow, measured steps to his room and carefully closed the door behind him. He clutched the handle for several more seconds before the enormity of his emotions engulfed him and he began jumping up and down in celebration. He felt as if he were soaring on Charizard's back, and he couldn't stop dancing for quite a while.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Dawn heard the far off sound of a door closing and retreated towards her bed in disappointment. She had no idea what had happened. They'd started whispering shortly after starting their conversation, so she could only assume they'd gone to bed by now. Still, she didn't like how they'd been acting upon their arrival, and as she laid back down in her bed between Pikachu and Piplup, she realized that action would have to be taken quickly if she was going to win Ash from Misty's clutches.

And now she had the perfect opportunity.

* * *

Author's Notes: I know, I know, you all wanted Dawn and Ash to hook up, but I just thought this would really throw you for a loop. Ha,ha! Anyway, I really don't know what to say about this chapter, because honestly, I think it speaks for itself. Please REVIEW and tell me what you thought (be it good or bad), because I'm desperate to improve this story for y'all's enjoyment.

Okay, as was warned to Caesar upon the Ides of March; here are this week's recommendations!

"Journey of Legends" by livezinshadowz – Honestly, this is one of the best written stories I've found on this site in a while. This guy is very descriptive (which y'all know I'm a fan of), but the plot's stellar as well (pokeshipping). Please, if you like well-written stories that will just make you want to read more, go to his fic by putting this title in the search bar. He's only gotten a few reviews (can't understand why), and we absolutely need to encourage him to continue this awesome story for…uh, well, me. I really want to see what happens. Ha,ha!

"Pokémon Origins: Training" by silentlysnowing – Another great story which I've just started but promises to keep me hooked. It's an original character fic, and has a very unique plotline as well. Also, just like the first, this one is very well-written and easy to read. Keep up the great work SS!

"Pedestal" by Digital Skitty – I've only just started this over 90 chapter fic (wow!), but it really interested me. Again, it's an original character fic (I like reading about other people's interpretations of the Pokémon world), and the author's really starting off strong about a story of a young girl who's starting her own journey. After you read the first two recommendations, give this one a try.

Okay, well that's it for this week.

Oh, and before I let y'all go, I want to steal something from **licoricejellybean** (she owes me so much for editing her story anyway, I'm sure she won't mind…even if she does, oh well). I've decided to take my own poll, and I want you, the readers, to answer in the review section. How awesome an author am I on a scale of 9 to 10; with 9 being extremely awesome, and 10 being unbelievably, unrealistically awesome.

As I said before, please, please, whether you're a member of the site or just an anonymous viewer, leave a REVIEW! We're so close to 400 now guys, and comments continue to fuel my creativity and better my writing skills so all of you can get the most out of your reading experience. Alright, now that my rants over…have a Happy Easter and a good couple of weeks!


	26. Training

**Hey Everybody!** Well, I'm very sorry for the one week delay on this chapter, but, as most of my reviewers know now, I've had a pretty rough last couple of weeks because of the Iceland volcano deal. Finding alone time to work on my story was pretty much impossible until about five days ago, so I wasn't able to fulfill my obligation to you guys like I'd wanted. However, I'm happy to say that I'm already working on chapter 27, and barring another eruption while I'm in the Netherlands, there should be no problems with updating. As usual, I don't want to talk about this chapter now and spoil anything, but look for my notes at the bottom for my thoughts.

I would also like to take this time to mention that in two weeks, I got 30 REVIEWS! They were almost all for chapter 25, and they were all very helpful. I can gladly say I received some very useful criticism which I've taken to heart, along with some very nice compliments on my story. Unfortunately, again because of the volcano deal, I was not prepared to answer every one of these reviews (though I did get to about 20 of my readers). If you are one of the readers I did not respond to though, please accept my humble apology. I promise if you review this chapter, then I will gladly write you back expressing my gratitude and informing you on the strides I'm making to complete chapter 27. Again, to my loyal reviewers, I'm sorry. If you've followed me for long, then you know I don't take a single reader for granted, and I appreciate all feedback.

As a final note, I'd like to mention that Radiant Rainstorm is having this chapter dedicated to her for providing my 400th review! Honestly, the last few chapters I've been averaging 13 reviews per installment, so reaching the 400 mark was a great surprise. Please keep it up, and remember that I accept anonymous (non-member) as well as member reviews…everyone's opinion is important to me!

Alright, go ahead and read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Paul: 14

* * *

"_Pikachu, use a Thunderbolt!" Ash commanded with as much authority as he could muster. Pikachu was his last Pokémon, and Paul was still on his first. The crowd was roaring its disapproval of Ash's poor performance, but neither he nor his Pokémon seemed able to overcome the trainer's unbelievable strength._

"_Take it head on!" Paul cried to his Pidgey, who was hovering directly in front of Pikachu. "You can handle it!"_

_Sure enough, as Pikachu unleashed yet another powerful electrical assault, the Pidgey which had taken out Charizard, Torterra, Buizel, Swellow, and Heracross continued to hover in the air without flinching as it took on the voltage._

"_Now, use Tackle!" ordered Paul._

_Pidgey immediately dashed towards Pikachu, and upon contact with the mouse Pokémon, sent him sailing out the stadium._

"_Pikachu has left the building!" cried the referee as he held up Paul's green flag. "Pidgey is the automatic victor! Paul Ikari is the new Sinnoh Champion!"_

_The stadium burst into applause as the despicably weak and hopeless Ash Ketchum was dethroned as their regional champion, and the mighty Paul Ikari took his place._

"_Congratulations, Mr. Ikari," Giovanni spoke into a microphone as the applause continued. He had the Sinnoh League trophy in his free hand. "You are the new champion for this region. I'm sure you'll have no trouble becoming the Master either."_

"_How's it feel, Ash?" the hated rival questioned with a malevolent smirk._

_The now former champion lowered his head and turned around rather than answer._

_He figured he'd better begin searching for Pikachu now. It looked like Pidgey had knocked him into the stratosphere, and the Pokémon had probably landed miles away from the actual stadium._

With an abrupt start, Dawn awoke to the sound of her cell phone ringing on the nightstand next to her cot. She grumbled as she reached over and turned off the ringing pink contraption, slowly opening her eyes and adjusting them to the fluorescent light which illuminated her cramped quarters.

"Time to wake up Ms. Stone," Nurse Joy informed the young woman cheerily as she sat up. At the foot of her bed, she could see that her Piplup had, as of yet, remained blissfully unaware of the rude disturbances and was still slumbering peacefully. "It's six a.m.!"

"That's right," Dawn grumbled sleepily as she rubbed her eyes. She turned sideways and placed her bare feet on the cold linoleum floor, causing a shiver to creep up her spine. "Thanks Nurse Joy."

Standing up and stretching, she was unsurprised to find that her back ached slightly from the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. Back when she traveled with Ash and Brock, these accommodations would have been perfect, but after being spoiled and staying in nice hotels on Ash's dime the last few months, the thin green mattress with white sheets was no longer deemed comfortable by her body.

Shuffling to the bathroom which, because of the lack of current residents in the Center, belonged solely to her, she thought of the dream which the nurse had taken her out of. It wasn't a pleasant one, but it was one which she'd been experiencing more and more lately as the media buzzed with excitement over Paul Ikari's "astounding" victories over three of the Sinnoh Elite Four. What amazed her, as she'd watched two of his matches against Flint and Bertha, was how powerful his Pokémon appeared to be. In both matches, he'd used a set of six completely different creatures, though both were unbelievably powerful. What caused her to worry for Ash though, was the fact that he'd yet to lose a Pokémon in battle. When Ash had battled Flint, he'd been left with only two fighting partners after what many had considered a close match for most of the time, but it seemed like Paul effortlessly glided through each battle.

_I hope Ash gets all the training he needs,_ she thought as she rinsed her toothbrush and covered it with milky white toothpaste. She didn't know the specifics, but when she'd awoken the day after the dinner party in Goldenrod, Misty simply informed her that Ash had gone off to do some training in preparation for Paul, and that as a surprise they were going to go catch some Pokémon he needed while he was absent. Apparently Misty had stolen and registered several pokéballs under his pokédex before he'd left, and she gave ten of them to Dawn, explaining that though he'd paid for a full two weeks in the hotel before leaving, it would be nice for him to come back with twenty new Pokémon under his belt, so to speak. Not wanting to show the slightest discontent with leaving their plush environment to go wandering through the wilderness for Ash's sake, Dawn quickly agreed.

After getting dressed, she gently nudged Piplup out of his slumber and grabbed her yellow backpack which contained all four unused pokéballs she had left. She'd actually only captured four Pokémon, but had unfortunately broken the other two when the creatures she was attempting to capture freed themselves and split the capsules in half.

As she walked out the door, she was glad she chose to wear her pink skirt, as the temperature had already risen considerably. Spring had just begun, but in southern Johto, near Azalea Town, the weather seemed to believe it was closer to summer than winter.

"Where should we go today, Pip?" she asked as she examined the large forest which surrounded her. The Center was placed conveniently in the middle of the woodland, which she believed was called the Ilex Forest, and she'd started the last two days in much the same way; wandering aimlessly until she came upon a Pokémon she was certain Ash didn't have. This method had been fruitful, but she still hoped to find one last creature which, according to her pokédex, resided in the area, but had eluded her until this time.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Gotcha!" Misty cried happily as she watched the pokéball containing the newly-captured Qwilfish disappear in a beam of light, likely teleporting itself back to Professor Oak's laboratory. That was her second capture of the day, bringing her total to five in the last three days. She'd spent all her time out at sea, riding atop Gyarados a few miles off the southern coast of Johto. Both her and Dawn had opted to go separate ways over the next two weeks in order to "cover more ground". However, both women knew that the situation was ideal for more than catching Pokémon.

Taking a break to breath in the morning air, Misty looked about lazily, seeing nothing but dark blue water around her, before sitting down and leaning lazily against her sea serpent's long neck. She held her fishing rod in her right hand tightly as the lure skimmed the top of the water, waiting for yet another creature to unwittingly fall into the trap, and she allowed both of her bare feet to skim the water on either side of the Pokémon as she closed her eyes and took a break from battling. As she'd done several hundred times since Ash had departed, she thought back to their kiss. Closing her eyes tighter, she could almost see him leaning towards her waiting lips as clearly as she'd seen that night. The flush of her cheeks which accompanied the memory only made her relish the thought more as she drifted up and down along with the choppy movements of the ocean and her loyal battling partner.

Unfortunately, another tug at her line broke her from the self-induced trance, and forced her attention back to the water, where another Magikarp appeared to have caught on her line.

"Dang it," she mumbled, standing up and reeling in the worthless Pokémon.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Poliwhirl, get out of the way!" Ash bellowed, as another Hyper Beam came roaring down.

"Poli!" the blue Pokémon screamed as she was sent hurtling away from the force of the attack on the ground. Though she'd dodged a direct hit, the shock wave alone was too much for her to handle. Rolling over, Ash could tell she was too hurt to continue battling.

"I forfeit!" he conceded stepping onto the battlefield to check on his friend. Leaning over, he saw that several small scrapes lined her body, but could find nothing permanently damaging. He'd known that his water type would be no match for Lance's Dragonite, but she was all he'd been left with after the powerful dragon wiped out Scizor.

"Ash, do you know what you did wrong there?" Lance asked as he withdrew his Pokémon and walked over to the trainer, who remained hunched over his injured battling partner. This was the fifth time he'd asked the champion the question today, and it was not yet noon.

"What?" Ash asked sharply, bitterness seeping into his voice. He didn't mean to be ungrateful, but for the last week he'd barely slept at all, constantly battling with Pokémon he'd barely captured before sending off to Professor Oak, and working his own body to the point of complete exhaustion.

"You didn't try to help Poliwhirl use another ice attack," Lance pointed out, apparently oblivious, or uncaring, of Ash's tiredness.

"She'd already tired herself out with Ice Beam attacks," Ash answered, amazed that this was his mentor's critique. "There was no way she could have won that battle. Dragonite had already taken three direct hits and wasn't slowing down. Maybe if you'd used him earlier I could've-"

"But that's just it Ash!" Lance interrupted, slapping his forehead in a dramatized show of aggravation. "When you face off against Paul, he won't use his most powerful weapon until you force him to. If you get through all of his Pokémon just to find he has an ultra powerful one at the end of the line, how does that help you? You need to constantly be one step ahead of your opponent if you even want a chance to beat him."

_I already beat you,_ Ash thought sarcastically. It was true. The first day he'd arrived, he was told to select his best team, minus Charizard whom he'd returned to the Charicific Valley, and battle Lance in a full six-on-six battle. Though it'd been close, Ash's team had overcome every obstacle Lance could put in their way, including his infamous Dragonite.

"I shouldn't be using these Pokémon," Ash replied, changing topics before he said something he'd regret. He took out the pokéball of his tired Poliwhirl and returned her to the spherical resting place. Standing up, he continued. "You're making me use Pokémon who barely know me and who I barely know, and you're expecting me to win against your championship team!"

"We've gone over this, Ash," Lance answered with a sigh. "You said that Team Rocket knows everything about your battling style, including the Pokémon you use for major battles which, believe me, isn't very hard to figure out. We have to throw them off track by using these Johto and Kanto ones that you've caught or you don't stand a chance."

"But these new Pokémon don't have the strength yet," Ash pointed out.

"That's right," Lance agreed, prompting Ash's eyes to widen in surprise momentarily. "That's why it's up to you to make up the difference. Every champion team has an equal balance of trainer and Pokémon strength. That's why trainers like us are so successful; because we've mastered that balance. However, since your Pokémon don't, and won't, have the strength of a championship team when you face off against Paul, your personal might will determine the outcome of the battle."

"Well then we're in trouble," Ash replied dejectedly.

"I wouldn't say so Ash," Lance replied, causing the Sinnoh Champion to look the dragon master in the eye. "It's true you're at a disadvantage in raw strength, but Paul's also at a disadvantage. He _only_ has raw strength to rely upon. You beat him pretty severely last year in the semifinals in strength and strategy. I'd say you're both evenly matched, but both your fortes lie in different areas."

Smiling a little at the encouraging words, Ash nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," Lance answered, giving a friendly slap on the arm to his Sinnoh contemporary. "Now get showered in the bunker and be ready for a presentation on Pokémon anatomy in twenty minutes."

Ash's face sunk once again. Though another lecture meant he would be free from working either himself or his Pokémon out for at least a couple of hours, it also meant he'd be bored to tears. The presentations on the science of battling came about three times a day, and frankly, Ash could barely remember what he'd been taught after he left the one-desk classroom. Sighing, he ran towards his bunker.

Once inside, he quickly threw his clothes on the standard military cot he'd been assigned upon entering the training facility, and jumped into the shower. Exiting, he found yet another freshly cleaned training outfit waiting on his bed. Inclusive with the outfit was a set of black training shorts and a white sleeveless training shirt with a small pokéball over the left portion of the chest. Placing two new fingerless black gloves over his hands, he raced out the door and to the "lecture hall", which was really just a small cabin on the other side of the square half acre-sized desert facility. Once he'd arrived, he took a minute to let his sore muscles recover from the brisk jog before opening the door and finding his plain wooden desk, equipped with paper and pencil, in the middle of the dwarfed wooden structure. In front of the desk was a chalkboard and one white piece of chalk. It was here that for the last week Cynthia had trained him on all she knew of Pokémon biology and how he could use it to his advantage, depending on which types and species he ultimately chose for his battle. Sitting down, he looked at the white clock above the board and saw that he was a minute early.

However, not even a second after the realization came to him, the door slowly opened, revealing a surprise.

"Professor Oak!" Ash cried joyously as the gray-haired man walked through the door. The Sinnoh Champion jumped out of his chair and eagerly ran to the professor, who held out his hand and shook Ash's.

"Ash! How are you?" he asked, sounding equally pleased. "You look awfully tired!"

"I am," Ash answered, knowing that the black hue under his eyes had given his exhaustion away. "They've been working me really hard to get me ready for this match."

"Well, I'm sure that they have your best interest in mind," Oak replied. "Still though, try and get a little more rest at nights. The last thing we want is you sleeping in on the day of your big match!" The professor began laughing at his own little joke, but Ash simply gave a weak grin. Even though he knew the old man was being humorous, this match had become too important to even consider joking about.

"Anyway," Oak continued, clearing his throat, "as I'm sure you can guess, I'm here to give a small lesson."

"About what, Professor?"

"Well, that depends on the Pokémon you choose, Ash," the old man replied with a smile. "Wait one second." He stepped out of the small cabin again, leaving Ash dumbfounded at his ambiguous remark. As we walked back in, he pulled a small cart behind him.

"What's in there?" Ash motioned to the metallic object with his finger.

"Just take a look for yourself, my boy," Oak replied with a smile. Opening up the two cabinet doors facing Ash, the raven-haired teen saw five thin cabinets stacked on top of each other. Leaning over, he pulled one of the five open, and saw forty pokéballs lined neatly in eight columns and five rows. Below each pokéball was a name.

"Are these all the Pokémon I've caught?" Ash asked, examining the capsules with wide eyes. He'd never seen all his captures together before. Impressed by his own skill, he blew a small whistle in wonderment.

"Why, yes they are," Oak answered. "Today you're going to choose the team you want for the battle. I thought it would be better to bring all your Pokémon here so you could examine them at once, instead of trying to withdraw them through your pokédex six at a time."

"Wow! You even got Charizard and Squirtle!" Ash cried, apparently ignoring the professor's explanation. He was now on his knees, opening up each drawer; his eyes got a little wider with excitement every time he recognized an old friend.

"Charizard was easy to get," Oak explained as Ash opened the fourth drawer down. "Squirtle was a little harder to track though, I'll admit."

"And here's Ivysaur!"

"Now Ash, before you choose who you want-"

"I already know who I want, Professor," Ash interrupted excitedly, his two hands carrying five pokéballs. "I'm gonna use Croconaw, Charizard, Sceptile, Gabite, Donphan, and Pikachu! There's no way Paul could beat that combination!"

Sighing, the grey-haired man rolled his eyes. "Have the champions talked to you yet about using your _new_ Pokémon?"

His shoulders slumped as he remembered what Lance had told him just a half-hour earlier. "But Professor, there's no way I can win with those guys!" Ash complained, sounding like an irate child. "They're too new. I _need_ these!" He held up the five pokéballs in front of the old man as proof.

"No you don't Ash. If you just-"

"Use my head, I know that," Ash interrupted again. "But, well, I mean, I don't wanna."

"This is no time to act like a petulant infant," Oak scolded with a frown. "Paul knows all about those Pokémon, and he'll be ready to fight them. You need a new, diverse team."

"Okay, but could I at least keep a couple?" Ash pleaded, still on his knees. "I need some kind of backup in case my skill isn't enough."

Pausing for a moment, Oak finally gave a small nod. "You can take _two _Pokémon from your past journeys with you. Everyone else has to be new."

"Thanks Professor Oak!" Ash replied happily, turning his attention to his pokéballs. He couldn't remember which of his friends were in which capsule, but he was too worried about who to take to notice. "Well, I mean, most of the Pokémon I've been training are coming along nicely. The only new ones I haven't had a chance to train yet are fire types. So I guess I'll go with Charizard and Pikachu."

"Oh, Ash, that reminds me," the professor responded, appearing struck by realization. "We've already discussed it and we decided that you absolutely cannot use Pikachu in this match."

"What?!" Ash asked, surprised. "You're taking away all my good Pokémon except for two, and then you won't even let me use my starter?"

"I'm sorry Ash, but it's too big a risk. Everyone who's watched you battle knows that you and that little yellow guy have a very strong battling connection, and I can almost guarantee Paul's first priority was to find the perfect way of obliterating him in battle. He's much too obvious a choice, I'm afraid."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Ash looked back over his collection. "Fine, then," he said, sounding quite annoyed at all the limitations being placed on his creativity. "I'll go with Charizard and Sceptile."

"Good choices Ash," the professor responded with a grin. "I've watched them both battle, and it seems like they're the most powerful specimens you own."

"They're not _the_ most powerful I own," Ash answered, realizing that he had no idea which pokéballs the two were in. "But they'll have to make up for Pikachu's not being there." With that, he enlarged all the capsules he held in his hands and freed his friends.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Lucian's Gallade takes another blow from Paul's Dragonite!" the announcer screamed, almost as excited as the crowd in the stadium at the ensuing battle. This had been the first match in which Paul had actually lost a Pokémon, his Porygon-Z, but the battle was still very one-sided. His Porygon-Z had only been eliminated after being taken out by the Elite Four Member's last Pokémon, which had successfully dealt it a powerful Close Combat.

Unfortunately for the experienced trainer, the loss only seemed to further trigger Paul's eagerness to end the battle, and within five minutes his psychic and fighting type didn't look like he would be able to stay in the match much longer.

"Use a Psychic Cut!" Lucian ordered.

"Gall-ade!" his Pokémon cried in response as his arms became dark. Looking up at the flying dragon, he narrowed his eyes and swung both arms forward. Upon contact, a huge black blade flew towards the Dragonite.

"Rush it!" Paul commanded from below.

In the blink of an eye, the Pokémon changed his trajectory and, with his body covered in a blue light, dove straight through the attack, which scarcely hindered his speed as he continued to hurtle towards Lucian's Pokémon. The orange dragon gave a loud cry as he neared the opponent.

"Gallade, get out of the-"

The Elite Four member was interrupted by the sound of his Pokémon being crushed into the ground by the Dragonite who, as quickly as he'd descended, returned to the air and hovered as he and his master waited for the dust to clear. A quick zoom-in on Lucian's face revealed a very troubled expression marring his features.

After a few moments, the dust cleared, and Gallade's mangled body could be seen, pressed at least a foot into the ground.

"Gallade!" the final member cried as he ran onto the battlefield. Even if his Pokémon had somehow miraculously survived that attack, his stepping onto the field automatically rendered him the loser.

"Lucian, the green player, has stepped onto the field and thus automatically forfeited the match. The red player, Paul Ikari, is the winner!" With that news, the stadium roared its approval of the exciting conclusion to such an interesting match.

Misty flicked off the television screen and laid back in her cot, placing her hands behind her head. That had been the most painful battle she'd ever had to watch, including Ash's first match with Brock.

_He's so powerful_, she thought worriedly. However, she quickly dismissed her concern. She _knew_ Ash could beat that jerk, and she _knew_ that he would. She just needed to have some faith.

Realizing that he'd probably answer some questions after such a stupendous battle, Misty sat back up and turned on the television once more. Sure enough the camera had panned in on Paul's smirking face.

"This is quite an exciting time for all of Sinnoh," the reporter who stood next to him said, more to the camera than to the young man. "Usually, a challenger makes it through the Sinnoh Elite Four _maybe_ every five years, but you've done it right after your alleged rival, Ash Ketchum, a year later. Do you think that maybe Ash's achievement is what propelled you to grasp such an impressive goal?"

Mocking momentary thought, Paul gave the reporter a fake look of honesty. "I guess you could say that. However, if you've just seen these battles I've had, I think you'll quickly realize that I'm no rival of Ash Ketchum's. My Pokémon are far more powerful than anything he mustered against Cynthia last year."

"Okay, I can sense a little pride in that statement," the reporter answered with a small laugh. "But isn't it true he beat you last year?"

"That was all my fault," Paul replied, looking serious. "I was not feeling well and was just a little delusional during that battle. Had I been one hundred percent, like I am now, he wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Wow, you sound confident in yourself," the reporter mentioned with a smile. She was clearly taking such trash talk as normal trainer humor.

"I am," Paul answered. He turned to the camera. "And I want to take this moment to officially declare my challenge to Ash Ketchum, in one week, at the Champion Stadium in Sunyshore."

"You only want a week?" the reporter asked, surprised. Paul turned back to her.

"The league rules say I have to give him at least one week before the battle, so I have," he answered simply.

"Yes, but don't you want to prepare a little more than a week? Mr. Ketchum didn't defeat the entire Elite Four until mid-April, and didn't challenge Cynthia for almost a month."

"That's because he wasn't prepared," Paul answered, assuming his smirk once more. "I'm completely ready to face him in battle, just like I was ready to beat the Sinnoh Elite Four in a record seven days."

"Well you heard it here folks," the woman announced, looking back at the camera. "Paul Ikari and Ash Ketchum: heated rivals battling it out for the ultimate Sinnoh title of Champion! Watch it here, next week apparently, on PSN!"

With that, Misty flicked the screen off once more. Running a hand through her long hair, she sat on the bed, silently praying Ash was training harder than he ever had before.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So Charizard's attack power can be further improved if you spend the next several days keeping him in an extremely warm climate according to the Darion Theory," Professor Oak concluded, turning away from the chalkboard to see if his pupil understood the longwinded explanation. To his dismay though, Ash seemed to have dozed off at some point.

"Ash!" he yelled, startling the young man out of his dreams.

"Whu-what?!" The champion asked sitting straight up in his desk. Taking a quick glance at the clock, he saw that four hours had passed since he'd arrived at the cabin. "I was paying attention Professor!"

"No you weren't, Ash," Oak retorted. "You were snoozing. It's very important that you understand the logic behind training. We have very little time, and every second you spend sleeping on your desk is a second closer to your big match!"

Looking down, Ash apologized. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's alright," Oak replied in a sympathetic tone. "I know how hard you're working. But the good news is that we have your team planned out, and we've covered all the basics of how you need to train them over the next seven days. I must say, you made some very…interesting choices for your battling group."

"Thanks, Professor Oak," Ash said with a smile. The truth was, he was becoming quite excited at the prospect of entering a match with these new Pokémon. Even though he still worried about their competence in battle, the idea of an uncertain match excited him greatly since it had been quite some time, almost a year, since he'd participated in a Pokémon League battle. "I think Paul is in for a shock."

"I - oh no!" the professor cried, suddenly noticing the clock above his head as he put the chalk away. "They wanted you in personal training two hours ago!"

"Oh man," Ash bellowed mournfully. For the last week Bruno had been meeting with Ash twice a day to give him personal physical training sessions, leaving his muscles aching after every workout. "I don't even know why they're making me exercise so much! It's not like I was eating doughnuts and sitting on the couch before coming here!"

"You know what they say Ash," Oak reminded in a sing-song voice, "exercise everyday keeps safe a brain from decay."

"Who says that?" Ash asked, slowly standing up and stretching. He was in no hurry to get to Bruno.

"Actually, I just made that up, but it's pretty witty, don't you think?" The old man beamed at the young trainer.

Rolling his eyes, Ash agreed. "It's great, Professor.'

"Well you know us poets, Ash. Always ready with a helpful rhyme."

"Right…"Ash said, walking towards the door. On second thought, running a few hundred laps sounded less painful than another one of his mentor's poems. "I'll see you tomorrow Professor Oak!" With that, he ran out the door.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Oh man," Dawn moaned, seeing yet another Caterpie emerge from behind some brush. "I was sure it was gonna be a Pichu that time. Weren't you?"

"Pip," Piplup agreed, looking quite downtrodden by the disappointment. He and his master had spent the last several hours searching for one of the electric rodents, but they'd rarely encountered anything more than Oddish and Caterpie.

Looking down at her Pokémon, Dawn realized how tired he must have been after walking so far into the forest with her. "Do you wanna take a break Piplup?"

"Pip-lup!" the small penguin Pokémon cried, slapping his wings together joyfully.

Dawn had packed a small lunch in her backpack. Finding some shade, which was not difficult at all within the lush pasture of foliage, she sat down and leaned against a tree. She opened a small jar of Pokémon food and placed it in front of her friend, and then took the bag of potato chips she'd packed for herself out. As she munched on the chips quietly, she thought back to her dream that morning.

"Paul's gotten so strong," she mentioned aloud, briefly capturing Piplup's attention before the tiny Pokémon resumed snacking. "I can't believe he took down three Elite Four members in five days. I don't even think Lucian's a match for him." Realizing that she was talking to no one, she became silent.

_I don't think Ash has anything as powerful as those Pokémon in his team. Even if he does, he'll still be in trouble._ Dawn's worry was twofold. One, she really didn't wish to see Ash humiliated in front of the world. If Paul beat him less than a year after he became the champion…well, as far as she could remember, that had never happened before. Ash would be the laughingstock of the League community. Two, if he lost, then her plans to win him over would be completely ruined. He'd no doubt be far too upset to care about anything; especially his love life.

Sighing, she fished through the crumpled bag before realizing her efforts were worthless. Stuffing the bag into her backpack, and picking up the jar which Piplup had emptied, she stood and looked down at her napping buddy.

_I'll let him take a rest here for a little while,_ she thought, vowing not to wander far from the area.

Hearing a rustle in some bushes, she turned to look behind her. Doubtful, but still wanting to make sure, she tentatively grabbed a pokéball from within her pack and approached.

"Hello?"

The bush moved a little, but made no other response.

Opening the ball in her hand, Pachirisu emerged, stretching his short limbs.

"Pachirisu, go check to see what's in those bushes," she ordered in a whisper. Nodding his small head, the squirrel Pokémon hopped on all fours and scampered into the leafy underbrush. After a few quiet seconds, and to her amazement, a Pichu leapt out of the plant and landed directly in front of her. Pachirisu jumped out a second later and fell directly behind his fellow electric type.

"Great job, Pach," Dawn congratulated. "Now use Discharge!"

Small currents of blue electricity almost immediately followed Dawn's words. The small rodent Pokémon before her cried briefly, and she decided that the yellow mouse must have been nearly an infant.

"That's enough," she mentioned, allowing Pachirisu to end what he considered a weak electrical assault. He too had realized the immaturity of his opponent and had refrained himself from causing serious damage.

"Here you go," Dawn said cheerfully as she dropped the empty pokéball onto the Pokémon's head. Without even a struggle, the ball's center faded from red to white once again, and Dawn smiled broadly. That hadn't been nearly as difficult as she'd imagined it would have been.

_If only it hadn't taken so dang long!_

"We did pretty good, huh Pachirisu?" she asked, scratching her faithful companion behind the ears. Unfortunately, before she could pick the ball up, it disappeared.

"Oh, shoot!" she cried, realizing that the ball had been registered under Ash's name.

_He must have six Pokémon on him already._

A little upset that her surprise present had been taken away from her, and that she hadn't realized what would happen before she spent several days searching for the rare forest Pokémon, she recalled Pachirisu and went to go wake Piplup.

_I guess I'll have to make my little announcement without a present to give him_, she thought, frustrated. However, at the thought of her plan, she began to smile again. As long as Ash won, everything would still be perfect…with or without Pichu.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ow, ow, ow," Ash muttered repeatedly as he walked into his small room for the last time that day. Bruno had worked him and his Pokémon thoroughly. According to Bruno, the best way to train your Pokémon is to train _with_ your Pokémon. Therefore, he'd run dozens of laps with his fastest creatures, lifted weights with his strongest ones, and even fought with his fiercest; all the while getting drenched, singed, and zapped.

He decided that after his unfulfilling meal of a tuna fish sandwich and an energy drink, the meal of champions according to Steven, he deserved to rest a bit before walking that long three feet into the bathroom for another shower. Instead, upon seeing his beautiful cot, he instantly fell facedown on the thin mattress. Moaning into the fabric from the soreness, he slowly rolled onto his back, instantly causing the thousands of beads of sweat lining his body to change direction with him.

Closing his eyes to block out the light of the lamp which stood next to his sleeping area, his mind immediately drifted to Misty. He knew that all his focus should be on the upcoming match, but whenever he had a second alone to relax, the redhead permeated his thoughts relentlessly. He too had replayed the kiss at _least_ a hundred times in his mind. However, unlike his gym leader counterpart, he'd replayed the moment with less romanticism and more concern.

Had he done it right? Did she enjoy it? How many other guys had she kissed? Could he catch some weird disease if she kissed another guy before him? Who was the guy she kissed before him? Was it Tracey? How could Tracey do that to him after claiming to be his friend?

The flow of thoughts continually aggravated him when he was alone, and before calling Professor Oak's lab just to see if his backstabbing friend was available for a chat, he always realized how ridiculous the ideas and questions were. However, though she'd clearly reciprocated his feelings in the hallway, it didn't mean she didn't think he was a bad kisser. He continued to lay there, but now he squinted his eyes shut, trying to picture how he'd leaned near her. Unfortunately, the entire moment had gone by so quickly, despite how he'd felt at the time, and he could barely recollect anything other than that horribly embarrassing dance he'd performed moments later in the room.

"Ash, can I come in?" a feminine voice inquired from the doorway, jerking Ash back to the present.

"Uh, yeah, sure!" he yelled a little too loudly. The door opened up, and he leaned against his left elbow to sit up partially for the newcomer. "Hi, Cynthia!"

"Hello," she replied, furrowing her brow a little at his odd jumpiness. Shrugging, she walked through the threshold and stood over him. "I have some news. It shouldn't come as a surprise, of course, but we thought you should know."

"What is it?" Ash asked instantly, worried someone in his family had been hurt. From her tone, it obviously wasn't good news which she was about to impart him with.

"Well, Paul just defeated Lucian," she informed Ash, who felt relieved that it wasn't something more unexpected. "Also, he challenged you for a battle in Sunyshore's Champion Stadium next week."

"Oh, okay," Ash replied. However, Cynthia just stared at him, and he began to wonder how she expected him to react to the inevitable news. "Um, thanks?"

"I'm sorry," Cynthia said, shaking her head. "I had offered to tell you the news because I thought it might be harder on you than this."

"Uh, I guess I just was already expecting it, so it isn't that bad to hear," Ash explained. "In fact, it's kind of a relief to know that he's finally done and to have a definite battle time. Thanks for telling me Cynthia."

"No problem," the former champion replied happily. "So are you gonna call your friends and family then?"

"Why?" Ash asked, slightly bewildered. "I think they've heard the news by now."

"Yes, but do you wanna invite them to your match with Paul? As the champion, you get priority box seating for all your acquaintances. Not to mention they all get to fly to the battle arena on the League's tab."

"Really?" Ash asked, excited at the prospect of inviting all his friends and even some distant relatives. "That'd be great! Can I call them tonight?"

Laughing at his eagerness, Cynthia nodded to the phone next to the bathroom. "As soon as you want. Just remember to get some sleep because Steven says first thing tomorrow you and he are going over the latest tapes of Paul's battle with Lucian to get some more strategy training."

"Okay, I will," Ash promised, forgetting all former joint stiffness and standing straight up. Thanks again, Cynthia!"

"You're welcome. Goodnight." She closed the door, and Ash thought of who he wanted to call first with the big news. At least for the moment, the tension of the upcoming battle melted in the excitement of having such great seats for what was bound to be the biggest match of the year.

_Misty,_ he thought as he walked to the small video phone planted into the wall. Picking up the receiver, he dialed her cell phone number. However, to his surprise, as he heard the phone begin to ring his heart sped up and he felt his palms beginning to sweat. Taking deep breaths, he realized that they hadn't spoken after he left the morning after their kiss. This conversation, he feared, was bound to be an awkward one.

"Hello?" the soft voice greeted.

Taking several seconds to prepare a reply, Ash finally reciprocated the greeting with a shaky "hey".

"Oh, uh, Ash, is that you?" Misty inquired. The video screen was blank since she was speaking on her cell, but Ash was actually thankful. If she could see his reddening cheeks, he was sure she would've worried he was entering cardiac arrest.

"Y-yeah, Mist, it's me."

"Oh! Um, hey Ash," Misty replied, equally nervous. However, Ash was too preoccupied with his own anxiety to perceive her stress; he assumed she was completely cool and comfortable on the other end of the line. "Wh-what's goin' – uh, how's your training and stuff goin'?"

"Oh, it's, um, fine," Ash responded. "R-really hard, b-but I think I'll be ready for the, uh, match."

"Well that's good to hear," Misty answered quickly. "Um, did you have anything, uh, _else_ you wanted to, you know, talk about?" She felt her heart skip as she asked the question. She wondered if Ash could catch her not-so-subtle hint as to what she wished to discuss.

"Actually, yeah," the champion replied, remembering the reason for the call. "I heard that Paul won his match against Lucian today."

"Oh, yeah," Misty said. She was a little disheartened by his response.

"Anyway, since he challenged me, I get to invite whoever I want to the battle, so I wanted to call you first and ask if you and Dawn wanted to come with me to Sunyshore for the battle. I get box seats for all my guests!"

"Wow! Really?" Misty asked, temporarily ignoring her anxiety. "That's so cool! Of course we wanna come watch you beat Paul!"

"Thanks Mist," Ash said, laughing when she mentioned his purple-haired rival. "I appreciate the confidence."

"Ash, if you can beat me, you can beat anyone," Misty assured him. She realized how much she enjoyed speaking with him. The conversation's awkwardness seemed to have melted away; even if it was only for a few moments.

"Well, I gotta call home now and tell Ma," Ash continued. "I'm sure she'll wanna invite a ton of people too. We have relatives in Sinnoh, like second or third cousins, who she'll think have to come watch."

Chuckling, Misty said she understood. "Tell your mom I said hi!"

"I will," he answered. "Talk to ya later, Mist."

"You too, Ash," Misty answered. After a second she heard her phone disconnect.

With a sigh, she flipped her small blue phone closed and looked at the sun, which was now starting its descent. She'd been sitting outside a small café for the past half-hour, imagining what her and Ash's first post-kiss conversation was going to be like. In her mind, she'd imagined sweet nothings being uttered between the two over a candlelight supper somewhere. However, as was usual with Ash, it was even better than she'd imagined. Even though they hadn't talked about their "incident", hearing his voice again, and knowing that he didn't feel too uncomfortable talking to her was all she needed to be happy with their conversation.

After hanging up, Ash took a small moment himself to smile. He was glad that he'd overcome his jitters and had an intelligible discussion with the redhead.

Moving on, he quickly dialed his mother, who was equally excited to hear the big news. Though she wasn't an avid Pokémon fan like her son, she'd heard several people discussing Paul's imminent battle with Ash in her flower shop the past few days, and was glad to know that this time, she'd be able to come watch.

"I can't wait to tell everyone!" she cried excitedly, while noticeably jumping up and down on the videophone. "So who can I invite to come with me?"

"Anyone you want," Ash answered, smiling. Telling his mom about the fight took away a little of the anxiety which had been plaguing him. Knowing that she, along with the dozens of people she'd inevitably invite, would be there to cheer him on caused the skepticism he held of his own skill to decrease. "Cynthia said that since I'm the champion, it's completely my choice."

"Oh my," Delia responded, covering her mouth in shock. For a moment, Ash wondered if she was alright. "I have so many phone calls to make, then."

Ash laughed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Sceptile, flip over him!"

Obeying the command, the tall green Pokémon did a full three hundred and sixty degree turnaround over the fast-approaching Aggron.

"Now use Leaf Blade!" Ash commanded with a flourish of his arm.

"Scep!" cried the Pokémon, turning on his heel. He charged behind the now confused steel type, with the long leaves jetting from his forearms glowing white. With a leap, he crashed down directly upon Steven's battling partner, immediately causing his opponent's short legs to buckle.

"Great job, Sceptile!" Ash cried, seeing that his opponent's Pokémon, who'd fallen a mere ten feet in front of where he stood, had his eyes closed.

Withdrawing his Pokémon, Steven began to walk over to Ash. The large white lights which beamed from all four corners of the training area to the battlefield reflected the sweat on his brow. The training facility was located on a League-owned island closer to Hoenn than Johto, and despite the setting sun, and the time of year, it was still quite warm outside.

"You did an excellent job, Ash," he stated, nodding kindly towards the young champion's grass type. "I would say that you're still relying too heavily on Charizard and Sceptile to get you out of tight spots, but I guess that's impossible to overcome considering you've spent only six days now in serious training with your new team. Remember though, he knows all about those two, so be careful to not wait until you have no other choice but to use them."

"I know," Ash replied confidently. He didn't mean to act presumptuous, but he'd been listening to specific battle and training tactics from Professor Oak and Cynthia for the last week. "I'll be careful. But you're right, I'm going to have depend on them no matter what happens."

"Well, I better go heal my guys in the Center," Steven said, looking at the pokéball he clutched in his right hand. "You should too after you get showered."

"Showered?" Ash asked. "I still have to go train with Bruno before I get to go back to my bunk." Though he was still sore from the Elite Four member's workouts, he'd grown to appreciate how much stronger they'd helped him become over the last two weeks.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I?" Steven asked, tapping his palm on his forehead. "Your evening training's been cancelled for the evening. Instead, Lance wants us all to meet in the dining hall for a little surprise."

"Really?" Ash asked. "What's the surprise?"

"If I told, that would take away from it being a surprise," the Hoenn native replied, raising his eyebrows humorously.

"Oh yeah," Ash answered sheepishly. "I guess so."

"Trust me though," Ash's champion colleague continued, "it's gonna be fun."

Breaking into a grin, Ash bid Steven farewell and ran back into his temporary home. As usual, clean training clothes lay on the bed, waiting for him after he exited the steamy bathroom. Getting dressed quickly, he rushed to the dining hall.

As he entered the hall, whose name presented a false sense of adequate proportions in spite of it being barely larger than his "classroom", he was surprised to see Bruno, Cynthia, Steven, Lance, and Professor Oak all sitting and staring at him from the small rectangular table situated in the middle of the room.

Feeling awkward as their eyes bore down on him, he asked what was going on.

"Ash, you're a great trainer and champion," Lance, who sat at the head of the table, began. "Over the last two weeks, we've seen your skill increase from awesome, to unbelievable. You now are equipped with battling and training knowledge from some of the best Pokémon fighters in the world. There's no doubt in my mind that not a single one of my contemporaries here could beat you with your best team now."

"That being said," Steven continued, "there's one thing that we've all noticed you lack."

"Something important for the Sinnoh Champion," Cynthia continued. All of the faces looked gravely serious, and Ash's mind began to race at the possibilities of what skill he lacked.

"Important for everyone in the Pokémon League, actually," Bruno interjected in his rough voice.

"Ash, you're missing this final piece to becoming a true champion," Professor Oak summarized, "and we're here to help you get it."

"What is it?!" Ash asked, his nerves almost worked to frenzy by the buildup.

"You," Lance spoke again, "are missing a trademark outfit."

"What?" Ash asked again, sure he'd heard wrong.

"An outfit," Cynthia explained. "We all have one. Lance wears his dumb cape-"

"It's not dumb!" Lance interrupted. "It fits perfectly with my personality. I'm the one who always goes on secret missions and stuff, so I'm like a superhero."

"Yeah, whatever," Steven said, earning a deadly glare from the dragon trainer.

"Anyway, he has the cape, Steven has his suit, Bruno has his…well, not wearing a shirt thing, and I have this," Cynthia said, indicating her black pantsuit. "We all wear clothes that people identify with us."

"So you're gonna help me pick out clothes to wear for my battle?" Ash asked incredulously. After the strict and difficult learning he'd gone through with the adults, it was odd to see them acting so immaturely, and even weirder to listen to their idea.

"Not just for the battle, Ash," Professor Oak noted. "This will be what you wear when you go in public most days of the week."

"But why do I need that?"

"Well, for two reasons," Lance explained. "One, you need something that people will identify you by. It's just how we do things. Dressing in blazers is for the executives and accountants of the League. We're champions. We're the people who make the Pokémon challenge worthwhile, and dressing differently from everyone else identifies us as such."

"Also, we decided that after being so tough on you these last thirteen days, you deserved a lot of credit, and something fun for a change," Steven explained with a smile. "We're not always the jerks who you probably think we are after all this training."

Returning the smile, Ash shook his head. "I knew you guys were trying to help me. It wasn't like you were yelling at me constantly or something."

"No, but we were pretty distant," Cynthia replied. "We just didn't want to act too friendly and make you lose your focus."

Ash nodded, but he didn't really think it had been that bad. It was true that in the heat of the day, he'd hated them a _lot_ for making him work so hard. However, they had never been abusive to him, or made him think they weren't looking out for his best interest.

"So we put together a wardrobe," Bruno explained.

"You did?" Ash asked, surprised. He thought he was going to choose which clothes to wear.

"Well, you can change it if it doesn't suit you," Cynthia answered. "But we called your mom and got some pictures from what you've worn on past journeys and we think we've made the perfect combination."

"Okay, thanks!" Ash said gratefully. However, despite his smiling face, he worried inwardly. What if they gave him some weird uniform like Lance's? How could he tell them he just wanted to wear something normal?

"Here it is," Professor Oak stated, pulling some folded clothes out from beneath the table. Unfolding them, each article was placed on the small table, and Ash broke into a real grin when he saw the getup.

They had chosen a pair of regular blue jeans, with multiple pockets on each leg, a normal black t-shirt, and black running shoes with white soles and laces. However, what surprised Ash and prompted his toothy smile was what Oak placed at the front of the table. It appeared to be the same hat he wore when he first began his journey; a red and white cap with the green Kanto League symbol on the front.

"Is that my old hat?" he asked, pointing to the headwear.

"Oh heavens, no," Oak replied laughing. "That dingy old thing was far too ancient and small for you. However, I remembered you were wearing it the day you received Pikachu, and since your mom insisted that you wear something to cover your, to quote her, 'atrocious hair', we got a new one in a larger size for you."

"Of course, if you like it, then you can get a lot of the same outfit," Steven explained. "It would be a hassle to keep washing the exact same clothes every time they got dirty."

"So what do you think?"

Looking up at his mentors, he smiled. "I love it! Thanks guys!"

They all disregarded his gratitude, citing his hard work over the last several days once more.

"We all assumed you wouldn't want something too flashy," Cynthia explained. "And from what your mom said, you usually find yourself in some pretty wild scenarios, so we wanted to give you some clothing that would lend itself towards comfort and mobility."

After talking with the group for a while longer, and enjoying a last meal of tuna fish on bread, Ash walked back to his room with the refolded clothes in hand. He felt fully accomplished after the half-month long training session, and as he drifted to sleep that night, his last thoughts drifted to embracing Misty after defeating an overconfident Paul Ikari.

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, now I want to take this time to mention that I realize this was not the best chapter ever. However, after so much time on this site and working on this story, I've had to come to a painful conclusion; not every chapter can be as awesome as I like. Some, like this one, have to be boring simply so they can provide an adequate base for extra awesome chapters like the next one promises to be. So, please forgive me for not plunging into the details of Ash's training, but I realized that a day by day account of what he did would not only be boring, but would take away from the mystery of his new team which will be revealed next installment.

However, whether you liked it or hated it, REVIEW PLEASE!

Well, as is the general rule of thumb for installments now, here's this weeks recommendations:

"Journey of Legends" by livezinshadowz – I recommended it last chapter, and I'm doing it again. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS STORY! This guy's honestly one of the most promising pokéshipping authors I've found on this site, and he only has twenty reviews! We have to encourage him to keep this story going. Trust me, just take a minute to look at it and you'll be hooked. Also, if you don't read it, I'll hook Dawn and Ash up in the next chapter.

"Pokémon 0" by Afroshock – This is an OC fic which is just really cool. It's about an alternate Pokémon world where children are forced to become trainers by the government and…well, I won't give it away. I know, it sounded weird to me too at first, but this guy really has his research down. He makes the Pokémon world seem very dark and realistic, while still maintaining many of its cooler qualities (it has freaking Pokémon). If you're into original stories, check this guy's out.

Well, that's almost everything. Before I go, I have to mention that **licoricejellybean **was not the beta of this chapter. Unfortunately, both her schedule and mine have become very hectic lately and we realized that the time we were spending editing each others' fics was simply too much. So until further notice, I will not be beta-ing her story, and she won't be working on mine. However, hopefully, her schedule will become a little less cluttered soon, as will mine, and we can continue helping each other. Working on this chapter without the reassurance I could send it to my archrival/worst enemy to double check my writing certainly was a scary feeling after her great help the last five chapters, and its not one I hope to maintain.

Okay, well that's everything. Have a great two weeks!


	27. The Battle Begins

**Hey Everybody!** Well, can you believe it? Another two week installment! I'm very happy, because this time last week, I hadn't written anything for this chapter. Let's just say the week before last was miserable at school and home in preparation for the AP tests (high schoolers know what I'm talking about). However, this last week has been beyond awesome (I think I aced my AP European History test!), and I was doubly motivated to finish this chapter by the great reviews you all left me. Seriously, it's your kind words as loyal readers that fuels my creativity, as I explained to most of y'all in my private responses to each of your comments.

I also would like to take this moment to point out that tomorrow will be the exact one year anniversary of when I started this story, and it's actually hard to believe for me. It doesn't feel like it's been a full year, but when I looked back at chapter one a few days ago, I realized that despite how short it seems, my writing's certainly come a looooong way from where it started. I think once I finish this fic, I'm going to go back to the beginning and redo my first like ten chapters so they better match the quality of the later ones.

Anyway, I'm getting off-subject. The point is, I'm happy to present you with this anniversary-edition chapter of "A New Journey". Please enjoy it and REVIEW! Remember that I take both member and non-member reviews, so if you enjoy this story, but do not have an account on this site, you can still leave me your thoughts by pressing the "review" button at the bottom of this page!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Paul: 14

* * *

"Ash!" Dawn cried happily as the young champion stepped through the entrance into the main lobby of the Goldenrod-based hotel. Running up to him, she opened her arms for a hug.

"Hey Dawn," Ash greeted, dropping his blue duffel bag on the ground and giving Dawn a quick, friendly embrace. He laughed a little when she didn't release her grip around his waist. "Wow, you seem glad to see me, huh?"

Pulling away, she blushed a little, but managed to maintain eye contact with the teenage boy. "It just feels like forever since we last saw you."

"Is that why you're so dressed up?" Ash asked, still looking amused at how excited his friend was to see him again. He noticed she was wearing the same outfit she'd worn at her Valentine's Day competition almost two months earlier.

"I thought it was a special occasion," she admitted in a somewhat flirtatious tone. Unfortunately, any attractiveness which her voice may have carried seemed to be checked by her reddening cheeks. She knew this forward behavior was necessary for her plan of action to be effective, but it was difficult for her to act this way around Ash despite her heavy crush. "I just thought you deserved to see something pretty when you walked through the door."

Taken aback for a moment by her choice of words, Ash quickly shook his head.

_I'm imagining things._

"So where's Misty?" he asked, trying to ignore her last statement altogether. "Is she still sleeping?"

"Probably," Dawn answered, losing her enticing accent. "I was way more excited than her about you coming back."

"You were?" Ash had expected Misty to be nervous about his return, of course, but he didn't think she'd be apathetic to his arrival.

"Yeah. But I'll admit it wasn't easy getting up this early in the morning after that long drive yesterday. I was just too excited about seeing you again to stay in bed for very long though!"

"Wait, what drive?" Ash asked, surprised. He'd rented their two rooms for the last couple of weeks specifically so they could relax in Goldenrod while he was away.

"Oh!" Dawn cried, covering her mouth. "I forgot that Misty wanted to tell you! I wish I hadn't said that!" She was telling half the truth.

"Tell me about what?" Ash asked, growing worried. "Did something happen while I was away?"

"Oh no, nothing like that," Dawn said, easing the champion's fears. "While you were gone, I thought it would be a good idea for me and Misty to go out and catch some Pokémon for you. I know how worried you were about falling behind schedule while being away at this training session thing."

A smile broke onto Ash's face. "You really did that for me?"

"Of course!" Dawn replied happily, twirling a loose strand of her straight her around her index finger. "I'd do anything to make you happy, Ash."

"So how many did you catch?" he asked excitedly, pulling out his Pokédex to see what his count had risen to.

"Well, a couple of the pokéballs were broken, but I think total we caught about fifteen for you."

"Wow!" Ash cried as he looked down at his small encyclopedia. "You guys caught eighteen! That's so great!"

"Yeah, and guess who one of the Pokémon is that I caught for you?" Dawn asked in a singsong voice. She eyed the young trainer happily as he tore his attention away from the Pokédex and looked on at her expectantly.

"What is it?" he asked, sounding as excited as a child on Christmas morning.

"A Pichu!" Dawn cried happily.

"Did ya hear that, Pikachu?" Ash asked the electric mouse on his shoulder. "Dawn caught you a little brother or sister!"

"Pika, pika," replied the deflated electric Pokémon unenthusiastically.

"What's the matter with him?" Dawn asked with concern. She now noticed that Ash's best friend and battling companion was wearing a somber look atop his master's shoulders. "Is he sick?"

"No, but we found out that-"

"H-hey Ash," a quiet voice whispered from behind the raven-haired teen. Turning around, he saw a very red-faced Misty solemnly staring at her white sneakers. Examining her briefly, he noted the ruffled yellow shirt she wore along with the form-fitting jeans and the blue ponytail holding back her beautiful red hair.

_How does she look so nice without even dressing up?_

"Hey Mist," Ash returned with a feeble wave. He too felt his face heat up as the beautiful young woman looked up at him briefly with her large, aqua green eyes. No sooner had they made eye contact before they each turned their heads in different directions.

"So, uh, Ash," Dawn began after a moment of awkward silence elapsed between the pair. "What were you saying is the problem with Pikachu?"

"Wait, there's something wrong with Pikachu?" Misty asked, temporarily placing aside her embarrassment as she steadily examined the little Pokémon who remained hunched depressingly by Ash's head.

"Oh yeah," Ash said, remembering his dropped conversation with the blue-haired coordinator. "The champions said I couldn't use him in my battle with Paul!"

"What?!" both women asked in shock.

"But he's your best friend!" Misty argued. "How could you leave him out of a battle this big?"

"Not to mention he's probably one of the only Pokémon you own who can take on Paul's monsters," Dawn interjected, remembering vividly the pain Paul's team had inflicted upon his opponents. "You need Pikachu by your side."

"I know," Ash agreed with a nod. "That's what I said too, but they had a point in making that decision."

"What reason could possibly be good enough for not letting Pikachu battle?" Misty asked, angry for her yellow friend. Now she understood why he was so upset.

"Well, Paul knows everything about my battling style, so using all my old Pokémon would give him enough of an advantage to take me out easily."

"So what, you're not gonna use any of your good Pokémon?" Misty asked, growing irate at the prospect of Ash not taking full advantage of his trained Pokémons' power. "I saw Paul on the T.V., Ash. He's really tough. I don't think now's the time to start pulling out new teammates for the battle!"

"That's why I was training with my new team on the League's island the last two weeks," Ash replied, a little annoyed that the redhead seemed to think he was unprepared. "This is the biggest battle of my life so far, Misty. Don't you think I know what I'm doing?"

"If you're not gonna use Pikachu, then I'm really not sure!" Misty shouted in return. This hadn't been how she'd anticipated Ash's arrival.

"Why don't you let the _champion_ decide how he's gonna battle, okay?" Ash asked while raising his voice with every word. However, as soon as the words escaped his lips, he immediately regretted them. In Misty's eyes, he could instantly see her emotional barometer switch from fury to hurt.

"I just wanted to help, Ash," she replied, this time in a hissed whisper, not wanting to attract anymore attention to the entrance of the hotel than she already had. Over Ash's shoulder, she could swear that Dawn had a small smirk on her lips. "Pikachu's supposedly your best friend, and yet you just let some idiots from the League tell you not to use him, even though you _know_ you need him in this battle."

Trying not to look in Pikachu's direction, Ash took a deep breath as he contemplated the correct response.

"I just want to win, Misty," he answered after a moment.

"If that's all you care about," Misty said, her eyes wide at his statement, "then you're not the trainer you used to be."

"Whaddya mean?" Ash asked, offended she would insult his training abilities.

"Your Pokémon were your friends when I first met you," she explained haughtily. "But now you're willing to throw away your relationship with any of them just to beat Paul."

"It's my dream to become a master, Misty."

"What do you think Pikachu's dream is?"

"I-what?" He hadn't seen that question coming.

"I said, what do you think Pikachu's dream is?" Misty repeated. "You've trained with him for almost seven years. You two have battled some of the biggest fights I've ever seen. He's been loyal to you from your battle with Brock to your battle with Cynthia, never disobeying or giving up despite the _several_ failures you suffered on your way to becoming a champion. And now that he's got a chance to shine in front of the entire world, you just tell him that it's more important that you win this battle alone than allow him a chance to prove himself."

For a moment, Ash simply stood in front of the redhead with his mouth agape. Swallowing, and again without looking to the little creature whose feelings he now realized he'd neglected, he reached into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Here are the tickets for your private plane to Sunyshore," he explained, handing two sheets of paper to Misty. "You can drive to the airport this afternoon for the flight. I'm gonna go think for a while."

With that, he turned and walked out the door. Misty and Dawn saw him climb into the back of a black sports car which quickly sped away.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_What was she talking about?_ Ash wondered silently as the chauffeur, who was hidden behind a tinted black glass, drove the champion aimlessly. He simply wanted to be away from Misty after that brief, yet very painful, discourse. _Of course I wanted Pikachu with me. _He slowly rubbed the still-unanimated Pokémon's small cranium as he thought back to his and Oak's discussion a week earlier.

_Why wouldn't I have wanted him on my team? He's one of my best fighters._

He started as he realized what he just thought. _Best fighters_.

Staring down at the small Pokémon who'd been with him on his journey longer than anyone else, Ash suddenly realized that Misty was, as usual, right.

He'd become so caught up in winning this battle with Paul over the last few weeks that he'd forgotten almost completely about Pikachu and his feelings. It wasn't like with his other Pokémon, who he switched for tournament battles routinely. The electric mouse had, as Misty pointed out, been with him through them all. How could he have been so selfish?

"Pikachu?" Ash asked, causing the small yellow creature's ears to perk slightly. However the creature did not seem interested in facing his master.

"Listen, I know you're mad at me," Ash explained. "Everything Misty said in there was right, wasn't it?"

"Pika," the little rodent muttered with a small nod.

Ash smiled. For such a small guy, his Pokémon had a large fighting spirit. It wouldn't be fair to keep him out of this action.

"I'm sorry, Pikachu," Ash continued as he ran his thumb in small circle over the top of Pikachu's head. "I got so caught up in winning this battle that I forgot how you must feel. I wanted you to battle for me, but it wasn't for the right reason. When the professor explained I couldn't have you on my team, I started to worry, but not because of how it would make you feel. I was worried because of how not having one of my strongest Pokémon was making _me_ feel."

"Pikachu, pika," Pikachu muttered once more.

"So…" Ash began, letting the word drift off. He tried to think of the best way to apologize.

"Would you please battle with me against Paul?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"There you are!" Delia cried happily as she saw the two young women exit from the luggage drop-off point of the airport. "I was wondering when the plane would finally arrive!"

"Hi Mrs. Ketchum!" the two girls responded waving to her. After brief hugs were out of the way, Delia informed the young women that their escort was waiting for them.

"We get an escort?" Dawn asked excitedly. "That's awesome!"

"Yes, we've been treated like quite the movie stars since we arrived," Delia replied with a smile. "Apparently when you're the Pokémon Champion's mother, you get a few perks." She chuckled lightly at her small joke, and both young women smiled kindly in return.

"So who else is here?" Misty asked in curiosity.

"Oh, everyone I could convince to drop their busy schedules to come watch," Delia responded as she led the girls out of the airport and towards a limousine.

"We get to ride in a limousine?!" Dawn interrupted with a squeal. "We really are like movie stars!"

"Who else did you say was coming?" Misty continued, annoyed with Dawn in general at this point.

"Well, let's see," Delia said as a young man stepped out of the driver's side of the long vehicle, quickly rounded the end of the automobile and promptly placed the teenage girls' suitcases in the trunk. He then proceeded to open the door, which emitted more squeals of delight from Dawn, and more annoyance from Misty. "I of course brought the professor and his grandson, and Tracey, and several of Ash's old friends from Pallet, and some family members who live in Viridian and Vermillion. I also invited some friends of mine and, obviously, I brought along Mr. Mime."

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of people," Misty speculated as the car began to drive away from the Sunyshore International Airport.

"It's only about twenty-five, actually," Delia responded, sounding disappointed. "The rest were too busy to come."

"Well, I'm sure twenty-five is more than Ash was expecting to see," Misty replied humorously. "By the way, is he here yet?"

"Oh, you didn't hear?" Delia asked, looking surprised. "He said he'll get here tonight. He apparently had some last minute training he needed to take care of."

_Or he didn't want to see me_.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

At eleven that evening, after introducing herself to several of Ash's relatives and unknown friends from his hometown, Misty was tiredly cradling her head in her hands on the small kitchen table.

"Pretty nice place, don't you think Misty?"

Turning around, the gym leader saw Tracey standing in the doorway. "Oh, yeah. It's very comfortable."

"I can't believe the League gave us our own house to stay in before the big tournament!" he cried as he took a seat opposite the redhead. In the middle of the blue table was a plate of sugar cookies, which he quickly pulled closer to him. Munching on a cookie, he asked how the gym leader was doing.

"I'm doing well," she answered kindly, putting her hands down and smiling back at the young college student. "How's college been? It must be really exciting meeting all those new people and learning all that new stuff!"

Laughing, Tracey entertained her for a while with some tales from his collegiate exploits.

Misty, in return, nodded and laughed when she knew it was expected of her, and occasionally threw in a bland comment to assure the Pokémon watcher that she was still listening. However, her mind was far from the conversation. Specifically, she was focused on the front door, which she could see from her position at the table.

"So we ended up staying up all night, when it turns out the test-"

The young man was interrupted by the sound of a creaking door, and Misty immediately threw her hand up to stop her old friend from continuing the story. "I think I saw the door just open," she informed him in a whisper as he gave her an odd stare. It was dark in the living room and around the entrance, so she couldn't quite make out if the door was ajar or not, but she was positive she'd heard something.

"Why are you whispering?" Tracey asked, still looking bewildered by her sudden reaction.

"You two are still up?" Delia questioned as she entered the kitchen area. "What's the matter? Are you hungry?"

_It must have been her bedroom door, _Misty realized as her face sank. She didn't know how much longer she could wait up for Ash. Looking at the clock she saw it was now almost midnight.

"Oh, I was just waiting up for Ash," Misty explained, "and Tracey was telling me about what it's been like going to college."

"You mean Ash isn't here yet?" Delia asked, flipping on the main light switch for the kitchen, illuminating the room completely. Blinking her eyes rapidly to help them adjust to the sudden fluorescent change from the dim light which hung over the oven, Misty nodded.

"I hope he gets here soon," Tracey remarked to Mrs. Ketchum. "I don't think he should be staying up so late with the big day being tomorrow and everything."

"I know," Delia responded, nodding worriedly. "I guess his plane was delayed."

_How could it have been delayed if it was private?_ Misty wondered. However, she knew no good would come from such an inquiry.

"I bet that's what it was."

"Still, Misty you shouldn't be waiting up for him," Delia advised in a motherly tone. "It could be another few hours before he arrives."

"I'm just gonna wait a little longer Mrs. Ketchum, I promise," Misty swore with a smile.

"Okay then, if you insist." It was nice that Ash had such a caring friend. "I'm going back to bed, but tell me if you need anything."

"I will," Misty answered as the middle-aged woman walked out of the room.

Standing up, Tracey brushed the cookie crumbs off his shirt and pushed his chair back under the table.

"Wait, where are you going?" Misty asked. "You didn't finish your story!"

"Oh, I'll finish that in the morning," he replied, giving a yawn. "I just came down here for a small snack to help me get to sleep, and judging by how heavy my eyelids feel, I think it worked."

"Oh, alright," Misty responded reluctantly, having enjoyed some company. "I'll see ya in the morning!"

"Goodnight Misty," he said as he walked into the living room. A few seconds later, Misty could hear his footsteps as he climbed up the stairs to his awaiting bed.

Grabbing a cookie for herself, Misty decided that she wouldn't wait more than five minutes before giving up on Ash for the night.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Misty? Misty?"

"Wha-quit poking me!" Misty yelled as she flailed her arms. Picking her head off the kitchen table, she rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the light once more. Angrily moving her gaze toward the object of her annoyance, her fury quickly dissipated as the young champion smile at her. She couldn't resist the rush of blood which flooded her cheeks.

"Sorry, but I'd been trying to wake you up for ten minutes," he explained with a grin. "You sleep like a Snorlax."

"No I don't," Misty huffed angrily, regaining her composure and remembering that she was still angry with Ash. "What took you so long to get here anyway? Were you too busy being mean to the rest of your Pokémon?"

"Does Pikachu look like I've been mean to him?" Ash asked, pointing to the apex of his cap, which cradled his good friend.

"Well, no," Misty answered, noticing that the rodent was smiling quite happily and seemed in a much better disposition.

"Misty," he began, claiming Tracey's now long-abandoned seat. "I have to tell you something that is going to hurt me a lot to say."

Curious, Misty leaned in and attentively folded her hands on the table.

_What could it be? _she wondered, worrying that perhaps she'd pushed his buttons too hard back at the hotel. What if he said he didn't like her anymore? What if he said they shouldn't be friends anymore?

"You were right and I was wrong," he admitted quickly, looking down at the table. "I shouldn't have treated Pikachu that way."

"I know you shouldn't have," Misty said, her fear immediately replaced by an incessant need to gloat over her knowledge. "It wasn't fair to him at all. After being a trainer for so long, I'm amazed you didn't recognize it sooner than I did." She half-expected him to come back with a smart remark, but was instead taken aback by his humble reply.

"I know." He still held his head down, and Pikachu jumped off his hat and onto the table, reassuringly patting his master's head with a forgiving paw.

"Pikachu, pika, pika," consoled the small Pokémon. The combination of the sweet scene, along with Ash's refusal to fall for her bait, left Misty feeling guilty.

"Of course, I could've been nicer to you about it," she relented after a moment. Why had taunting Ash for his mistakes become such an unattractive option as they'd matured? "I didn't need to yell at you in front of everyone in the lobby. I was just…never mind."

"No, wait," Ash said, picking his head up for the first time and making eye contact with the gym leader. "You were just what?"

"Well, it sounds dumb, but when I heard you say you just wanted to win, I started to worry that maybe you were becoming, I dunno, different?" Misty replied ambiguously. Judging by the confused look on Ash's face, she knew elaboration was in order. "I mean, you remember how I said you weren't the trainer you used to be?"

Ash nodded solemnly, but maintained his eye contact.

"Well, I was afraid of just that. Winning has always come second to your Pokémon's happiness, and when you just disregarded Pikachu's feelings, I worried that maybe you were losing the caring, nurturing side of your personality and, well…"

"What?" Ash urged, knowing from the conflict in her downcast eyes there was something she wanted to say.

"And that's the part about you I like the most," she replied in almost a whisper.

Though he couldn't explain what prompted it, Ash instantly stood up, walked to her side of the table and gently grabbed the redhead's hand while raising her out of the chair. From the corner of his eye, he could see his yellow friend watching on, completely shocked by what was happening in front of him.

Misty felt like a puppet being pulled on a string as she effortlessly rose to face the young man. Her hair was frizzed slightly after her three hour nap on the table, and she instantly felt self-conscious about the pink hue which adorned her features at the touch of his gloved hand. However, when she became brave enough to look up and meet the trainer's gaze, she realized that it didn't really matter that her hair was a little messy, or that her clothes were a little wrinkled, or even that her face was beginning to resemble a tomato. She saw something in his eyes which made her realize that those things weren't what he was looking at.

Leaning down, Ash placed his lips squarely on hers. This time, he noted silently as his eyes closed, the kiss was a little less awkward as they both immediately knew what to do with themselves. He felt his hands instantly clasp on to her lower waist and pull her closer, and once again she unconsciously pulled his head a little closer as her fingers entwined behind his neck.

Deciding that he didn't want the moment to end, Ash determined to continue holding onto her until either she pulled away or the world suddenly came to a stop. Unfortunately, the former occurred first.

"Wow," Misty repeated herself from almost three weeks earlier. Despite all the vivid replays in her head of their moment in the hallway, this was infinitely superior to anything she remembered. She'd let go of his neck, but he still held onto her lower waist as he somewhat disappointedly agreed.

"Definitely wow," he answered, trying to maintain a smile. However, Misty could see there was something wrong.

"What's the matter?" she asked, concerned.

"It's just, uh, well, I wanted it to last longer," he admitted sheepishly as he realized how childish he sounded. To his surprise though, Misty smiled brightly at his remark.

"So did I."

With that, their lips were swiftly reintroduced as Pikachu gazed at the two with wide eyes.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ash, wake up!" Delia called from outside his room.

Moaning slightly from his still-sore muscles, Ash pulled the thick white comforter over his head to drown out the sound of his mother's voice. He felt like he was in elementary school all over again.

"Ash Ketchum, I'm going to give you to the count of three before I come in there," warned his mother in a grave tone. "If you don't answer me, I'm dragging you out of bed personally!"

_She won't do anything,_ Ash reasoned.

"One."

_I'm an adult. She can't just count me out of bed._

"Two."

_She'll never actually get to-_

"Three."

"Good morning, Mom!" Ash called in the most pleasant tone he could muster. Rubbing his eyes ferociously, he looked at the clock to find that, despite his exhaustion, he'd slept for ten straight hours.

"It's one in the afternoon young man," Delia informed from outside the door. "You need to be downstairs in fifteen minutes for lunch before we go to the stadium!"

"Okay, okay," Ash mumbled as he pushed the covers off his body. Standing up, he stretched against the fabric of his pajamas.

"And don't forget to put on clean-"

"I know, Ma!" he cried out, annoyed. "I'll be down in a few minutes."

As he heard the staircase squeak, he quickly ran into the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower.

"Is he up yet?" Professor Oak asked from the living room sofa as he heard Delia's descent from the flight of stairs. He had the television on the news, and the reporter was discussing the up-and-coming battle between Ash and Paul, as was almost every other news station that morning.

"Yes, finally," Delia replied with a roll of her eyes. "It's amazing that he can even sleep with something this big about to happen."

"Well, you did say he got in late, right?"

"That's right," she admitted. "That's why I let him sleep in so late to begin with. I hope he hurries though. I'm making him a great lunch!"

"I hope it's satisfying," Oak replied. "The battle doesn't take place until seven this evening, but he probably won't have another chance to eat before then."

"You think I should pack him a small supper?" Delia asked worriedly.

"I doubt he'd find time to eat it Delia," Oak answered. "I've seen how these big Championship battles take place before. Usually it's a full day of the champion being preached to on how the battle will be run and how they should enter, and how they should introduce the battle, etc."

"They sure do keep him busy, don't they?" she asked as she walked back into the kitchen to check on her dish.

"Well, the champion _is_ the star of the show," Oak replied simply.

"Is he up yet?" Misty asked, coming down the stairs in a pair of white bell bottom jeans and a tight blue t-shirt.

"He said he'll be down in a minute," Oak informed the young woman as he turned the television off. Frankly he was tired of listening to the "experts" and all their opinions on how Ash had virtually no chance of winning the match.

"That smells good Mrs. Ketchum," Tracey mentioned as he and Dawn walked through the front door. Despite the chilly Sinnoh spring climate, Dawn wore her normal pink skirt with a white sleeveless blouse. Tracey wore what Misty considered his normal attire consisting of a green t-shirt and headband. However, he had apparently traded in his usual red shorts for normal blue jeans in light of the thermometer.

"Why thank you Tracey," Delia responded with a smile. "Were you and Dawn able to find everything on my list?"

"We sure were," he answered as the two made their way over to the kitchen, their arms filled with paper bags. "Everything's here for your celebration dinner this evening."

_Let's hope there _is_ a celebration dinner_, Dawn worried pessimistically. She was afraid that everyone was just a little too confident in Ash. As much as she wanted him to win, and she wanted it a lot, she couldn't help but agree with the commentators on the television who continually compared Ash's performance against the Elite Four to Paul's. There was a world of difference, and it scared her.

"Hey Dawn!" Misty greeted the young coordinator as she entered the kitchen. "How'd you sleep?"

"Um, fine, thanks," Dawn returned, uncomfortably smiling back at the redhead. "How about you?"

"I slept great," Misty answered with a warm smile. With the assurance of Ash's feelings behind her, she could easily forgive her young counterpart for her feelings concerning the champion. After all, it was easy to understand _why_ she liked Ash so much. "You look really nice today."

"Thanks, so do you," she replied, this time smiling in earnest. Unsure though she was of Misty's change of heart, she was glad to be back on speaking terms with the gym leader.

_Maybe she's given up on him,_ she thought hopefully as Misty began talking to Tracey about some story he'd never finished telling her. If so, then winning over Ash was going to be even easier than she'd anticipated…as long as he won.

Professor Oak walked into the kitchen with the rest of the group, Gary walking close behind him.

"Gary, you're here!" Dawn cried enthusiastically from her seat atop the kitchen counter. She'd always been a rather big fan of Ash's former rival.

"Hey Dawn," he greeted with a small wave. Everyone turned to look at him after the blue-haired woman's announcement, and he quickly explained that he had to finish up some business at the gym before he could leave for Sinnoh.

"At least I made it here on time though!" he concluded with a smile.

"Hey Gary!" Ash suddenly cried from behind the doorway, causing the young researcher to jump slightly. Turning around, everyone saw Ash wearing his now-official Pokémon Sinnoh League Champion uniform.

"Wow, Ash," Gary commented sarcastically. "Is that your fancy champion costume? It looks like what you wore when we were kids, without the stupid jacket!"

"At least I _became_ a Pokémon champion, Gary," Ash replied icily. After a moment of tense silence throughout the kitchen, both young men began to laugh. "I'm glad to see you were able to make it!"

"Anything to see this battle," Gary commented, as everyone in the room began to break into small sects of conversation once more. "According to Gramps, this is gonna be some battle."

"So you're rooting for me?"

"Yeah, but only because if this guy beats you, we won't get to have _our_ big match. If anyone's gonna humiliate the great Ash Ketchum, it's gonna be me!" Gary declared proudly.

Laughing, Ash assured his friend that he wouldn't lose this battle, and he'd blow Gary away during their's in the near future.

"Whenever you're ready, Ashy-boy," the researcher replied with a smirk,

"Okay everyone, lunch is ready!" Delia suddenly called out above the raucous of laughter and serious discussion. "Get a plate, and Mr. Mime will serve you my famous spaghetti with secret sauce."

Lining up behind Ash, everyone got a large portion and began to inhale the meal. Not only was it delicious, but it was almost time to leave.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You'll just clip this part to your ear, and everyone will be able to hear you," explained the large man. He was wearing a sleeveless undershirt, and smelled of stale sweat, but Ash was appreciative for all the effort he'd put into making sure the champion understood how the ceremony and battle were going to take place. "I'm sure you used this during your last Champion battle, right?"

"Uh-huh," Ash answered, placing the small black headphone into his right ear. Flipping a small switch on its end, he could hear his steady breathing reverberate throughout the large stadium which could, and would, seat over one hundred thousand spectators.

"Hm," the man said, rubbing his chin, "I think it's still a little loud. We'll work on that. When trainers get in the heat of battle, they usually start yelling, and the last thing we want's a hundred thousand deaf people suing the League."

Laughing, Ash agreed and flipped the switch off. Looking at John's wristwatch, he saw it was a quarter to six.

"Almost time, huh?" the man asked, noticing the direction of the young man's eyes.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Ash answered, feeling more than a little nervous.

"Well, not that it's worth much, but I think you'll win," John said with a grin. "I dunno why. I mean, everybody on T.V. thinks this Paul guy's got you beat, but I just don't believe it. There's something about him that's different…" His thoughts seemed to drift away.

"Well, thank you!" he said appreciatively, and with a small nod. "It's nice knowing there's someone other than my family and friends who think I have a chance."

"Don't let those big guys on T.V. get to you," John said, snapping back to reality. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he looked at the champion right in the eye. "Most of them never got close to where you are now. Go out there and give it your best shot!"

Smiling, Ash thanked him once more, and he muttered something about the sound system before walking off.

The young champion took a deep breath and looked around at the currently empty stadium. Save for a few janitorial workers in the bleachers who were meticulously insuring that no trash was left lying on the ground, he was completely alone out here. Looking up, he couldn't find a cloud in the sky.

_Perfect weather_, he noted for no reason. He'd been drilled on the weather, when the sun was going to set, and when the large four night lights which cornered the stadium were going to be illuminated. Standing there in the middle of the pokéball shaped chalk center of the battlefield, and feeling a pleasant breeze brush by his arms, he couldn't help but smile.

However, that smile dropped instantly when he looked down, and found a certain purple hair-dyed trainer standing in the opponent battle square. It looked like Paul was staring straight at him.

"Paul?" he yelled across the field.

The trainer didn't respond.

Ash immediately took off and sprinted the three hundred feet to his now archrival. As he got closer, his vision insured him that it was indeed Paul Ikari. The young trainer stood there, smirking, when Ash finally faced him.

"Why'd you run so fast? To see the guy who's gonna beat you a little quicker?"

"I know about Team Rocket, Paul," Ash quickly informed the young man. "I know all about your plans to just cheat using their Pokémon, and I know about how you wanna be the Master."

"Of course you do," he replied, his smug smirk still plastered on his face. "I don't know why you're speaking in such an accusatory tone. It's not like I was gonna deny it or something."

Frankly, Ash had expected the trainer to at least feign ignorance of the plot. However, hearing his rival speak in such a way only heated his temper, and he clenched his fist as he continued. "So you don't care at all that you've gotten this far by cheating?"

"You know what Ash?" Paul asked, still calm, but losing his smirk. "I've thought about it a lot. You've always talked about how your Pokémon are your _friends_, and how that Brock and Dawn were your _friends_, and about how your _friends_ got you where you are today. Well, Giovanni is _my_ friend, and he's about to help me get to where you are today…then he's gonna get me even farther." With that, Paul smirked, and even gave a small chuckle.

"No he's not," Ash refused with a shake of his head. "Not today. I have the better team Paul, and I'm the better trainer." He did his best to withhold his desire to simply deck the young man right then and there for what he was saying.

"Right," Paul retorted sarcastically. "As I remember, you only _barely_ defeated my useless team last year in the tournament. What are you gonna do now that I actually have strong Pokémon? Go crying when your pathetic little rat gets its skull crushed?"

It was amazing to Ash how quickly Paul hit the ground following the champion's fist's connection to his jaw.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"This is it!" cried the announcer excitedly as the stands were almost instantly filled with cheering fans and bystanders. As Misty noted silently from her front row position in the luxurious box seat, the vast majority of the people were wearing "Ash Ketchum Team!" t-shirts, and she noted several toddlers proudly strutting around with a picture of Pikachu on the front of their upper-body wear.

"After only one year, Champion Ash Ketchum gets his first challenge from heated rival Paul Ikari! Who will win in a battle that's going to be nothing short of spectacular?"

"Only ten more minutes," Lance noted solemnly from behind Misty.

"You think he's ready?" Steven asked, sitting next to the dragon champion.

"I certainly hope so."

"Will you two quit being so pessimistic?" Cynthia asked the pair. "He knows what he's doing, alright? I'm sure he'll be great."

Relieved at hearing some confidence for Ash, Misty turned back in her seat to face the blond, former champion.

"Um, Cynthia?" she asked the reputable woman nervously.

"Yeah, Misty?" she responded with a kind smile.

"Uh, do you think I could see Ash really quickly before he goes onto the battlefield?"

"I don't know about that," Lance interjected. "He should probably be alone with his thoughts before something like this."

"I agree," Steven affirmed with a nod.

"Well I don't," Cynthia retorted, causing her contemporaries' eyebrows to raise in surprise. "The last thing any trainer should do before a battle is think too much. C'mon Misty, I'll show you where he's waiting."

Gratefully, Misty jumped out of her seat and followed the woman out of the box. As she closed the door, no one noticed as most of them were still in awe of the beautiful quarters they'd been given to watch the match from above.

Taking her down a flight of stairs, and then through a corridor which required a number password to pass through, Cynthia walked Misty to a large, metallic door.

"Make sure you let him know we're all rooting for him," Cynthia requested. "Before my battle with him, no one talked to me, and it didn't feel good being out on my own."

Nodding, Misty thanked the woman. As she turned and walked away, the gym leader tentatively knocked on the door, which was almost instantly opened.

"Hey Mist!" Ash cried happily. He had his hat off and his eyes looked a little bloodshot. "C'mon in!"

As she followed him, she was impressed to find a fully-functioning locker room had been granted to him. It was very large, and she assumed that the stadium must double as a special sports gathering place as well as a Pokémon battlefield.

"Are you okay Ash?" she asked as he grabbed his hat off a bench and sat down. She took a seat next to him.

"Huh?" he asked, with a shaky breath. "Oh yeah, I'm fine! Thanks for coming down to see me before the big battle!" He laughed half-heartedly following his statement, but Misty could see the nervous anticipation in his eyes.

_These minutes must feel like hours to him_.

"Well, I just wanted to come down here and tell you that we're all up there rooting for you," she said kindly, placing a hand on his lap to draw his attention to her.

"Thanks, Mist," he replied, calmer now. Seeing her face seemed to make him feel a little better instantly.

"So where's Pikachu?" she asked with a frown. She worried he might be just as nervous as his master.

"Oh, well I told you that we talked last night, right?" Ash asked.

"Yeah," Misty recalled. She also realized the trainer had never been given the opportunity to explain what they'd talked about, due to other "pressing matters". "He seemed happy last night."

"Yeah, well, basically we decided that he shouldn't be in this battle," Ash informed the young woman bluntly, much to her surprise. "Before he was upset that I hadn't asked, but after I _did_ ask, he refused to go along with it. I'm already using Sceptile and Charizard, so three of my best Pokémon would've just been too much. I had to send him off since I already had six Pokémon."

Misty couldn't believe that after how depressed the small electric mouse appeared the day before he didn't want to join in the battle. Ash's almost nonchalant manner about the affair after their fight a day earlier also struck her as odd, and she instinctively knew something was up. However, she realized that now was no time to press the champion for a deeper answer. Looking at a clock that hung above the sinks in the room, she saw it was three minutes before he was expected on the battlefield.

"If that's what he wanted," the redhead replied hesitantly. "Now, are you ready to go beat Paul?"

Smiling, Ash answered with a holler. "Yeah! Me and my Pokémon are gonna wipe the floor with him!"

Misty smiled too, seeing Ash as confident as he was when he was younger. She took the hat out of his gloved hands and, before he could protest, pressed it backwards on his head.

"You put it on the wrong way, Mist," Ash informed her.

"No," she contested with a grin. "You always used to turn your hat back before a big battle, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" he cried in agreement. "It's been a while since I've done that."

They both stood up, and Ash walked over to another pair of metallic doors. Upon his approach, they opened simultaneously, and a burst of noise from the awaiting audience pummeled their eardrums.

"This is it!" he cried, clenching his left fist, and pulling his cap back in the right direction. Turning to Misty he explained he'd fix it backwards "later".

As she saw his eyes light up as he looked down the dark hallway which ended on the battlefield, she quickly reached up and lightly pecked his cheek. Looking down, he returned the peck by grabbing her around the waist with his left arm and pulling her into a quick, but very intense kiss. They'd yet to actually discuss their relationship and how it was going to change, but kissing had quickly become a favorite pastime of their's since the night before.

Letting go of her, and with a small blush, Ash gave her a final grin before walking out to face his opponent. As he left, the doors slammed shut, and Misty gave a little prayer as she sprinted back up to the box.

By the time she was back in her seat, Ash and Paul had both been introduced by the announcer and were meeting in the middle of the field to shake hands. On the enormous jumbotron which faced directly opposite their box, Misty noted a sizable bruise lining the left side of Paul's face.

"I wonder what happened to him?" Gary asked to her left.

"I have no idea," she admitted. She wondered if Gary, with Professor Oak being his grandfather and his being a member of the Pokémon League himself, knew of Paul's true intentions. To the best of her knowledge, only she, the professor, and the champions actually understood the gravity of the situation behind this battle beyond Ash's dreams.

"Go Ash!" yelled a few of his family members a few rows behind her.

"C'mon little buddy!" yelled an older man who Misty wondered was the young champion's grandfather. She realized she actually didn't know any of his relatives beyond the niceties they'd exchanged the day before. They'd even resided in a different housing unit than she did, so her knowledge of the people sitting in the back was limited at best.

As both trainers took to opposite sides of the field, Misty could hear Ash's voice over the intercom. It sounded almost like he was sitting right next to her as he enthusiastically cried, "Let's do this!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Are you both ready?" the referee asked from a podium above and outside the battlefield boundaries.

"Let's do this!" Ash cried in return. His muscles tensed as he enlarged the first pokéball.

"Ready," Paul confirmed, not appearing the least bit excited.

"Remember trainers, you can only withdraw your Pokémon immediately after one has defeated the other, or after they have been out and against your opponent's Pokémon for at least two minutes. The timer for these two minutes will be indicated by the red and green bars beneath your pictures on the screens." The referee indicated the screens on both sides of the stadium before continuing. "The first person to lose all of his Pokémon will lose. Pokémon are exempt from the battlefield lines if they are in the air. However, once their feet touch the ground outside the battlefield for more than ten seconds, they will be disqualified."

Nodding in return, both trainers eyed the official.

"Now, release your first Pokémon of choice!"

Throwing the pokéball as far as he could with his left hand, a Scizor immediately took form in front of him.

"Huh," Paul stated simply over the headset. Ash smiled, knowing his opponent was surprised by his choice. However, any shock from his decision for a battling partner was shoved aside as Paul hurled his red and white orb into the air, and a formidable Rhyperior roared into being. "I was almost positive you were gonna use that Pikachu, but I guess you realized he'd have no chance against me this time. No problem though, Rhyperior is tough enough to take on a bug."

_A _steel _type bug_, Ash noted with cautious enthusiasm. Rhyperior was a rock type, giving him the immediate upper hand.

"Now," the referee announced, holding the green flag up in Ash's direction, and the red in Paul's, "let the battle begin!"

"Rhyperior, Earthquake," Paul stated simply.

"Rhy!" shouted his Pokémon as he lifted his heavy tail in the air and slammed it down, causing both Ash and his Scizor to momentarily stumble.

"Now hit him with a Stone Edge," Paul replied in his still-lazy tone.

Sticking his arms out in front of him, Rhyperior began to pelt Scizor's hide with small, sharp rocks. However, the red bug Pokémon didn't appear at all fazed.

"Great job Scizor," Ash commented. "Now, Agility and then Metal Claw."

In a flash, the Pokémon had disappeared, and reappeared behind Rhyperior. His claw glowing brightly, he slashed down on the rock and ground Pokémon's back, filling the battlefield with the screeching whine of metal upon stone.

"Tail Whip!" Paul commanded as his Pokémon gave out a low groan.

Lifting its heavy boulder-laden tail from the dirt, Rhyperior used amazing speed to swat away the bug Pokémon from behind. As Scizor rolled across the ground, Ash grit his teeth.

_Should've seen that coming._

"Scizor, use your wings for balance!"

After a few more rolls, the steel type fluttered his heavy wings and slowly lifted himself back to his feet.

"Looks like he's a lightweight," Paul noted. "Rock Blast."

As several smaller stones hurtled, towards Scizor, Ash implemented his Pokémon's main strategy once more; speed.

"Agility again!"

In a flash, Scizor was standing directly in front of his trainer, and then in another blink, he was directly in front of Rhyperior.

"Stop!" Ash cried. He was in the perfect position.

Snorting at his opponent's incompetence, Paul commanded Rhyperior to use Hammer Arm. Bringing its formidably large ligament above Scizor's head, Rhyperior brought down its arm with all the force it could muster.

"Iron Defense Head!"

CLANG

Rhyperiors arm visibly cracked upon contact with his opponent's skull, causing Ash to smirk for the first time during the battle. He'd created that move from a combination of Scizor's Iron Defense, which by itself promoted complete bodily defense, and his Iron Head Attack, which further increased the defense of his Pokémon's head.

Rhyperior was clearly shaken, and though Paul ordered another Earthquake attack, it was clear his Pokémon needed a second as it groaned from the intense pain of a broken limb.

"Bullet Punch, Scizor!" he ordered.

Scizor's claws, already glowing from the intensity of the Iron Defense, became even brighter as he instantaneously jabbed Rhyperior's entire body with quick punches. The last one came after about ten full seconds of the rock Pokémon moaning in pain while its body vibrated, and it landed directly underneath the Pokémon's chin. To even Ash's surprise, the ground type was lifted a few inches off the ground, and stumbled backwards.

"Look at that Rhyperior!" the announcer cried from his office. Ash hadn't noticed how loud the crowd had gotten, or even that this match was being witnessed at all in the heat of the moment. However, while waiting to see what Paul would do next, he temporarily became aware of his surroundings once more. "It's still standing after a punishing blow by Scizor. Can this Pokémon still make up for lost ground?"

"Rock Wrecker!" Paul called to his battling partner, refocusing Ash on the matter at hand.

Still looking slightly dazed by the impact, Rhyperior put both its arms forward and began shooting small rocks together between its palms. Soon, the rocks were massing together to form a sizable boulder.

Recognizing the need for action, Ash ordered Scizor behind the opponent. However, Rhyperior proved its determination by swiftly pivoting on its left foot to face Scizor once more. The boulder was at least three feet in diameter and growing.

"Do it now!"

"Rhy!" With a final roar, the large boulder hurtled towards Ash's Pokémon.

"Metal Claw!" Ash ordered at the same time. He could only hope the move would suffice for destroying the large rock.

It didn't.

As Scizor slashed at the dense stone with another glowing claw, Ash's Pokémon's arm was immediately pushed back by the force of the attack. The rest of his body followed suit as he was flung into the partisan wall. The boulder fell away, showing that Scizor had been heavily imprinted into the partition.

The referee squinted to his right to insure that Scizor was not touching the ground. After a moment, it was clear that he wasn't, but if he didn't respond soon, Rhyperior would still be given the victory.

"C'mon Scizor!" Ash called out from across the field. His voice was magnified through the speakers, and it caused his Pokémon to jerk slightly in response. "You've got 'im! Please don't give up now!"

Slowly, but surely, the steel Pokémon began fidgeting around, and after a moment he'd fallen on his knees back to the ground.

"Scizor has ten seconds before he is disqualified," announced the referee. On the jumbotrons, between the vacant slots which represented Ash and Paul's future Pokémon in the battle, a clock appeared, counting down from ten.

"Keep him out with an Earthquake!" Paul commanded. Slamming its tail, Rhyperior caused another large rattle throughout the battlefield. However, Scizor unsteadily stood as the clock fell to six seconds.

"C'mon Scizor!" Ash urged.

Slowly, his Pokémon walked back to the field.

Three seconds.

"Stone Edge."

Small stones once again pelted his body in a weak attempt to hold him back. However, despite the several cuts and chinks in his steely exoskeleton, Scizor continued to make his way back to the line.

One second.

"Use your wings!" Ash cried as a loud as he could over the buzzer.

"Scizor is still in the battle!" the official's voice boomed as Scizor rapidly flapped his wings. His feet dangled just a few inches from the ground, and it was clear that his metallic state was causing a strain on his flight.

"Rock Blast!" Paul yelled. Ash noticed he was starting to sound worried.

Holding out both palms towards the champion's Pokémon, the Rhyperior unleashed a barrage of medium-sized stones. However, Scizor proved too fast as his feet landed within the battlefield once again and he began to move in an almost rhythmic dance to avoid the onslaught of rocks.

"Keep it up!" Ash ordered, laughing a little. Despite Scizor's weakened state, the speed Ash had worked on with him was really keeping him in the battle. Rhyperior was healthier, but not by much.

_I just need an opening._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow, look at Scizor go," Dawn commented as she leaned forward in her seat. It was impressive to see the Rhyperior continually missing its target as Scizor did a slow dance across the battlefield.

"Yeah, Ash isn't even having to tell it to dodge," Steven noted from the second row. "I guess those speed training sessions were the right idea after all, Cynthia."

"Well, I just knew that we wouldn't have the time to focus on his strength like you wanted," she responded. "It was just easier to go with the stat that he was already fairly high in."

"I must say," Professor Oak interjected, "that certainly is one of the quickest of its species I've found. Normally Scyther lose a great deal of speed when they evolve, but it seems like Ash captured a rather unique version of the creature."

"Unique Pokémon always find Ash," Dawn noted. "It's part of why he's such a great trainer."

"Night Slash!"

All of the spectators within the box jumped as Ash's voice suddenly boomed again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Instantly, Scizor charged towards Rhyperior, who'd worn itself out with its flurry of attacks. With his claw now darkly tinted against the glow of the setting sun, Scizor leapt high in the air with the help of his wings and delivered a crushing blow directly to the larger of Rhyperior's horns. The tip of the horn shattered, and Rhyperior roared as its body was shoved into the ground with full force.

For a moment, Scizor left his darkened claw on the head of his opponent, insuring that the monstrous creature was going to stay down, but as the referee lifted the green flag towards Ash, he pulled away from the Rhyperior.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle! Scizor is the victor!"

With a "ding" the picture upon the screens of Paul's Pokémon faded beneath the trainer's picture, causing Ash to grin.

Suddenly, Paul wasn't so calm anymore.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, here's some good news for you guys who want to know what happens next (which is hopefully everyone)…I'm going to return to weekly updates! That's right, my last AP test is Tuesday, which gives me a lot of free time (at least the next couple of weeks until graduation), so you can expect to see chapter 28 up next Sunday. I've always said that returning to weekly updates has been a goal of mine with this fic, even when I was only updating once a month back in January, and now it appears that I'm about to realize this goal. So, yeah, I hope y'all are happy to hear that!

Anyway, as for my awesomely superb recommendations:

"Journey of Legends" by livezinshadowz - Yeah, I'm recommending this story again. If you haven't read and reviewed it yet then…please do, I guess. It's excellently written, and I'm sure it will be an awesome pokeshipping fic.

Okay, sorry, but I haven't really had time to look for new stories this last week, so that's the only recommendation I can give. Seriously, I don't think anyone's updating right now besides me, but if you or an author you know of is working on a good Pokémon story, please let me know in your review so that I can suggest it to my readers. My last update garnered over 1.2 thousand readers in one day, so hopefully at least a few of those people will take my recommendations and use them.

Alright, it's really late (or, technically, early), so I'm going to end these notes here. Have a great week, and REVIEW PLEASE!


	28. Showdown in Sunyshore

**Hey Everybody!** Well, against all odds, I got this out in time for a one week update! I'm very happy with myself for that, but I'm going to be perfectly honest…I'm going back to two week updates. The reason for this is twofold. One, last year when I did one week updates, my chapters were an average of about 4,000 words. Now, my chapters average more than double that. It was really hard for me, even with my last AP test being done on Tuesday, to commit several hours each day for this installment which, consequently, is over 9,000. (Yes, I know that sounds like a joke, but seriously, it's OVER 9000!) The other reason though that I'm going back to two week installments is because of you guys. I feel really bad because within four days of publishing last chapter, I received a whopping 32 reviews! First, I want to say thank y'all so much for giving your input! No joke, your support is overwhelming, and in fact, when I had to force myself to sit down and work on this headache of an installment, I would literally think _"they took time to appreciate this story, so the least I can do is publish this on time for them". _However, the unfortunate side effect of having one week installments is that I was unable to write each of you, thanking you for the support because all my free time was bent towards completing this. The least any author can do is express his appreciation to his fans, and I was, against my will, forced to remain silent. Therefore, I think it's in my best interest to resume two week installments. However, make no mistake, I have no intention on wavering in this resolution. I DO have a lot of free time now, so two weeks will be an easy deadline for me to meet over the next couple of months.

Also, I'd like to quickly mention that all those people who reviewed me, but didn't receive a Private Message from me thanking them, can expect to hear from me over the next few days. I'm donating the next couple of nights to replying to all of your wonderful reviews, and I hope my neglectful attitude this past week over your comments will not hinder you from giving me your feedback on this chapter once you've finished reading it.

One last thing, this chapter is seriously ALL BATTLING. I know some of my fans are not exactly prone to liking my battles, so if you do not enjoy Pokémon fighting, or whatever, you may seriously want to skip this installment…though I hope you don't. It took forever for me to write, but I think the scenes in this chapter are pretty well laid out.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Paul: 14

* * *

"Great job, Scizor!" Ash congratulated from the sideline. His Pokémon ran over to him, and he pet the bug's hard head. "You did an awesome job out there. Do you think you can win another battle for me?"

"Scizor," his Pokémon replied happily with a nod. Ash could see a few serious dents in his battling partner's armor, but it appeared that he was more than willing to go for a second round.

"Okay then buddy," Ash replied with a smile. "Remember to dodge first. If I don't give you a command, then just keep dodging their attacks. Okay?"

"Sciz," his Pokémon happily nodded once more before running back onto the battlefield.

"What a spectacular battle!" the announcer commented overhead. "It seems that, thanks to the type advantage, Champion Ketchum managed to stave off one of Paul's very powerful Pokémon. But can he do it again?"

Ash frowned as he heard this. The announcer made it sound like he'd just lucked out.

_Paul could have switched at any time, _he thought, looking at the clock on the board and realizing that only thirteen minutes had elapsed since the start of the fight. Even though it felt longer, Paul had been given eleven minutes to change after he saw the type ineffectiveness. However, for some reason he'd kept Rhyperior out on the field.

_He probably wants to keep his team a secret._

"Ladies and gentleman," the announcer declared overhead. "For the rest of the battle, due to the setting sun, the trainers will be battling under the stadium night lights."

"Alright trainers," the referee stated after the lights flashed on, illuminating the field in unison, "please choose your next Pokémon."

"I'm gonna use Scizor again," Ash announced, feeling a slight chill grasp him.

"Come out Blaziken!" Paul replied. In another flash of light, a Blaziken, over a foot taller than Ash's five foot Scizor, appeared. It immediately set its wrists ablaze, and narrowed its eyes at its newest victim.

As both Pokémon approached the center of the field, Ash began to wish he'd chosen differently. Now he'd have to wait two minutes before he could switch, and frankly, he wasn't sure Scizor had two minutes of battling in him against this formidable fire and fighting type.

"Let the battle begin!" the announcer cried, lifting the flags in the air.

"Agility, Scizor!"

"Double Team!"

As Scizor randomly appeared in different areas around the battlefield, Blaziken steadily multiplied its image to one copy, then two, then five, then finally ten. All ten Blaziken were forming a large circle around the field, basically trapping Scizor within.

"Now use Flamethrower," Paul commanded, once again achieving his nonchalant tone. It was obvious to Ash that he didn't want to seem as if this battle were a challenge.

"Jump out of the way!" Ash cried desperately.

However, before Scizor could do anything, the ten Blaziken unleashed a conflagration upon the center of the field, with Ash's Pokémon taking the full brunt of the storm.

"No!" Ash cried.

The firestorm seemed to blaze for an eternity, when in reality it couldn't have lasted more than a minute. The smoke did take at least another minute to dissipate though, as everyone in the crowd hushed to see the outcome.

Sure enough, in the middle of the pokéball-shaped center of the field, Scizor had fallen to the ground, his exoskeleton charred and smoking from the deadly blast.

"Scizor is unable to battle!" the referee declared after one decisive observation. "Blaziken is the winner."

There was a mix in the crowd of cheers and boos. Many of the boos came from Ash's fans, but he also suspected many did not like how long Paul's Pokémon had unnecessarily continued its attack.

"It looks like Paul's Pokémon wasted no time in vanquishing its opponent," the announcer mentioned simply as Ash recalled his loyal Pokémon.

"You did a great job."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"That wasn't good trainer etiquette," Gary noted solemnly. "Nurse Joy's gonna have her hands full with that case after this battle is over."

"I agree," Professor Oak said, sitting next to his grandson. "Although I must admit that Blaziken's well-trained. Just like Ash's Scizor, this Blaziken seems strong in its fire power when normally Pokémon of its species are much better at fighting with their fists."

"Ash'll be able to beat it though," Misty assured, more to herself than anyone in the room.

"I'm sure he will," Delia agreed with a small smile as she watched the redhead's face press almost against the glass. She was definitely one of Ash's most ardent fans. "He's one of the best trainers in the world!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Poliwrath, go!" Ash cried, releasing his blue water type onto the field. After the Pokémon had walked to the center of the field, the referee once again raised the flags.

"Water Gun!"

Poliwrath immediately unleashed a large jet of water from the center of her spiral-shaped abdomen. However, the Blaziken skillfully leapt high into the air, as Paul ordered a Peck attack.

Twisting its body rapidly as it let loose a stream of fire from its hands and feet to propel it towards Poliwrath, the Blaziken growled menacingly while nearing its target.

"Dynamic Punch!" Ash ordered.

"Poli!" the water type cried as she brought back her arm and made direct contact with Blaziken's beak.

"Blaze!" the Pokémon screamed in pain as it was sent flying backwards from the strength of the hit. It landed on its back several feet away.

"Bubblebeam!"

A flurry of bubbles protruded from the Pokémon's body and charged Blaziken, who immediately covered its head with its arms in a desperate attempt to salvage health.

As the bubbles burst with large "pops" and flashes of light upon contact with the fire type's body, Ash realized the need to take advantage of the situation. Poliwrath still wasn't a very strong Pokémon, and the strength she did possess lay in her physical abilities.

"Now use Submission!"

Poliwrath ran towards her opponent, and swiftly grabbed the Blaziken's right leg as it struggled to stand back up. With its right leg in tow, Poliwrath jumped in the air and spun around several times while holding onto the fire type. As she threw Blaziken into the ground, causing a plume of dust to rise above its body, Ash gave a small smile. This battle had been too easy.

"Blaziken, get up and use FirePunch!" Paul suddenly commanded. In the blink of an eye, Blaziken had risen from the ground with a flip. It no longer appeared tired, but instead appeared to be completely alert as flames smothered its body.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Oh no," Professor Oak stated as he watched the Blaziken stand and launch a combustive fist at Poliwrath, who was sent flying backwards. "It appears that Blaziken's Blaze ability has kicked in."

"But he's a fire type, so it shouldn't be hard for Poliwrath to handle," Dawn said, watching as Poliwrath narrowly dodged a series of close punches. "She'll take care of 'im in not time."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash was beginning to sweat despite the drop in temperature. Blaziken was shooting jets of fire at Poliwrath, who'd managed to avoid close combat with the fierce fighting and fire type and was now having to counter each of its Flamethrowers with a Water Gun.

"Water Gun again!" Ash commanded helplessly as Paul simultaneously ordered a Fire Blast. Despite the type advantage, Poliwrath's power had proven itself incompetent against Blaziken's newfound strength.

"Poliwrath!" cried the Pokémon as the stream of fire barely dissipated before reaching her skin. She was beginning to weaken from so many water attacks, though her opponent seemed more than happy to continue its small rampage on the battlefield. Rolling to the right, the water Pokémon barely dodged another Flamethrower.

"Yah!" Ash cried, ducking along with his Pokémon to dodge the fire attack. "Try a Hypnosis!"

Clapping her hands to gain Blaziken's attention, the water Pokémon slowly turned the stripe on her belly in a counter clockwise fashion. For a brief moment, it appeared that Blaziken had become entrapped by the sight, but a brief shout from Paul immediately brought it back to reality.

"Take it out with a ThunderPunch!" he ordered.

Imitating Ash's Scizor, the Blaziken disappeared from its location and instantly reappeared in front of a terrified Poliwrath. Bringing its electrically-charged fist back, Blaziken swiftly popped the water type with a "bang" which resonated throughout the stadium above the cheers and moans from the audience. Poliwrath was sent tumbling backwards, and after a moment it became clear that she was not going to stand up.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle! Blaziken is the winner!"

The picture of Poliwrath faded from the jumbotron as Ash brought back his Pokémon. Putting her pokéball back on his belt, he thanked her for the effort. Looking across at the Blaziken who'd reclaimed its spot on the opposite side of the battlefield, he contemplated his plight.

_It's super strong, but low on health_, he reasoned, due to its Blaze effect. _It's also really fast, but I just have to get a few strong hits to finish it. _With a smile, he pulled the next battle partner from his waist. The choice was easier to make when he thought of it that way.

"I choose you, Haunter!" he declared, as the ball opened within his hand and the purple ghost type eagerly leapt onto the battlefield. With a fiendish grin, Ash's Pokémon stuck his tongue out at his first real opponent as the two met near the center of the battlefield.

"Blaziken," Paul's Pokémon growled disapprovingly.

"Haunter, haunt," the ghost and poison type declared as the referee began to raise his flags. He was now crossing his eyes as he continued to protrude his tongue.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Blaze!" The Pokémon opened its mouth and unleashed a wave of fiery fury in the form of a Flamethrower.

Ash watched intently as he ducked once again to avoid being licked by the flames himself. The attack lasted at least thirty seconds, and by the time Paul's battling partner had finished, his entire body felt overheated. However, he never lost focus on Haunter's location, and to his great relief, when the flames finally subsided, he saw his Pokémon was no longer there.

An audible gasp escaped the lips of much of the audience as the smoke cleared and it became obvious that the attack had been surprisingly ineffective.

"Now Haunter!" Ash cried with a grin.

"Haunter!" The ghost type rose from behind Blaziken and sent the Pokémon stumbling forward with a swift Night Shade attack.

"Fire Blast!" Paul commanded as his Pokémon got back on its knees.

With a kick of its right leg, Blaziken unleashed another powerful fire type attack towards its opponent. However, Haunter once again proved too quick as he disappeared back into the ground, creating the form of a dark blob staining the battlefield floor.

"Use Shadow Punch!" Ash commanded.

Haunter approached the fighting type and then swiftly rose from the ground once more. Unfortunately for the floating Pokémon, Blaziken was still fighting-fit for physical combat, and upon Haunter's emergence, he quickly disabled him with a powerful Fire Punch. The attack sent Haunter spiraling backwards as he screamed his name.

"Now follow it up with a Flare Blitz!"

"Blaze-blaze!" The fire Pokémon used its lower body strength to jump at least ten stories into the air. For a moment, the blaze creature seemed to float, as if the power from the jump had temporarily given it the ability to fly, before the fire type did a quick mid-air somersault, pressed both its arms and legs tightly together, and raced towards Haunter at an amazing speed. As it came closer, fire surrounded its red hot body.

With about five seconds to act following the fire type's leap, Ash decided to go for his Pokémon's only defense mechanism.

"Protect!"

In a flash of light, Blaziken made contact with the ghost type and almost instantaneously was sent hurtling backwards in a series of backward air and ground flips. As its body finally slid to a halt on the right vertical battle line, Ash heard it groan.

"Now's our chance!" he reminded his battling partner, who continued to wield a dark, yet luminescent, psychic shield in front of his body. "Shadow Ball!"

With a cry, Haunter relinquished the Protect defense and quickly formed a massive blob of dark energy between his palms. Ash could see small sparks of electricity emanate from the dark core of the special ghost attack, and when he saw Blaziken beginning to stir itself onto its feet, after much verbal harassment from its trainer, he knew it was time.

"Now Haunter!" he ordered with a bellow which reverberated strongly overhead.

Thrusting his hands forward, the dark matter was delivered at such a speed that it took even Ash a moment to realize what had happened. The dust from the stadium floor blew in his and Paul's direction as the attack assailed Haunter's opponent.

Lowering his cap to keep the dirt away from his eyes, Ash looked onward as the attack successfully came into contact with Blaziken's body.

"Blaze!" roared the Pokémon once more as he took on the attack. However, Ash instantly noticed that something was wrong with the scene.

_The force of Haunter's attack should've sent him sailing._

After another moment of silence from both Ash and the audience, the champion realized what was happening. The fire type's hands were flaming powerfully as the Pokémon staved off the attack with brute strength. Blaziken wasn't crying from pain, he was giving a shout of triumph.

"Haunter, follow it up with a Shadow Punch!"

As Haunter rushed to Blaziken's side of the field, his fist back and releasing a menacingly dark aura, Paul ordered a Fire Kick.

_How can he-?_

As if answering the champion's unfinished inquiry, Blaziken used the Shadow Ball for leverage as with a final grunt he threw it into the air and slid under it, his right foot out and flaming.

"Give it your best shot!" Ash shouted above the commotion of the announcer and audience. It was too late for Haunter to dodge the attack, so the best chance his Pokémon had of winning the match was through a clash of power.

As the ghost Pokémon's fist came into contact with the fiery ligament, both were instantly shot in different directions. Blaziken had approached the half-poison type at an angle, so he was sent to the far right corner from Ash's position. However, Haunter was launched even further back, and in fact outside the battlefield limits, to Ash's far left.

For a moment, the young champion panicked. With wide eyes, he saw his Pokémon hit the ground and roll onto his back.

The referee squinted, and again announced that Haunter had ten seconds before he was disqualified. Internally, the official decided that if the Pokémon didn't make another movement within five seconds, he would be ejected from the match for being knocked out.

Ignoring the dreadful clock which again presented itself on the jumbotron, Ash called out to his friend.

"Haunter, get up buddy!" he called through cupped hands. He felt the same distress he'd felt earlier with Scizor after Rhyperior had taken him out of the field, but this time an extra dosage of dread bubbled in his gut. This was his _third_ Pokémon. If he lost Haunter, Paul would have successfully dismantled half his team with only one of his partners. "Please get up Haunter! We trained so hard for this moment. You just have to fight a little longer!"

Haunter slowly, without even moving from his back-down position, floated a few feet back in the air.

Glad that he hadn't called the match too quickly, the referee released his tight grip on the red flag as the clock faded from the center of the screen.

Around him, Ash could hear the audience screaming either its approval or unhappiness with Haunter's resilience, but the champion determined himself to ignore it all.

"That's right Haunter!" he cheered, now completely facing away from the battlefield. He was standing on the edge of the battle square lines as he urged his tired Pokémon back into the war against Paul's monster. "Just hang in there! You're doing so well!"

"Flamethrower!"

With a rush of new heat, Ash felt his dreams begin to melt as the flames licked the hairs on his right forearm.

"What the-?" It at first appeared that his Pokémon had simply instantaneously combusted right before his eyes, but Ash's battling experience quickly drew his mind to the true culprit.

_Never take your eyes off the battlefield_, he chastised himself angrily as the fire raged on beside him. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he turned and gave Paul's Blaziken a menacing glare. To his surprise, the Pokémon actually took notice and ended his assault.

Looking back, he couldn't even make out his Pokémon's silhouette through the murky smoke which remained from the attack. However, he didn't hold out any hope that his Pokémon had survived.

_Can ghost Pokémon die?_ he wondered as the guilt for forcing his Pokémon back up clenched his stomach.

"I'm so sorry, Haunter," Ash muttered as he looked down. He reached for his loyal Pokémon's pokéball and enlarged it. Before he pointed it through the fog, though, the announcer's booming voice, as well as the shouts of the thousands of fans behind him, caused him to look up in curiosity.

Through the vestige of the Flamethrower, he could suddenly see a bright light breaking through the heavy clouds.

Laughing to himself in disbelief, Ash looked on as the final remnants of Blaziken's assault dissipated.

"Gengar!" Haunter cried happily in his new form. Clapping his now-connected hands together, the ghost and poison type unleashed another, much more powerful Night Shade at his opponent, who, along with his trainer, seemed dumbfounded by Ash's lucky break.

With a small explosion upon contact, Blaziken was sent hurtling backwards once again. Ash realized that the Pokémon, despite the obvious strength endowed to it by Team Rocket's methods, was still very close to being defeated.

"Finish it off!" he declared with a smile as he pointed in Blaziken's direction with a flourish.

Happily nodding, Gengar rushed to stand in front of his master and friend as he slammed his two shadowed fists together. From them came a wave of dark energy which shot across the field with the same speed as the Shadow Ball from earlier.

_He learned Shadow Pulse!_ Ash cried internally excitedly as the attack swiftly knocked Blaziken's weak body even further back.

Though Paul had once again berated his Pokémon to its feet following the second Night Shade, the Shadow Pulse was more than enough to force the fire and fighting type out of the battlefield and out of consciousness.

The clock between the two trainers' pictures did not appear in spite of Blaziken being knocked out of bounds. All that was needed was a quiet second by the referee to inspect the Pokémon from his stand before reflexively lifting the green flag.

"Blaziken is unable to battle! Haunt-Gengar is the winner!"

A few people in the audience laughed at the official's mistake, but the vast majority cheered in celebration at their champion's newest victory. Though at the beginning it seemed to Ash that the audience seemed split in factions between him and his archrival, he now realized that the percentage of Paul's fans seemed to have diminished in large segments.

"Worthless," Paul grumbled under his breath as he recalled the Pokémon.

Suddenly, Ash realized that the taunting and haranguing which Paul had done in order to "motivate" his Pokémon had not only been heard by him.

Seeing his opponent begin to lose his temper, Ash laughed once again to himself. As he peered across the battlefield, hate-filled eyes met his gaze.

"Return, Gengar," Ash said, his and Paul's vision still locked.

"Champion Ketchum decides to rest his Pokémon after yet another exhilarating battle!" the man declared overhead. "What can his strategy be now?"

_You'll see._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Why is Ash bringing back Gengar?" Delia asked. "He was such a good Pokémon." Though she never claimed to be an expert on Pokémon battling, and in fact only was a fan because of her son's love for the sport, it seemed silly to her for Ash to make such a move.

"I dunno," Tracey answered beside her. While he was impressed with how the battle had turned out, he lost a little assurance in the young champion after seeing Gengar disappear in the red beam. "I would've thought he'd keep Gengar out until he was K.O.'d."

"Did that make any sense to you?" Steven asked Lance as the two stared down at the field, waiting for both trainers to make their next choice.

"Not at all," Lance answered honestly. "That Gengar's already taken a lot of damage. I can't think of why Ash would want to preserve him _now_. Of course, he beat us all in battles, so I'm not sure how critical we can be of his battle style."

"That's true," Cynthia agreed with a small nod. "Maybe he has more strategies than he told us about. It's possible he's varied his game plan from when we talked with him on the island."

"Knowing Ash," Professor Oak interjected, "I'd say it's almost _guaranteed_ he changed his game plan. He's never been one for conventional methods."

"Look, he's throwing out another Pokémon!" a young boy from one of the back rows cried.

All eyes instantly locked once again on the field.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Steelix, I choose you!"

From Ash's side of the battlefield, a metallic serpentine creature emerged onto the scene. The steel and ground type lifted his head and unleashed a screeching, guttural cry.

"And Champion Ketchum releases a powerful Steelix!" the announcer continued. Ash couldn't help but feel a little annoyed as the man repeatedly mentioned the obvious. "What could Paul bring to the table against such a strong opponent?"

"Steelix, huh?" Paul asked. "Is that new?" Though Ash couldn't see him with his two-story behemoth of a battling partner standing right before him, he could swear that Paul was smirking. "Whatever. Kabutops, come out now!"

Steelix shifted a little to the left, allowing Ash a good view of the water and rock type Pokémon which waited for Steelix's first attack. The Pokémon slowly swung the large blades which it possessed in the place of hands by its side.

"She's pretty nice, huh?" Paul asked. Ash was surprised that the purple-haired trainer was even trying to psyche him out. In their past battles, Paul had been all-business.

_He must be trying to use mind games to win_.

Clearing his throat to catch the attention of the two trainers, the referee lifted both flags in the air once more. "Begin!"

At the official's command, Kabutops instinctively used Aqua Jet to propel itself into Steelix.

Roaring loudly, Steelix rebounded quickly. Though the water from the attack was damaging, it was not enough to pierce the large Pokémon's high defense. Ash was counting on that defense to hold throughout the battle.

"Dig underground!" he ordered.

Instantly, Steelix lifted his massive head and pounded it against the ground while shooting his tail into the air. The stadium floor gave into his combined weight, already having been abused and weakened by the various attacks placed upon it. Within seconds, the entire steel type's body was underground, and the only indication of his presence was a large crater on Ash's side of the field and a slight rumbling beneath the ground.

Looking around desperately, Paul finally called after his Pokémon. "Follow him!"

As Kabutops jumped into the hole and disappeared, Ash smiled once again.

"Bring her back up!" he ordered suddenly, after no sound came from beneath the battlefield after a moment. "Iron Tail!"

The ground began to shake violently, and suddenly Steelix's luminescent tail ripped above the soil, with Kabutops riding atop it. With a harsh flick, the rock type flew into the glass above the partition wall and fell on her back with a thud. However, before even the referee could mention that it was out of bounds, the almost extinct Pokémon raced back onto the field. Ash noted hesitantly that the Kabutops did not appear anywhere near ready to concede the match.

About the same time, Steelix reappeared in front of Ash, creating another gaping hole in the battlefield floor plan. With a metallic screech, he leered down upon Kabutops, and Ash realized that his steel Pokémon was quite the competitor. Since he'd only trained with the Pokémon for seven days, he was still learning about his personality, but this little insight greatly pleased him.

"Steelix, Dragonbreath!"

Unlocking its large jaw, Steelix unleashed a large jet of blue air from its lungs.

"Take it head on!" Paul commanded to his Pokémon, who obediently stood her ground.

As the attack swirled around the Kabutops, Ash could see that the Pokémon did not appear in the least fazed by the attack.

_I shouldn't have tried a special attack,_ he noted silently. He knew Steelix was not built for non-physical combat, especially when it came to dragon type moves, but he had hoped to weaken his opponent before starting his next assault.

"Absorb its energy Kabutops!" Paul ordered after another moment.

With a slash of her blades, Kabutops easily dismissed the surrounding blue aura as nothing more than a nuisance. She then glared directly up at Steelix as her eyes turned red.

"Watch out Steelix!" Ash ordered. Though Steelix was indeed made of steel, he was also part ground type, which left him susceptible to a grass type move. Unfortunately for the gargantuan Pokémon, the order came too late as two jagged beams of light grabbed at Steelix and began to drain energy away from his writhing body.

"Now up it to a Mega Drain!" Paul commanded.

Suddenly, the two beams of red light widened and began to glow with a dark green aura, which consequently surrounded Steelix's form as well.

As his Pokémon roared even louder, Ash looked to the jumbotron screen and found that the first two minutes of the battle had indeed passed. His right hand hovered over the shrunken pokéball on his belt, tempting his desire to simply withdraw the Pokémon. It was clear that he'd made the wrong choice for the battle, and if he didn't act soon, Steelix would be lost.

However, he snapped his head up as he realized the potential harm of such an action. _I have to stick to the script,_ he determined in his mind. If he varied from his plan now, everything could be jeopardized.

So instead, he brought his right fist back around and thought. When he saw where Kabutops' attack was sourced, inspiration struck.

"Sand Attack!"

Though his power had been greatly diminished, Steelix willed his large tail up, and then he skimmed it across the surface of the battlefield, successfully blowing a rush of dusty air into his opponent's eyes.

"Now Double Edge!"

Apparently revitalized at the sight of Kabutops' disorientation, Steelix eagerly reared his head back before slamming it down directly onto the ancient Pokémon.

"It looks like Kabutops is out of this one, folks."

Ash, though, knew better than to expect an end to his trouble. Sure enough, as Steelix raised himself upright once more, Kabutops could be seen standing on top of his Pokémon's head. As his outer-layer of flesh glistened brightly underneath the fluorescent lights, it became apparent that the Pokémon had successfully hardened his outer shelling to brace for the impact.

"What an amazing twist!" the announcer again declared as a lull weighed in between the two trainers' commands.

"Just shake your head!"

As Steelix waved his cranium about with gusto, Kabutops simply used the tumultuous movements to steel her resolve. Using her two blades, she neatly and quickly slashed into the top of Steelix's head, keeping her safely above her opponent despite all his cringing.

"Let's see if she can hang on when you dig!" Ash suggested, gritting his teeth. How had the Pokémon broken through his creature's diamond-hard skin?

Jumping back into the hole which he'd created earlier, Steelix groaned and roared beneath the surface for at least several minutes as small pebbles and clods of dirt bounced around on the surface. The audience began to grow restless, and several shouted for someone to do something after sitting patiently. Even the announcer had quieted down as nothing new happened on the field, and despite himself, Ash had to stifle a yawn as he continued to stare down the dark chasm which occupied his half of the field.

Looking across at Paul, he was surprised to see that the trainer and challenger did not seem at all concerned about the growing disappointment of the fans, or even the outcome of the battle. Instead, he appeared much more intrigued by his shirt sleeve, which he kept dusting off after having grown quite dirty from the sand storm produced by Ash's Pokémon.

Finally, after five minutes, Steelix created yet another hole in the ground as he emerged, Kabutops still tightly holding on.

"What?" Ash asked, not believing his eyes. How could anyone have held on that long?

"Now that he's tired," Paul suddenly quipped, grabbing Ash's attention, "Night Slash."

Ash recognized the move from his battle with Scizor earlier as the shellfish Pokémon pulled out her right blade and allowed it to grow dark. She then brought it down and caused a great cry of anguish to emit from Steelix's mouth.

"Steelix!" Ash cried worriedly. There was nothing he could do but stand and watch as the Kabutops put several more slices into his Pokémon.

With a final groan Steelix suddenly seemed to give up as he closed his eyes and fell flat on the ground. His large jaw landed mere feet from the referee, and the official blinked for a moment, stunned by the close call.

"Steelix!" Ash cried. "Don't give up! You can still take her!"

However, it was clear to the referee that the Pokémon indeed did _not_ have the will to fight any longer, and he quickly brought his red flag up. As soon as he did so, Steelix disappeared from his sight and from beneath the water and rock type Pokémon.

"You did great, buddy," Ash mentioned to the red and white capsule. "I'm proud." He then turned back to face Paul, and quickly ran through his options.

His right hand first reached for the pokéball which he'd placed furthest from the front. After all, the creature within _would _make sense. But once again his strategy kicked his common sense to the curb as he reminded himself of the plan. _I can't risk it._

Knowing that Gengar was nearly unconscious and, again, necessary for the future of his strategy, Ash had no choice but to choose the pokéball closest to the front. He didn't hesitate to use the creature because he doubted its abilities. No, in fact, he secretly considered this battling partner to be his strongest. _Not that I could ever let Pikachu know that,_ he thought with a small smile. He was worried though, about the type difference.

Finding himself between a rock and a hard place, he decided that, thus far, everything was going according to his prepared strategy, excluding the little incident with Steelix just now. With this in mind, he realized it would be foolish to give up just yet.

Clenching the capsule tightly and pressing down upon the center button, Ash looked across at Kabutops and Paul with the utmost confidence.

"Charizard, c'mon out!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Yes! Charizard!" Misty cheered happily as she watched the fire and flying type instantly take off high above the battlefield when released from his pokéball. "He'll win this battle for Ash. I'm amazed Ash didn't use him until now."

"Well, he wasn't the right choice by type," Gary pointed out. "Kabutops is a rock _and _water type. Those are both advantageous to Charizard's flying and fire abilities."

Misty glared at him angrily as he critiqued Ash's choice, causing him to hold his hands up in defense. "But that doesn't mean anything necessarily! I mean, his Charizard beat my Blastoise in the Silver Conference despite type disadvantage. I'm sure if he could take out _my_ water Pokémon, then this little shellfish won't stand a chance."

"That's right," Misty agreed with a nod before turning her attention back to the field.

_That was close,_ Gary noted with a relieved exhale. He turned to look at Dawn on his right, who smiled kindly back. _Maybe I should just talk to this one for now._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Due to several ground type attacks," the referee announced as Charizard slowly descended amongst the throngs of people cheering and shouting his name, "we will be replacing the battlefield, which will remain a Plain Field. Please allow our staff a moment to make the transition."

Suddenly, and without warning, the battlefield began to descend into the ground, at which point Kabutops jumped backwards into Paul's trainer square, and Charizard quickly joined his friend and master in the opposing square.

"You ready for this fight Charizard?" Ash asked as the dragon-like Pokémon crooned his neck so that the champion could stroke his scaly head.

Roaring lowly, Charizard nodded beneath Ash's palm. He'd only gotten bigger since Ash had last seen him almost a year earlier.

_As a matter of fact,_ Ash realized, _I haven't seen him since after he recovered from the accident. _After Nurse Joy in Pallet had released his Pokémon following their run-in with Mallory, Ash had immediately allowed his fire type friend to return to his home in the Charicific Valley.

"The field is now ready for use," the referee announced as a new Plain Field emerged from underground. "The Pokémon may now take their respective positions in preparation."

"Let's win this together, okay Char?" Ash asked, looking directly into his Pokémon's eyes.

Charizard replied with a happy, loud roar as he stretched his arms and wings to their full length. He shot off a small stream of fire into the air before promptly turning and gliding to the center of the battlefield.

"I knew that Charizard would be back," Paul informed Ash with a smirk. "That's why Kabutops is here in the first place. She's been specially trained for this battle."

Hoping that his all-encompassing faith in his strategy would be rewarded, Ash simply replied with a muttered "whatever". He was too concerned about the actual fight to worry about the petty trash talk coming from his opponent.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Charizard, fly high!"

"Kabutops, you know what to do."

As Charizard spread his wings and instantly soared dozens of feet into the air, Kabutops scrunched her body low to the ground. For a second, Ash wanted to wait and see his opponent's plan, but he shook his head and realized the need for quick action.

"Take her out with a Dragon Rage!"

Charizard's eyes glowed white, and his tail's flame intensified as he opened his mouth and formed an almost instantly massive sphere of fiery power. As he unleashed it, Paul gave his command.

"Aqua Jet!"

"Tops!" screamed his Pokémon in reply, unfurling her body and springing directly towards Charizard. The water-shield which surrounded her body allowed her to easily break through the powerful fire and strike Charizard directly in the chest. After she rebounded against his body, she quickly spun in the air and attempted to deliver a deadly strike across the fire type's chest with her left blade. Fortunately for Ash's friend, the force of the Aqua Jet had caused him to fall back several feet as he tried to regain his balance.

Landing back in the middle of the battlefield, Kabutops once again scrunched her body in, waiting to launch once more.

_So that's their strategy._ Paul planned to simply attack time and time again with short bursts of power, and then allow his Pokémon to defensively hide in a near-fetal position when she was not on the offensive. Smiling, Ash decided to draw upon the knowledge of a previous battle to help him defeat the rock and water type.

"Charizard, heat up the battlefield!"

Nodding, Charizard quickly pummeled the new field with heavy waves of scorching fire, causing Ash, who'd continued to sweat from the battle's intensity, to perspire even more heavily under the nausea-inducing heat. Slowly, the entire field turned red.

"Aqua Jet now!" Paul commanded.

_Why didn't he command that while Charizard was heating up the field? _Ash wondered. His Pokémon had just spent the last two minutes creating a mini volcano around Paul's Pokémon's feet, and yet the purple-haired challenger had done nothing to stop him. Indeed, even his Pokémon didn't seem to care as she waited, furled up in the center of the field.

"Seismic Toss, Charizard!" Ash commanded.

This time, as Kabutops neared his Pokémon, Charizard waited patiently, with his arms outstretched. The second the water and rock type's arm came within reach, he instantly took hold of it, prompting a gasp from much of the audience, and even Paul.

Impressed by his own Pokémon's accuracy, Ash repeated his order.

Charizard shot upward with his opponent being grasped by the arm. They were practically invisible, save for the light shining from the fire type's tail, before the dragon-like creature abruptly turned around and began to speed towards the ground. As he came within ten feet of the boiling floor, he threw the Kabutops down and narrowly pulled a ninety degree turn upwards.

"Harden!"

Kabutops, upon contact with the ground, performed a simple flip before folding back up. Despite the waves of heat arising from the ground, she did not seem at all fazed.

"You honestly though a trick you used almost five years ago would work against me?" Paul asked bluntly over the speakers. "Honestly, Ash, I expected more from you than that."

Gritting his teeth, Ash assured the trainer that he'd seen nothing yet.

"Use Heat Wave!" he commanded.

Another ball of orange-red energy formed in Charizard's open jaw and from it came several slices of fiery air, which all came into contact with Kabutops, but still appeared ineffective.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I guess Heat Wave isn't making the big splash like I hoped it would," Professor Oak mentioned, watching as Charizard narrowly dodged another Aqua Jet from his opponent. "We'd taught Charizard that move thinking it would throw Paul off, but I guess with a Pokémon as strong as that Kabutops, its fairly difficult to surprise anyone."

"Why isn't Charizard doing any damage?" Dawn asked angrily as she watched the fire type unsuccessfully launch another Flamethrower attack following his trainer's command. She'd witnessed his impressive power several times before, and could not believe that any Pokémon could withstand the heat he was bringing to the match.

"I guess he's just trained his Kabutops well," Delia answered with a sigh. "It does seem awfully strong, doesn't it?"

_Of course it's awfully strong,_ Misty thought bitterly.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The battle had now gone on for fifteen minutes without either side prevailing. Though Ash had been ineffective at bringing out Kabutops' weakness, after the third attempt, he and Charizard were able to easily evade the water type's incoming assaults. The result was a once again antsy crowd, and an impatient Ash.

_We can't just sit here and dodge all night, _he noted as the water type once again missed his Charizard. He decided that they must risk a closer attack, even with the chance of being hit by one of those dangerously sharp blades.

"Charizard, Flare Blitz!"

Almost instantly, as if he knew what his trainer was going to order before he even spoke, the flying type dove towards the ground, flames licking his body as he shot towards his opponent.

"Stop him," Paul ordered with a grin.

"Tops!" yelled the rock Pokémon as she held up both arms, and with the flat side of her scythes, took on Charizard's attack. Though she was pushed back several feet, she remained firmly implanted in the ground.

"Looks like Charizard's strength isn't enough," Paul pointedly mentioned.

"Think again," Ash muttered. "Charizard, you know what to do!"

Suddenly the flames disappeared from around his body as his wings grew and became white. With a thrust of his left shoulder, Charizard struck his opponent hard with a Steel Wing attack, causing Paul's Pokémon to lose her footing.

"Follow it up with Dragon Rage!"

The fire type unleashed another huge spherical blast from his jaw, which quickly caught up with the Kabutops who was desperately trying to right herself. Upon impact, she was sent flying high in the air before landing on her back directly in front of her trainer.

"Get up and use Rollout!" Paul commanded in a deadly tone. He'd been unaware that Ash's powerful Pokémon knew a steel type move.

Unsteadily getting to her feet, the Pokémon jumped high in the air and folded her body within herself. As she hit the ground, she rolled hastily towards her opponent, all the while spouting water around her curled body.

"Use another Dragon Rage Charizard!" Ash ordered, amazed at how quickly Paul's Pokémon had recovered from his assault.

With another roar, Charizard unleashed another dragon-type attack. Unfortunately for the green team, the attack simply caused Kabutops to temporarily use her strong legs to thrust herself high above the attack before rolling back up. Before Ash's Pokémon had time to react, she'd successfully pounded him into the ground.

As she unfurled her body, Paul, composed once more, ordered a Slash attack.

As she raised both scythes menacingly while standing upon the fire type's belly, Charizard instinctively reacted.

Unleashing a fiery pattern, Charizard shot the water type off with a powerful Fire Blast attack.

"Way to go Charizard!" Ash rejoiced as his Pokémon used his wings to stand back up. His Pokémon gave him a small thumbs-up and a nod before rushing Paul's battling partner again with another Flare Blitz.

This time, the fiery tackle made contact with its target, and Kabutops was sent spinning once more. However, upon contact with the ground, she simply did another backwards somersault and righted her position. As she stared back menacingly at Charizard, Ash simply shook his head in amazement at the Pokémon's durability.

_Even Articuno took less time to beat,_ he realized.

"Keep slashing at it!" Paul commanded as his Pokémon used her exceptional speed to run back towards Charizard.

"There's no point in flying," Ash informed his friend as Kabutops drew near. "Can you stay down and fight?"

With yet another nod, Charizards fists began to glow with a dark blue aura.

_Is that Dragon Claw?_ Ash wondered. He decided now was not the time to check his Pokédex for information, but he silently tried to think of whether or not he'd ever seen his Pokémon use such a move before.

As Kabutops began to slash away at him, Charizard used his fists to repulse each attack.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow, look at Charizard go!" Dawn cried happily, as the fire type matched each of Kabutops' swift attacks with a shadowed punch.

"I don't recall us teaching him _that_ move," Professor Oak noted to the champions.

"Me neither," Lance admitted. "Though it's a good thing he knows it. I wonder if he learned it at that place Ash has been letting him stay? I don't remember the name."

"Probably," the professor replied. They kept their eyes focused on the impressive boxing match below as the conversed. "It's very lucky for Ash. The last thing he needs is to waste all of Charizard's fire and flying power before taking out this Kabutops."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash cheered his Pokémon on as Charizard narrowly dodged a scythe to his right.

_If only there was a way to stop his wings from being so vulnerable, _he noted as Charizrd did his best to keep his wings far behind his body as he fought off Kabutops. They were his one weak spot in this fight. Watching his Pokémon sway back and forth in time to his opponent's slices, Ash was struck with another flash of unorthodox battling methodology.

"Charizard, stop fight and fall back a little!" Ash commanded. He heard several gasps come from the audience.

However, without hesitation, his Pokémon's fists returned to their normal hue as he took several steps back.

"Finish him!" Paul commanded eagerly, despite himself.

"Put your steel wings in front of you!" Ash cried at the same time. He'd anticipated Paul's readiness to rid himself of the fire type.

"Tops!" shouted the challenger's Pokémon as she launched forward. Despite her quick motion though, Charizard proved to be quicker as he hid behind his shining wings. With a loud "clang", Kabutops' scythes crashed against his steely appendages, and as the Pokémon cried out in pain, Ash saw that her blades had been bent at the edge.

With a smile, Ash ordered Charizard to use another Seismic Toss. "Heat the ground again as you come down!"

Smiling, Charizard shook off the Steel Wing attack and once again grabbed Kabutops by the arm; this time by the bent blade. As he shot off, both he and the water type again became nearly invisible. However, unlike last time, before they could be seen again, a swirling twister of fire pounded against the center of the battlefield. Then, moments later, Ash saw Charizard speeding towards the ground. With a roar, he used both of his powerful arms to throw Paul's Pokémon over his shoulder and into the burning dirt as he turned himself up to land on his feet following her fall.

With a "thud" that reverberated throughout the stadium, Kabutops hit the ground hard and began to sizzle. Despite Paul's cries for another Harden attack, it was clear that she was too exhausted to heed his command, and this time the mix of the strong attack, along with the crackling ground, seemed to do the trick as the shellfish Pokémon refused to stand up again.

After a quiet moment to insure she was not going to revive herself, the referee lifted the green flag once again. "Kabutops is unable to battle. Charizard is the winner!"

As had occurred after each victory now, the crowd burst into a mix of applause and heckling. Despite what had transpired earlier, many seemed to have rejoined the Paul Ikari fan club as they shouted encouragement to him from above. Despite their calls for him to not give up though, the trainer seemed to pay heed to no one except Ash, who he stared at in silent fury from across the field.

"What will be your next Pokémon Mr. Ikari?" inquired the official after the two trainers took an elongated period of time to simply glare at each other.

"This one," Paul stated simply, underhandedly lobbing his next pokéball onto the field. As the light disappeared from around its body, Ash realized how much trouble his next opponent was going to be.

"Wow, a Magnezone!" the announcer cried from above. "A powerful steel and electric type. Can Charizard's flames melt this powerful Pokémon's fighting spirit?"

As Charizard stood near the center of the field, waiting for his opponent to meet him, Ash thought quickly about what was about to transpire, mentally tallying up the odds.

_He's still in good fighting condition, _Ash noted thankfully. Despite the length of the battle with Kabutops, Paul had barely gotten any hits in at his fire type. _And Magnezone _is _a steel type._ Charizard, as best he could estimate, had about a fifty percent chance in this next fight. It was going to be up to Ash to push those numbers further in their favor.

As the referee repeated the now-familiar phrase and lowered his flags, Ash ordered a Flamethrower attack.

"Mirror Coat!"

The raging fire attack, upon contact with the electric and steel type, was immediately split into four smaller streams of flame, all of which raced in different directions away from the Pokémon.

"Zap Cannon, now!" Paul commanded.

As Charizard gave up the fire attack, he barely had time to react to the glowing ball of yellow electric energy which was fired directly at him. Hitting him squarely in the abdomen, the attack sent the half-flying type back with a dramatic show of force. Charizard slid on his back and landed a few feet in front of his trainer.

"Charizard, are you okay?" Ash asked, his eyes wide. He couldn't believe how fast that attack had come.

Before he could respond though, the fire Pokémon roared in pain as a series of blue lightning bolts surrounded his body. Looking up, Ash saw Magnezone using Thunder Wave to further weaken his Pokémon.

"Charizard, fight it!" Ash encouraged as his Pokémon continued to howl. He knew Paul was just trying to weaken his loyal friend enough for a final blow, and he needed to get Charizard out of the Thunder Wave's line of fire before such a thing took place. "Try to fly!"

With a grunt, Charizard unsteadily rolled onto his stomach, the blue waves of electrical power pulsing around his body. Looking up at his trainer and friend, he slowly got to his knees.

"Charizard is still moving despite the obviously debilitating effects of Paul's Thunder Wave!" the announcer narrated over the cheers of the crowd. Both Ash's and Paul's fans were rooting strongly for their favorite trainer's Pokémon.

"You hear that Charizard?" Ash asked as his Pokémon slowly began to stand. "Their all cheering for you! Show them how strong you really are!"

Raising his head, Charizard unleashed another stream of fire, before flapping his mighty wings which, within two flaps, brought him several feet in the air.

"Zap Cannon again!" Ash heard overhead.

"Match it with a Dragon Rage!"

As Charizard shot out another powerful assault, Magnezone unleashed its own special brand of power. The two attacks raced across the battlefield and collided in mid-air, upon which they both seemed to disappear for a split-second before reappearing in the form of a massive explosion.

"Ungh," Ash groaned as he was unexpectedly knocked onto his back from the blast. He felt as if he'd just been sucker punched to the ground. However, he had little time to think about the stinging pain which erupted suddenly from the back of his head as he remembered Charizard. Standing up quickly, he shouted his Pokémon's name into the dense smoke several times.

"Where are you, Charizard?" he called. He was completely surrounded by heavy smoke, and could only guess what the battlefield looked like to the spectators watching from behind the protective glass. "Are you still okay?"

Suddenly, a small fireball raced above his head, causing Ash to grin. He was still okay.

"Magnezone, get above the smoke," Paul commanded calmly. He didn't seem nearly as concerned about where his Pokémon was in the mess of inky blackness.

"You too, Charizard!" Ash commanded between a series of coughs. "Get out of this smoke and start hitting him with a Flare Blitz!"

"Spark, Magnezone!" Paul ordered. Though neither trainer could see the battle any longer, both could hear the war cries of their battling partners as their bodies collided in mid-air.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Would you look at that," Tracey stated as he watched Magnezone and Charizard race out of the plume of smoke, which was about as tall as the stadium itself, at the same time. The two Pokémon instantly began to rush each other upon their trainer's commands.

"Yes, it seems those two are taking this battle quite personally," Professor Oak noted as Ash shouted encouragement over the speakers.

"Well, Charizard's weak to electric moves, and Magnezone's weak to fire type attacks," Dawn said aloud. "I guess this battle is pretty evenly matched then, huh?"

"I hope it is," Gary responded. "Charizard did take some damage before this battle, _and_ he took that Zap Cannon head on."

"I wouldn't worry about Charizard," Misty informed the researcher with a frown. "He's taken on much stronger Pokémon."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As the smoke began to clear, Ash was given a hazy view from below of Charizard's silhouette, completely engulfed in flames, repeatedly striking against Magnezone's electrically charged body. From his vantage point, it seemed that Charizad was moving a little slower than Magnezone as he reared back after each mid-air collision to attack again.

_I've gotta save him,_ Ash realized as he grit his teeth.

"Fire Blast!" he ordered of his fire type once again.

Upon hearing the command, Charizard quickly ducked as Magnezone raced towards him before turning around and expelling a large jet of fire upon the backside of the magnet-like Pokémon. As the flames surrounded his body, Magnezone let out a loud, metallic "Zone!" as it began to slowly hover closer to the now-cleared battlefield.

Smiling, Ash asked Charizard to follow up the attack with another Flamethrower.

Taking in a noticeably large breath, Charizard used his advantageously higher altitude to rain fire upon the electric and steel type.

"Mirror Coat, again!" Paul commanded.

Again, the flames turned in all directions away from Paul's Pokémon as Charizard continued his attack.

"Well then, hit him with another Flare Blitz!" Ash ordered.

The dragon-like Pokémon took another deep breath before charging downward, his body once again amassed in fire.

"Make a barrier!" Paul ordered fiercely the moment Charizard came within three feet of the half-steel type.

"Zone!" cried the magnetic Pokémon as a yellow bubble formed around his body. Upon contact with the bubble, which consequently disappeared after taking the brunt of Charizard's attack, the fire type was flung once again backward. Fortunately for both he and Ash though, he was able to maintain his balance upon the landing.

Now that he was closer to Ash, the young champion could see how much damage the battle had actually done to his mightiest fighting friend. His head and back were lined with scratches, presumably from the several physical encounters with Paul's Pokémon in the air, and he was breathing heavily after battling in the air with fire power for such an extended time. Ash also noticed a quite apparent sag in his right wing, and saw that the tip of his right horn had been completely cut off.

"Charizard," Ash muttered worriedly. "Are you still able to fight?" He knew it seemed like a silly question, but he couldn't help but remember Misty's words from early that morning and the day before. As he looked upon his battle-worn friend and partner, he realized that perhaps Charizard shouldn't continue the fight. He was in one of the worst shapes Ash had ever seen.

However, his Pokémon turned his head back with a look of pure bewilderment upon his face. Roaring once again, Charizard tried to assure his master of his competence.

Smiling a little, Ash nodded. He heard Paul order another Zap Cannon overhead, and he told Charizard to roll to the left.

_Better keep him off that wing._

Heeding his command, Charizard narrowly rolled out of the way as the electric attack continued on and pummeled Ash instead, who in turn was shot out of the trainer's square, and hit the partition hard before falling, facedown.

* * *

Author's Notes: I really do hope you enjoyed this chapter. Like I said above, it was all fighting, so progression of the plot came to a standstill. However, this was completely necessary in my opinion, because as I mentioned in my very first author's notes, this story contains copious amounts of all dimensions of the Pokémon world. Battling is, of course, a very big part of Ash's life, and so dedicating this (and a few future) chapters to him simply having matches is important in order to make this a legitimate story. However, if there is an area where you thought I could have done a better job describing the battles, or if you simply want to tell me what you think of the story thus far, PLEASE REVIEW!

Anyway, here is this week's review:

Nothing.

Sorry guys, but none of my favorite authors are currently updating, and I still haven't found time to go find new fics to recommend. Please, if you're writing a good Pokémon fanfic (preferably pokeshipping, though anything will do) tell me about it in the review section so that I can read and recommend it. I'm begging you guys!

Alright, well I'm done for the day. I went to the movies last night on a date and finally saw Iron Man 2 (the best movie ever, in my humbly awesome opinion). It was a great night, but I woke up with a terrible cold (presumably from the date), so I'm going to get out of my church clothes and pass out for a few hours. Have a good day, and REVIEW PLEASE!


	29. Unexpected

**Hey Everybody!** Another two week installment is fresh and ready for you! It actually was quite easy for me to write, but last week I was kind of lazy, so I just finished it. Since it's really late here, I'm going to keep today's above comments short and to the point. First, I want to dedicate this chapter to **The Bloody Knife**, who, despite the username, is quite friendly and gave me my 500th review! In addition to them, thank all you guys so much for your continued support. I believe that I have made clear how important it is to me to maintain contact with all my readers, and I would like to take this time to say that if I haven't written you even though you've dropped a review, please let me know so in your review of this chapter (though I believe I've responded to everyone's wonderful critiques). I promise that you will be my first priority when I reply to my commenters this week if you do so. Second, uh, actually, I don't really have a second thing…weird. Well, anyway, enjoy this chapter, and once your done, PLEASE REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Paul: 14

* * *

"_Now finish him off with a Fire Blast!"_

_With a final roar of power, Charizard melted Paul's metallic battling partner into a puddle on the battlefield._

"_Great job, Charizard!" The fire Pokémon blew a stream of fire above his head in victory as the crowd cheered Ash on._

"_I can't beat a Pokémon _that_ strong," Paul pouted, kicking the dirt at his foot. "I guess I may as well just forfeit the match to you, Ash. After all, you _are_ the rightful Champion, and I'm just a stupid cheater working for Team Rocket."_

_Shocked at his good fortune, Ash's grin grew as he watched a pair of Officer Jennys take Paul off the field in handcuffs. "That was very noble of you Paul." Suddenly, he felt a cool hand on his neck. Looking down, he saw Misty staring up at him with wide eyes, full of excitement._

"_How'd you get down here so quickly?" he asked, surprised._

"_That's not important," Misty replied in a seductive voice that caused Ash to blush a little. As the crowd roared on, she leaned up and tickled his right ear with her lips. Eager to hear, the Champion stooped a little lower. "It's alright, his pulse is normal."_

"_Um, what?"_

"_I think I just heard him say something."_

_Ash pulled away and looked down to now find a Nurse Joy with her fingers on his neck._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"He's definitely coming out of it," Nurse Joy announced to the two paramedics who were stooped beside her. As Ash made another guttural noise, the medics gave a thumbs-up to the quieted crowd, who quickly burst into applause and cheers as a bleary-eyed Ash slowly opened his eyelids.

"W-what's goin' on?"

"You were knocked unconscious by a Zap Cannon," Nurse Joy informed him as he raised himself atop his left elbow. "You've been out for a full minute."

With a grunt, Ash stood up, using the two paramedics' shoulders as leverage as he regained his balance. He saw that he was several feet from the trainer's box.

"Rar!" cried a familiar voice from above. Looking up, Ash saw his battling companion and friend grinning at the sight of his master's revival.

"It looks like he's okay, folks," informed the announcer as the cheers continued. "But will he continue the match?"

Furrowing his brow, Ash looked to the official, who remained glued to his podium, though he seemed to be staring at Ash with great interest. "I don't have to forfeit, do I?"

"If you discontinue the battle, then it will not be considered a forfeit. You will have a one to two week resting period before restarting the entire battle."

"Restart the battle?" Ash repeated. "No way!" He grimaced a little as he felt a weak jolt of electricity surge through his right arm. Pikachu's attacks had certainly given him resistance to low dosages of electrical power, but Magnezone's assault seemed to have been much more powerful than the playful volts he normally received.

"Mr. Ketchum, I highly advise you to wait," one of the paramedics cried from behind Ash, who had taken several steps toward his square. "If you give this a week you'll be in perfect health again." As Ash turned around, he pointed at the Champion's abdomen.

"That _has_ to be painful."

Looking down, Ash noticed for the first time that the front of his shirt had been severely burned by the attack, and his stomach was cut and bleeding in several areas.

"I'm fine," he insured. Turning back to the referee, he informed the official that he wanted to continue the match.

"The green trainer has decided to remain in the battle! One penalty strike will be marked against Paul Ikari for attacking the opposing trainer. Two penalties will result in an immediate loss for the red trainer."

It was now that Ash remembered his opponent. Looking across the battlefield, he was barely surprised to find that the purple-haired trainer simply shrugged at the referee's warning.

"Trainers, please reassume your positions in the trainer squares, and please have your Pokémon assume their pre-battle stances once more."

Stepping back into his rectangular territory, Ash watched as Charizard barely managed to fly to his spot opposite Magnezone for a second time that evening. Squinting, Ash saw that his friend's right wing was even more severely bent downward than before, and he could hear the fire dragon's hoarse breath even from the distance.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Is he crazy?" Misty shouted as Ash limped back to his spot. "He just took on a full Zap Cannon! He should wait!"

"He probably doesn't wanna risk giving Paul any more time to train," Steven assumed from behind the redhead. "I'm sure he can finish this battle."

"I'm sure he can too," assured Delia. "After all, he hasn't been getting shocked by Pikachu all these years for nothing, right?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Let the battle begin!"

"Zap Cannon, again!"

"Jump above it!"

Charizard used as much of his wing power as he could to barely leap above the electrical attack before landing back on his feet with an ungraceful "thud". For extra caution, Ash ducked, though this time the attack flew far above his head before hitting the protective glass.

"Now, Flamethrower!"

Opening his mouth, Charizard emitted a weak burst of fire at his opponent, who easily deflected it with another Mirror Coat attack.

_His fire power's gone, _Ash noted with worry as he saw Charizard's flame barely flicker behind the great beast. Though his Pokémon was blessed with the Blaze ability as well, it occurred to Ash that though the effect strengthened his Pokémon's attacks, it did not elongate Charizard's actual fire-fighting strength.

Realizing a need for action, he ordered another Steel Wing.

"Spark attack!" Paul yelled as Charizard's good wing began to glow.

Magnezone made no attempt to dodge the incoming assault, but rather remained in the same spot, hovering, as it took the steel attack head-on. As the reverberating noise of clashing metal echoed around the battlefield, Ash instantly realized Paul's strategy. Several of the electrical sparks surrounding Magnezone's body were quickly conducted into Charizard through his metallic wing.

_He's using the Steel Wing against me._

"Quit the attack, Charizard!" Ash commanded above the roar of pain being released by his battling partner. Despite his order though, it seemed that Charizard was no longer able to hear him as his opponent continued to release thousands of volts into his violently shaking body. As he emitted another cry of anguish, Ash grit his teeth and reached for the fire type's pokéball. Accompanying the red beam of light, he ordered his friend and partner to "return".

"I won't be using Charizard again," he informed the referee after Charizard's picture didn't fade from the jumbotron screen.

"Oh, okay," the official replied, nodding. "The green trainer has forfeited Charizard's match. Therefore, Magnezone is the winner!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Thank goodness," Delia sighed as she eased back in her chair for a moment. The entire battle with Magnezone had physically drained her as the match flew between dizzying highs and terrible lows. "Poor Charizard couldn't have taken any more abuse."

Cynthia looked across at Lance, on the other side of Steven. "What do you suppose he's going to do now?"

"Beats me," Lance replied seriously, crouched forward in his seat attentively. "I don't know what his strategy is anymore, but I hope he still has one."

"What Pokémon does he have left?" Dawn asked, turning around in her seat as Ash took a moment to make his next decision.

"Well, Gengar from earlier," Steven answered, "and Sceptile who he still hasn't used."

_Not the best options, _Misty mused worriedly. Gengar had taken significant damage from Blaziken, and a grass type would have a difficult time against a steel type Pokémon.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_I can't risk having him get hurt early, _Ash reasoned as he looked at the ground thoughtfully, digesting his choices. Frankly, his plan originally had Charizard defeating at _least_ two of Paul's Pokémon before being knocked out, so the new situation which presented itself was less than savory for the young Champion. With a sigh, he grabbed the pokéball nearest to the front.

"Gengar, I choose you!"

"Gengar, geng," replied the Pokémon happily as he emerged onto the battlefield, clapping his hands. Despite the damage and burn marks he sustained from earlier, Ash noticed he seemed ready for another try at Paul's team.

_He's definitely one of the best additions I've made._

As Gengar approached the center of the field, Ash reminded him of their dodge-and-attack battle strategy. The ghost type nodded in return.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Night Shade, Gengar!"

Clapping his hands, a violet, rigged beam emerged from his palms and directly hit Magnezone.

"Shock Wave, Magnezone!" Paul ordered as his Pokémon became engulfed in the dark hue.

"Magnezone," answered the Pokémon as sparks began to envelope its blackened body. Suddenly, it became completely surrounded in an electrical field, and with a cry, sent the energy outwards in all directions.

"Protect!"

Gengar created another strong wall of psychic energy which easily blocked the coming electrical assault.

"Now go into the ground!"

As Gengar slipped into the battlefield floor, Paul ordered a Thunderbolt attack, which barely missed the ghost and poison type's head as it slipped out of the third dimension. The purple-haired trainer and his Pokémon watched intently as the purple blob made his way around the stadium, apparently just buying time. After Magnezone spent several minutes attempting to harm Ash's friend, the Champion smiled and made his move.

"Double Team, now!"

Instantly, the one blob on the ground split into two, then four, and then six.

"Make a circle around Magnezone, and then come up!" Ash had been struck with inspiration earlier after seeing how successfully Paul had brought his Blaziken's Double Team attack into play.

_Let's see if we can do the same thing._

"Now come up and use Shadow Ball!"

"Light Screen, Magnezone."

The half-dozen ghost attacks collided instantaneously with the golden shield which instantly surrounded and protected the electric type. However, Ash was far from deterred. He'd been witness to Paul's Light Screen defense before.

"Follow it up with a Shadow Punch!"

"Gengar, gengar." The Pokémon quickly lit both their fists with ghostly energy as they simultaneously leapt at their half-steel type opponent.

At first sight, it appeared as if nothing had happened. Each of the Gengars recombined once they reached their target, and the Pokémon made itself whole again as he exited the cubical Light Screen and landed gracefully back on his side of the battlefield, still wearing a fiendish grin. Despite what it looked like, though, Ash knew he'd been successful at penetrating Paul's "special attack only" force field.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, in spite of Paul's commands to the contrary, Magnezone's shield suddenly dissipated and its heavy body hit the dirt hard. Closing its one eye, the electric and steel type made it obvious that it was no longer willing to battle.

"Magnezone is unable to battle! Gengar is the winner!"

Another enormous burst of applause and disapproving "boos" emanated from the audience as Paul recalled his fighter with a scowl on his face.

However, Ash was too busy victoriously punching the air to notice. He'd honestly doubted his Gengar's ability to win that match, despite the large advantage Charizard had given him. With this fresh victory though, hope began to creep into his veins once more.

_I'm back on track, _he thought joyously, realizing his strategy was falling directly into place.

"Venusaur, it's your turn," Paul announced, taking Ash out of his victory high and back to reality. As the light faded from around its body, the grass and poison type let out a low "saur" at its opponent. Ash simply continued to smile though as he witnessed his rival's newest creature.

"You remember what I told you you'll have to do, right Gengar?" he asked as the two Pokémon lined up for the next match.

"Geng," replied his Pokémon.

"Good, but give it your best shot for now! I'm sure you can handle this Venusaur!"

"Let the battle begin!"

"Razor Leaf," Paul ordered.

"Protect again!"

Dozens of leaves fell haplessly to the ground as they struck the dark barrier ineffectively.

"Now use Dark Pulse!"

Dispelling the protection, Gengar gave a wicked grin as he brought his shadowed arms together once more, creating a dark wave which hit the half-poison type directly in the head. The Venasaur gave a low grumble as it was sent several feet backward from the impact of the attack. Though once the attack ended, the grass Pokémon did not appear very fazed by the ghost type's assault.

"Vine Whip, now."

Releasing its massive vines which had remained hidden at its sides, the Venusaur instantly locked onto Gengar and reached out for him with lightning-quick speed.

"Dodge!" Ash cried. Before the word had left his mouth, Gengar had already been snagged.

Raising the ghost and poison type into the air, Venusaur's vines and body began to glow a dark green aura.

_Mega Drain, _Ash noted as Gengar began grunting as the life energy was sucked from his body. _Should I do it now?_

As if responding to his own wonderment, Gengar suddenly shot two more beams of dark energy at his opponent; this time from the eyes. Caught off-guard by the sudden shift in tactic, Venusaur violently recoiled and release its opponent. Floating back to the ground, Gengar resumed his Night Shade attack.

"Double Team 'im!" Ash commanded, glad he hadn't given into the temptation to activate his strategy.

This time, only two Gengar surrounded the opponent. However, both continued their heated assault on the grass type from both of its sides.

"Be a man!" Paul yelled over the hysteria building in the stadium. "Leaf Storm!"

"Saur!" Raising his head, Venusaur shot out dozens of glowing razor-sharp leaves, which instantly destroyed one of the Gengars, and forced the real one to fly backward. Picking himself up off the ground, Gengar tried another Night Shade attack.

"Sunny Day!" Paul ordered as the ghost type clapped his hands.

Uttering his name once more, Venusaur's flower lit up and then released a large, fluorescent, spherical ray of light as Gengar delivered his attack. Disastrously for the ghost and poison type, the bright light emanating from the Sunny Day attack partially blinded him and forced him to miss his target. As the Night Shade careened over his head, Venusaur slowly turned to his left and glared angrily at his enemy.

"Solarbeam!"

Within two seconds, the center of Venusaur's flower began to illuminate the field again as it shot off a very fast, powerful beam of light.

"Protect, Gengar!"

As another dark shield appeared in front of the ghost Pokémon, the audience and trainers watched on in amazement as Venusaur continued to deliver maximum power against Gengar's shield, which was being pushed so hard as to force the ghost Pokémon backward several steps.

"Hang in there, Gengar!"

"Finish him, Venusaur!"

Finally, after several moments, the sound of glass breaking shattered the relevant silence of the stunned onlookers. In a flare of light, Ash watched as the protective barrier broke in two, allowing his violet Pokémon to be engulfed in the powerful grass type attack.

"Gengar, no!" This was disastrous not only for his Pokémon, but for his strategy.

Venusaur no sooner broke through the barrier before he discontinued the attack. Ash mentally took note of the grass Pokémon's heavy wheezing as the move came to an end. Unfortunately for the young Champion, as the light above the stadium and from the attack disappeared, Gengar could be seen on the ground, his eyes closed tightly.

Looking to his right and finding Gengar's body, the referee prepared to make the call.

"Gengar, I'm begging you, _please_ just get up one more time!" Ash yelled, the plea given more force by the powerful microphone attached to his ear. "You only have _one_ more thing before you can rest for as long as you want! I promise. Just please, please get up!"

Sighing, the referee shook his head. It wasn't so much that he cared about Ash. In fact, though professional officials could never say such a thing aloud, he personally thought Paul was the better trainer. However, it was pathetic to watch a champion hold out hope for such a helpless cause. His right arm began its swift ascent.

"Gengar, gengar, geng," came a raspy voice from beside the referee podium.

"Huh?" Shocked, the young man looked down to find the ghost type Pokémon rolling onto his belly. Lifting himself up onto all fours, the fiendish creature looked up at him.

"No way," Paul commented.

"Wow," Ash simply whispered. Even he didn't think Gengar would pull through that one. Just like earlier though, the ghost type had managed to surprise him and survive yet another deadly assault.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"How is that Gengar still standing?" Tracey asked, amazed as everyone in the box cheered.

"I have no idea," Gary replied, watching on, impressed at the Pokémon's resilience.

"I'd wager that it has something to do with that Protect," Professor Oak informed the young men as Delia and Misty hugged in front of him. "It clearly took the brunt of Paul's attack, leaving little damage to be done to Gengar. Still though, I wonder why Ash pulled so hard for him to get back into the fight."

"Yeah, it's not like he's gonna be able to do any more damage. He's barely standing up right now. Ash should just cut his losses and call out Sceptile."

"I'm sure Ash knows what he's doing," Misty remarked with a raised eyebrow at the Pokémon researcher, who once again backtracked.

_She's really touchy about Ashy-boy._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I don't know how he survived that attack," Paul mentioned, apparently forgetting that everyone in the structure could hear his and Ash's dialogue, "but I promise that he won't make it through the next one. Venusaur, grab him with Vine Whip!"

The grass type reached his long vines around Gengar's abdomen. The ghost and poison type scarcely resisted the move, still too weak.

"Now, use Solarbeam one more time, and finish the job."

"Saur," grumbled the dark green Pokémon as his flower lit once more. Small particles of light began to rush toward the center of the plant as the attack slowly built momentum.

"Gengar, you know what to do this time."

Nodding feebly, Gengar closed his eyes and waited for the final assault.

"What's this?" the announcer questioned as Venusaur's light grew to greater levels of luminosity. "It seems that Ash Ketchum isn't even attempting to get his Pokémon out of this jam. What could he be thinking?"

Undeterred by the announcer's rude assumption, Ash stared straight ahead as both he and his friend awaited the right moment.

"Finally giving up?"

"Not yet, Paul," he replied with a grin. Venusaur gave another growl as the plant atop his back turned towards its target.

"Go Gengar!" Ash yelled above the sound of the beam firing at his loyal battling partner. He could barely make out the purple light shining from his Pokémon's eyes as he was once again trapped within the vortex of energy.

After a moment had passed, Venusaur's attack came to an end and the grass Pokémon gladly dropped the burnt ghost type.

"Gengar is unable to battle! Venusaur is th-"

The referee was cut off as Gengar's eyes suddenly opened once more. The purple light from before the attack shone once again as two small magenta orbs left the ghost type's irises and floated, almost playfully, into the air. Slowly making their way over to Venusaur, the two began to circle around the Pokémon in a hypnotic dance. Soon, they were no longer moving slowly, but were instead rapidly spinning around Paul's partner, whirring into a single purple line. Desperately swatting the light away with his vines upon his master's commands, Venusaur appeared frantic. Despite his attempts though, the halo surrounding him continued to whir as the circle grew tighter around his body; another minute passed, and the two orbs suddenly disappeared.

Venusaur's pupils grew wide for a split-second as he muttered his name, before the large Pokémon finally keeled over, his front legs giving out before the rear ones.

"An impressive show indeed!" the announcer cried, his voice echoing as everyone muttered quietly trying to figure out what had happened. "It seems Gengar used Destiny Bond to end the battle for both Pokémon!"

"Both Venusaur and Gengar are unable to battle!" Raising both flags in the air, the referee looked up to find the pictures of both Pokémon disappear from the screen in front of him. "Therefore neither Pokémon is the winner of the match. Trainers, will you please select your sixth, and final, Pokémon?"

"Ash, I will admit this one thing," the challenger said, taking a pause for emphasis. "You certainly got farther than I expected you to." With that, he thrust his last pokéball forward, not saying a word.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Oh my," muttered Delia.

"No freaking way!" another boy in the back row yelled.

"I can't believe it," Cynthia stated simply, eyes wide.

"How-how does he have _that_?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Uh, um, I can't believe what I'm seeing folks," the announcer stated plainly. "Somehow, someway, Mr. Ikari has managed to capture for himself an Entei!"

With the loudest battling cry Ash had ever heard, the fire monster unleashed a powerful fireball from its jaw and straight into the air. With one graceful leap, the legendary Pokémon made the one hundred and fifty foot distance between itself and the center of the battlefield. As it looked across the field at Ash, its red eyes seemed to burn with intensity matching its strength. Its long, brown and white fur flowed gracefully about its body, in spite of the lack of wind which swept across the battlefield. Even from the lengthy distance between the Champion and Pokémon, Ash could feel the emanating heat from its body pounding against his sweat-ridden brow.

Taking a deep breath, Ash smiled. He couldn't describe how surprised he was at his next opponent, but what surprised him even more was the thought that instantly crossed his mind.

_This is gonna be a great battle._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Everyone in the box was silent even as the crowds outside erupted in cheers and screams of delight at witnessing such a strong Pokémon.

"It's no use," whispered Lance to Steven. He didn't want everyone to give up hope like he had. "There's no way that Sceptile could beat that _beast_."

Steven nodded solemnly. Leaning closer, he replied, "I know we worked on his attack strength, but no grass move that Pokémon knows could even begin to inflict enough damage. If he wants any chance at winning, Ash'll have to use speed again."

"I wish we'd worked on that instead of special attack strength."

Again his counterpart gave a solemn shake of his head.

_I know you can do it, Ash. _Misty hoped the young Champion realized that not everyone had given up hope just yet. Though no one dared say a word, everyone's eyes, even Delia's, betrayed the doubt which was penetrating their loyal hearts. Misty knew better though. Ash had battled with an Entei, at least a type of one, before, and he could do it again; this time with a victory.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I bet Champion Ketchum wishes he hadn't used his Poliwrath so early in the battle anymore," cried the announcer as Ash continued to stand in his trainer's box; a contemplative look gracing his features.

He didn't know. Perhaps it was the cool Sinnoh air kissing the cold sweat lining his dirty arms as it had so often in the past, or maybe it was the way the lights shone down on the battlefield as they had when he'd first gone to the Pokémon League at eleven, or it could even be knowing that his old-time rival sat high above the field, watching him in a precariously tight spot as Ash had always found himself during intense League battles. Whatever the reason, he continued to stand there, simply staring ahead at his challenger's final Pokémon with a grin on his face.

He seemed to be having an epiphany as he remained glued to his spot, pokéball enlarged and at the ready. He realized that this was his dream. He was having a battle with a strong trainer, in front of millions of cheering fans and booing dissidents. The entire battle hinged upon his final Pokémon, and the referee was standing patiently there on his podium, flags at the ready, for _him_, Ash Ketchum, to make his choice. For the first time that battle, he felt as if he were having fun.

_Forget Team Rocket, forget the Champion title, and even forget Paul. This is my dream, and I've worked too hard to let myself not enjoy it. _With a small laugh, which instantly caught all the spectators', including Paul Ikari's, attention, he chucked his final pokéball into the air.

As the light dimmed around his final choice, another audible gasp came from the rows of spectators, followed by more wild cheers from the Champion's fans.

"Sorry I had to keep you in there, buddy," Ash apologized as Pikachu stretched his small limbs from being inside the capsule all day.

"What the-?" Paul had certainly been surprised by Ash's final choice.

"Pikachu, pika, pika, pikachu," Pikachu forgave happily as he gave his trainer a thumbs-up.

"So Champion Ketchum was keeping his starter Pikachu a secret the entire time! I wonder if this small shock will be enough to deter Paul's strategy?"

As his Pokémon looked across at Entei, whose eyes now rested upon his small form, Ash noticed that Pikachu started upon meeting the fire type's gaze.

"Don't worry about 'im, Pikachu," Ash consoled as the yellow Pokémon slowly made his move towards the center of the battlefield. "We're the best team in the world. Not even a legendary Pokémon could stop us now!"

"Chu." His somber tone reflected the doubts he still harbored.

_I guess I'll just have to prove he has nothing to worry about._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I knew something was up," Misty whispered to herself as everyone else cheered on the final Pokémon of the raven-haired trainer. She instantly felt a burden of worry lift from her shoulders as she eyed the electric Pokémon below. If anyone could take down such a ferocious monster, then it would be Ash and Pikachu.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Um, are both trainers ready?" The referee seemed just as surprised as everyone else at the final match.

"Sure am," Ash replied as he watched Pikachu drop to all four legs. Sparks began to flicker from his small cheeks and across the entire distance of the battlefield, barely remaining on his side of the fighting area.

"Always," Paul answered, his Entei's mouth already spitting small flames with each exhale.

"Then," the referee started, pausing as he began to worry about his own safety in the presence of such powerful creatures, "let the battle begin!"

Instantly Entei let out a roar and shot a basketball-sized fireball straight across at the electric mouse Pokémon. However, before he even released the attack, Pikachu almost teleported himself through the fire type's legs to stand behind him. Turning around, he unleashed a wicked Thunderbolt attack which tore up the ground as it sped towards the Pokémon's target.

"Jump!" Paul ordered. Again though, his Pokémon already knew what to do, and was already several feet in the air before his master gave any command. Leaping and turning at the same time, the legendary beast caught sight of Ash's Pokémon behind him and shot off a twister of flames at the yellow Pokémon, who instantly used Agility to once again dodge the attack.

Landing on his feet, his back turned now to Ash, the Pokémon leaned his forehead towards the opposite side of the field, and a rainbow-colored beam shot forward.

"Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu stood his ground this time as the psychic type attack raced towards him. Rising on his two feet, the small Pokémon blazed off another attack, which met midway with Entei's. For several seconds the two attacks continued to meet between the fighting creatures, until suddenly the combined energy swirled and turned white. In another instant, a small-scale explosion blasted in the middle of the field, ending both Pokémon's attacks as the smoke in the middle of the field became thick.

However, unlike the last time, the smoke was quickly dealt with as Paul ordered a Hyper Beam. Entei took a deep breath and unleashed a large white beam which shot through the cloud. He slowly turned his head and ripped the hazy atmosphere on the field in half. Ash could see Pikachu lying on his stomach as the powerful blast of energy radiated above.

Eyeing his opponent, Entei let out a roar as fire filled his jaw. Jumping through the passage he created, he instantly took several snaps at Pikachu with his sharp, flaming teeth.

"Pika!" Seeing the dog-like creature bound towards him, Pikachu jumped back up on his feet and skillfully dodged each of the fire type's flaming thrusts time after time.

For a few minutes, Ash and Paul allowed this dance to continue as the smoke progressively evaporated. When finally Ash had a good, though still hazy, view of the surrounding field, he gave his order.

"Get on his head!"

Pivoting backwards on his right foot to avoid another assault, Pikachu obeyed his master and friend by jumping atop his opponent's mane.

Smiling even wider, Ash ordered a Volt Tail attack.

"Pika-pika-pika!" Pikachu cried as his tail grew white and his body became covered in electricity. He raised his elongated tail high above his opponent's head as Paul retaliated.

"Eruption!"

Ash faltered as he watched Entei seemingly spontaneously combust, throwing a crying Pikachu back towards him. As he rolled along the ground, Pikachu's body continued to build electricity. When he finally came to a stop several feet in front of his trainer, his small body released all of the pent-up energy straight into the sky.

"Pikachu! Are you okay?" Ash instantly began to scold himself for allowing his Pokémon to get caught in such a powerful attack.

"Pikachu." The Pokémon immediately regained his balance and turned around to face his opponent once more. Sparks crackled from his cheeks as he muttered angrily under his breath for not following through on the attack.

"It's okay, buddy," Ash told him. "We'll get 'im next time!"

"Pika," the Pokémon replied again, nodding while keeping his eyes locked on the opponent ahead.

"Flamethrower, now."

Pikachu jumped to his right as Entei prepared another attack. However, right before he shot out the flames which were viciously flickering from within his clenched jaw, yellow sparks seized his body, causing him to stumble and roar in pain.

"It looks like Pikachu's Static ability has paralyzed Entei!" the announcer explained to the confused crowd. "What a turn of events!"

Gaining back his grin, Ash jumped in the air and congratulated his friend.

"Way to go Pikachu!"

Pikachu took advantage of the momentary ceasefire of Paul's Pokémon to begin his own assault. His tail crackled as electricity poured forth from his body once more, racing across the field in the blink of an eye, and prompting an even greater yelp from the legendary dog.

"Hidden Power!"

Another fireball immediately appeared in front of Entei, significantly larger than its predecessor, and was shot across the field. Pikachu barely jumped to the left in time to avoid the small but potent explosion which followed the attack's contact with the ground. Covering his eyes with his hands, Ash ordered Pikachu to use Double Team.

Racing around the center of the field, Pikachu created several carbon copies of himself within moments, which Paul immediately tried to destroy by ordering a Fire Blast attack on all of the yellow rodents.

Ash countered by ordering another Thunderbolt from all the Pikachu which were sprinting along the outside of the pokéball-shaped center of the battlefield.

"Pika-chuuuu!" The small mice cried simultaneously as a large electric attack struck Entei with considerable force. However, his fire attack was launched before he was hit, and the burning symbol of fire struck Pikachu as he rounded another lap. Pikachu once again rolled over several times, this time on his side, as the attack did its damage.

"Come on Pikachu!" Ash encouraged from the sideline. "You're doing great!" This wasn't exactly a stretch of the truth, either. Entei was considerably damaged following the Thunderbolt attack, and Ash was now beginning to see some signs of fatigue as he leapt, less gracefully, back to his original position on the field. Small electric sparks arched across his brown, majestic fur as he snarled and let off another fireball, which Pikachu once again barely recovered with enough time to avoid.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Pikachu's speed is really keeping him in the battle," Professor Oak noted, watching Pikachu narrowly jump through a gap in another Fire Blast. He landed safely on the other side and jolted Entei again; this time with a weaker Thundershock. "It's smart of Ash to conserve his electricity by making him dodge and then give little jolts."

"Yeah, he definitely shouldn't use up Pikachu's power too quickly," Tracey stated. "After all, Entei is a long way from being out of the battle just yet."

"I'm so proud of Pikachu though," Delia announced happily as Pikachu dove into Entei's side with a seemingly pointless Tackle attack. "Not many Pokémon his size could stand up to a scary Pokémon like Paul's. Even if he doesn't win, it's a big accomplishment to say that you came this far against such a strong beast."

_He'll win though, _Misty replied. As her attention remained glued to the battle below she continued to have positive thoughts, not wishing to deal with the hypothetical case-scenario of his loss.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Agility, quick!"

Pikachu barely missed another Flamethrower. It seemed that though Pikachu's speed was steadily decreasing, Paul's Pokémon had yet to peak in firepower. Ash knew that he would have to assume another strategy if he was going to win the battle.

As Pikachu reappeared in front of him, panting hard, he wracked his brain.

"Hidden Power."

"Uh, spin, Pikachu!"

Remembering the move from a long time ago, Pikachu leapt straight at the ball of fire and quickly spun to his right, barely avoiding collision with the attack as it went hurtling past him.

_Thank you, Dawn._

Ash remembered another defensive move he and Pikachu had perfected as Entei charged forward, ready with another Fire Fang.

"Counter Shield, now!"

Getting on his back, Pikachu spun and shot electric bolts in the air, repelling his opponent, who recoiled in pain as one of the stray charges hit the roof of his open mouth.

Pikachu quickly flipped back around onto his four legs, and Ash commanded yet another Thunderbolt, which Paul countered with a Protect defense. The electricity was not strong enough to penetrate the green shield as Entei absorbed the entire attack.

"Double Team, Entei!"

Ash thought he'd heard wrong for a moment, but was amazed to see several Entei appear on the field at once, completely surrounding Pikachu. Frustrated that the fire Pokémon was able to pull of such a stunt despite his paralysis, Ash ordered a Discharge attack.

Surrounding himself with electricity, Pikachu opened his arms and flooded the surrounding area with voltage. Paul ordered another Hidden Power attack, which Entei launched immediately upon request. As Pikachu continued releasing bolts, the fireballs pressed hard against his electric shield.

"Pikachu, hang in there!" Ash cried. He felt sorry for his friend. He knew that the only option at this point was to continue with the electric barrier, but was also aware that Pikachu couldn't maintain such an attack forever.

After several more seconds, the fireballs began to close in on the electric mouse as Entei slowed down and returned to his still-state, watching alongside his master as the electric Pokémon continued to fend off his multiple assaults. After exhausting his power, Pikachu finally succumbed to the attack and the now-weakened Hidden Power of Entei hit him from all sides, causing Pikachu to fly several feet in the air before bouncing against the ground feebly.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, terrified.

"Pika, pika, pi," Pikachu answered in a rough voice, lifting the upper-half of his body with his small paws.

"Finish the rat with a Fire Blast!"

Roaring, the fire Pokémon opened his mouth, presumably for the last time, as light began to gather around him.

_This is it, _Ash thought helplessly as he watched Pikachu struggle to stand. He continued to bombard his Pokémon with encouragement while inside he could not think of a single way to escape his Pokémon's impending doom. _At least we did our best, and we had _fun.

Suddenly, Entei let out another cry of pain as sparks cascaded down his fur once again.

"It looks like paralysis kicked in at just the right time for Champion Ketchum!"

"Yes!" Ash cried happily as Pikachu took advantage of the situation to rise to his feet once more. "Let's finish this battle quick, Pikachu!"

Looking around, Ash tried to think of an easy way to catch the legendary Pokémon in a large attack.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Shaking his head, Gary gave a low whistle. "Ashy-boy's hangin' in there by a thread. That Entei doesn't look so hot either, but Ash is definitely at the disadvantage right now." As he talked, Entei shot off another powerful blaze at the electric Pokémon.

"What do you think he should do?" Misty asked, unable to come up with a battle technique that her friend hadn't yet attempted.

"I dunno, I just know he better put that great battling mind of his to work quick if he wants to win this."

"He will."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Thundershock, now!"

"Chuuuuu!" Another weak bolt raced across the field, causing Entei's paralysis to take over once again.

"Now switch to Thunderbolt!"

Another strike at Entei further weakened the now-tired creature, and gave Ash hope. As he planned to unleash his final tactical attack, which he intended to put all of Pikachu's power in to insure that the beast was taken down, he continued to buy time with dodging and swift offensive procedures. The strategy seemed to be effective judging by the increasing sluggishness of Paul's Pokémon over the last several minutes.

"Break it off!"

Shaking its head, Entei shook off the electric attack, which Pikachu had grown too tired to continue anyway.

"I'm not gonna keep letting your little rat dodge, Ash. Finish him with a Flare Blitz!"

At his command, Entei's body appeared to ignite once more. Raising his front paws into the air Entei gave a final roar, before hitting the ground with considerable force and sprinting towards Pikachu.

"Agility out of the way!"

Entei almost met Pikachu's body halfway through the field before the electric creature managed to run to his right and dodge the attack. However, Ash could see Pikachu breathing hard, and as Entei instantly changed direction with his attack, he decided to take action.

"Pikachu, run over to Paul!"

Pikachu turned around and began running to his opponent's trainer, again barely dodging Entei, who quickly stopped before ramming into the referee. The fire Pokémon again sprinted towards its opponent.

"Now use one last Agility to get over here!"

"Chu, chu, chu…!" Leaving a silver trail behind him, Pikachu made the three hundred foot sprint back to his master.

"Get him now!"

"Alright, Pikachu, I want you to use Volt Tackle until I say to stop, okay?"

'Pikachu." Over the noise of the crowd and the incoming assailant, Ash's starter Pokémon looked up and nodded with a smile. Turning around, his entire body crackled with the remnants of his energy as he began to run as fast as he could muster towards the common enemy of he and his master. As he beat his small paws against the dirt, he kept his ears perked up for the command to change direction…provided that command came.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"He's crazy!" Dawn cried as she watched Pikachu's electric form charge towards Entei's flaming body. "Pikachu's too small!"

"He knows what he's doing," Misty replied, clenching her fists so tightly it hurt.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash's heart raced as he watched Pikachu near Entei in the middle of the field. Though it had only been three seconds since his command, he felt as if he was watching the scene unfold before him in slow motion. The second the two battling creatures came within close range of each other he gave his command.

"Flip and use Volt Tail!"

Pikachu instantly stopped dead in his tracks, his tail glowing, and flipped forward at the still-charging Entei. His metallic and electrically-enhanced ligament made a hard connection to the creature's head, forcing the Pokémon's front legs to buckle beneath his body. The extra support of Paul's Pokémon's body pushed Pikachu even further in the air after pulling off the attack.

"Now turn and finish with a Thunder!"

Pikachu twisted his body around as Entei tried to stand straight once more. Over the roar of the crowd, Ash heard Paul command a Protect, but was pleased to see that his Pokémon seemed to still be reeling from the blunt force of the Iron Tail smashing into his head.

"Pikaaaaa-Chuuuuu!" Pikachu appeared to explode midair as intense sparks surrounded his body and made the connection with the slack-jawed legendary.

Shielding his eyes momentarily from the brightness of the attack, Ash uncovered them to find Entei miraculously erect as Pikachu fell to the ground, moaning from exhaustion.

"He's done, finish him with a Flamethrower!"

Standing up, Ash watched on as Pikachu bravely awaited his demise, staring down his opponent. Wishing he could do more, but knowing that his Pokémon was far too tired for another attack, Ash simply watched on and suffered a minor cardiac arrest as Entei took in another deep breath. For that moment in time, as he watched the fiery monster's torso slowly expand in rhythm to its lung capacity, he closed his eyes. He didn't want to watch what was sure to follow.

However, a small whimper from beyond his closed eyelids instantly caught his attention not a second later. Opening his eyes immediately, he barely caught sight of the Pokémon slowly falling to its side. As its head hit the dirt, everyone in the stadium quietly waited alongside the young Champion to see if this was truly the end. The entire world seemed to hold its breath.

When neither Pokémon on the field moved after a full minute, the referee, staring as if in disbelief, rose the green flag a final time. "Entei is no longer able to battle. Pikachu is the winner, which means that Champion Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town is the victor!"

Another moment of silence permeated the giant stadium before roars erupted. Some were chanting Pikachu's name, some Ash's, and some were protesting. However, Ash didn't listen to any of it. Instead, he ran as fast as he could to the middle of the field, past the disappearing form of the Entei, and hastily picked Pikachu up and threw him into the air. As he caught his best friend he held him close and felt tears begin to sting the corners of his eyes.

"You did great, buddy."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"He-he won," Misty stated in disbelief as she watched Entei's listless figure. As the referee brought his flag up, the entire box jumped with excitement.

"I can't believe it!"

"That was one of the best battles I've ever seen!"

"Did you see Pikachu just flip over Entei like that!"

"So awesome!"

"Without a doubt, he's the best trainer ever!"

"He might even be better than the Master!"

"Everyone, everyone!" Cynthia called above the raucous. "I know you're all excited about this _amazing _victory! So am I, to tell the truth, but he's about to give his victory speech, so if you would please follow me downstairs, you can go congratulate him in front of everybody!"

Everyone screamed their approval at being on international television with their best friend or favorite relative.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Um," Ash began as everyone quieted down to listen to their champion clear his throat. "I have a confession to make…I didn't write a victory speech like I was supposed to."

A few people in the audience laughed, but besides that, the crowd didn't react.

"The truth is, I've been so busy training that I didn't even think the have a speech ready. However, now that I'm here, I think I only have one thing to say, and that's thanks. I want to say thank you to all my fans, who've helped me get my first victory over my first champion challenge since I became the Champion of Sinnoh less than a year ago. I also want to say thank you to my friends and family, who-"

"You're welcome!" several people shouted, immediately taking Ash's attention from the waves of spectators in the stands. Looking down, he saw a crowd of people emerging from the referee's entrance in the middle of the partisan wall. Smiling broadly, he immediately recognized them.

"Actually, here's a lot of my friends and family right now! C'mon you guys!"

He began to regret those words as the onslaught of people bull-rushed him and Pikachu, hugging and squeezing the two while floating continuous compliments into their ears. He could hear laughter emanate from the audience as the two were assaulted, and he tried to continue his impromptu speech while ignoring the mass of bodies around him.

"Uh, anyway, um, ow, my foot! Anyway, thank you to everyone who has helped me get this, uh, far. I hope I continue to serve as a good Sinnoh Champion, and I hope you all continue to be proud of your Pokémon League." With that, he asked if anyone in the current crowd of people had anything they wished to say, holding the microphone away from his body.

"Uh, Ash, I have something to tell you," Dawn said, suddenly popping up in front of the trainer amongst the current throng. Her voice came in clearly from over the microphone and everyone around the Champion quieted to hear what it was she wanted to say.

"Oh no," Misty whispered. The quiet, sentimental tone of Dawn's didn't bode well for the news she was about to give.

"Yeah, Dawn?" Ash asked. His gaze caused her to blush, but she steeled her resolve. She couldn't keep it a secret any longer.

"I-uh, I wanted to tell you that I l-like you!" With that, she firmly grabbed Ash from behind the back and pressed her lips hard against his.

As the crowd went crazy in excitement, Misty felt her heart rend.

* * *

Author's Notes: First, I want to say that I realize the first couple of battles were shorter than they were last chapter, but in reality I had to do that to make it realistic. Magnezone, Charizard, and Gengar all took heavy damage last chapter, so they obviously weren't going to last very long in this installment. This also explains why Pikachu and Entei's battle was the longest of this (and last) chapter…because they were completely healthy. Anyway, as is always the case, please, please tell me what you thought by REVIEWING! I'm a very greedy guy, so 500 reviews is nowhere near enough to satisfy me. Ha,ha. But seriously, reviews of all kinds, be they flamers or encouragement, are all appreciated.

In keeping with, you know, what I do every other Sunday, here's this week's list of recommendations:

"The Legend of the Sky Cat" by Kissy Fishy - A great pokeshipping story I've only just begun which covers Ash and his (reunited) group of friends (including Dawn, May, Drew, Brock, etc.) as they go out to hunt a new type of Pokémon which threatens the world. Very interesting story, and one which is updated regularly by its awesome author.

"Haircut" by Mike Prower the Fox - Just a great pokeshipping oneshot I picked up on from one of my loyal reviewers. Basically, Ash gets a haircut, but it's a lot more fun to read than I'm making it sound. Ha,ha. This is a great fic to read if you're just wanting to unwind and enjoy something lighthearted (which I always want to do after completing another chapter).

"Journey of Legends" by livezinshadowz - You know I love this one, and he updated it a week ago, so check it out if you haven't recently. I continue to recommend it (in response to some of your inquiries) because I really see a ton of potential in the plot and I absolutely enjoy his writing style. Hopefully he'll update again soon despite his hectic personal life at the moment.

Okay, before I go, I need to say something. First, I know that most people don't read all these comments, so if you are, then you're probably a dedicated fan and deserve to know this. I've started a community for GOOD pokeshipping stories on this site. In addition to being of the highest quality (which I don't claim my fic to be of, by the way) they either they must be complete, or updated regularly, to qualify. Anyway, I'm looking for one talented writer and two talented readers to join as staff on my community. The readers will weed through the site and their personal favorite fics to put on the community, and the writer and I will continue to give our regular updates (kind of as an insurance that the community remains prevalent and alive). If you would like to be a reader, please let me know in the review section. The same goes for if you'd like to be the writer, but please remember that you must at least be decent at updating regularly for me to consider you. The purpose of the community will be to insure that the pokeshipping community remains alive and well on this site.

Alright, that's all I've got to say. Now please kindly move your mouse down and REVIEW PLEASE!


	30. Reconciliation

Hey Everybody! Well, I know it's a week late, but here's chapter 30! I would like to share very quickly my story for why I was late, just so you know I haven't been simply slacking off. I graduated Thursday before last, and a lot of my family came out to visit and see the ceremony. So as I'm sure y'all can imagine, it was really difficult for me to find alone time to write between having fun with my family and going to parties with my graduating class. So yeah, I wasn't simply procrastinating on my writing, I just had a lot going on. However, I want to assure y'all that chapter 31 should be up on schedule in two weeks.

I'd also like to take this time to thank my readers really quick. Within 48 hours of submitting my last chapter, I received 40 reviews, and after a week I'd received 50! Thank all of y'all so much for your dedication to this story and for your insights. I must say that I received a ton of helpful advice and criticism to help improve this story and my style at large, and I also received more than my fair share of compliments. Thank you to everybody for giving me your thoughts, and I want to take this time to remind everyone who's reading this story that I'd love to get your feelings in the form of a review (which I will, of course, reply to). Not only do reviews help me become a better writer, but they also lend much-needed credibility to this fic. The more reviews a story has, the more likely people are to click on it while browsing (so I've been told), and of course, the more people that read this story, the more Pokéshippers we can create. I've already converted two Pearlshippers and one Advanceshipper (ha,ha), and I've had countless others tell me that though they support another ship, after taking time to read this fic, they now consider themselves part Pokéshippers as well.

Before you read the story, I'd also like to tell you that **licoricejellybean** helped me with a little of this story. Though we no longer beta for each other, she took time from her busy schedule to help me with the conversation between Dawn and Misty that you'll read later on in this installment. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't get it to sound good, so I owe my archrival a thank you.

Now go ahead and read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 21

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 55

Paul: 14

* * *

"_Hollow."_ The first thought to cross Dawn's mind as she and Ash stood in the center of the field, their lips firmly pressed together. She didn't know why such a word would intrude upon her at just this moment; in fact, she couldn't think of a less incompatible adjective for what was taking place. Yet, as the crowd continued to display their approval of the romantic interaction, she couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. To ease her worries, she briefly opened her eyes.

Any enchantment the moment held was dispelled the second her eyelids fluttered apart. Her brief gaze was met immediately with Ash's wide, panic-stricken eyes. She pulled away, both petrified of the look he was giving her, and that perhaps someone else noticed how shaken he appeared.

"Um," she began, heat rushing to her face. As she looked around, she became grateful that the stadium was so noisy. "What's the matter, A-Ash?"

Ash continued to stand still for a moment, staring at a point just above the blue-haired coordinator's head.

"Uh, Ash?" she lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

With a jerk, he snapped his neck and looked down. "Oh, uh, hey Dawn!"

"What's the matter?"

"Yeah Ashy-boy," Gary said, sneaking up from behind the champion. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd just seen a ghost!" He started cracking up as Ash's facial appearance remained unchanged. "It's not your fault, Dawn. He's probably never even kissed a girl before!" A few people around Gary snickered as they heard his comment.

"N-no, it's not that!" Ash suddenly snapped, coming fully back to reality. Looking down at Dawn, he began to question what her intent was when a streak of red caught his peripheral vision. Looking to his right, he could barely make out Misty running through the crowd of his family and friends.

"Misty!"

"Ash, why are you acting so strange?" Dawn asked firmly, ignoring his cry. She was beginning to grow irked as she realized he'd ruined her perfect moment. "What's the matter with you?"

For a brief second her words caught the champion's attention. Looking down at the young woman, Ash had an almost uncontrollable urge to lash out angrily. He felt anger bubble within his veins as he thought of how far back she'd set his and Misty's relationship, and how now the young woman was acting frustrated with _him_.

_How dare she-_

Looking up though, he caught sight of Misty running through the exit of the battlefield, and all anger was forgotten.

"Let's talk later Dawn, okay?" he asked, giving her a slight push as he began to make his way through the large mass of bodies. Fortunately, he was taller than the vast majority of his acquaintances, so he was able to keep his bearings straight as he progressed.

"Good job man!"

"Way to go Ash!"

"I always knew you'd make it!"

The compliments shot overhead like bullets as he kept his focus strictly on the now-closed exit door.

_This probably looks kinda weird, _he noted as he continued to force himself out of his large circle of friends and family. From overhead, he was sure the audience wondered why he was so recklessly running away from everyone. He didn't care though. He needed to nip this conflict in the bud before Misty got too far away.

Finally, after a lot of work, he broke through the end of the human barrier and began to sprint. Even as his stomach clenched in pain, and his elbows screamed from the dirt which infested their open wounds, he continued his sprint. The doors slid open just in time as he ran through. Jerking his head in both directions, he worried that the redhead had gotten far away by that point. However, a small sob to his immediate left caught his attention.

There, on her knees and with her back to him, was Misty.

"Misty!" he cried out, startling the young woman and himself. His voice carried the same tone as that of a drowning man begging for a lifejacket.

Turning her head back, a bleary-eyed Misty shot him a dark glare before turning around.

"Misty, I'm so sorry-"

"Oh, shut up Ash!" she cried bitterly, hiccupping. "Just leave me alone and go make out with Dawn."

The words stung Ash unexpectedly. He hadn't anticipated Misty being mad at _him_, but rather at the blue-haired coordinator. "Why're you so upset with me? I didn't kiss her, you know."

"You didn't stop her though, did you? You just stood there looking like an idiot while she mashed her face into yours." Misty stuck out her tongue in disgust. "I should have figured that you two were doing something behind my back."

"Hold on a second!" Ash yelled, the ferocity in his voice catching Misty's gaze. He took a step toward her hunched figure before continuing. "There was nothing going on between us at all. This is the first time I even knew she had feelings for me! I can't believe that you'd even think I'd lie to you!"

"Well then why didn't you pull away?"

"I barely had time! She pulled away after only a second!"

Staring up at him angrily, Misty continued. "But I saw a weird look on your face Ash! It didn't look like you were having a bad time, either. I don't know what that look was, but it was definitely not disgust, or anger, or anything else that would have made me happy to see."

Sighing, Ash explained. "You're right, I wasn't angry-"

"So you admit you liked it then?"

"Of course not!" He was beginning to grow frustrated with her impatience. If only she'd hear him out. "I looked weird because I was…shocked."

_That couldn't have been more ambiguous._

"What are you talking about?" Misty's temper began to swell as she gave more thought to Ash's answer. "I mean, okay, it's surprising that she kissed you. I get that. But just because you're surprised doesn't mean you don't end it. It's obvious you were enjoying yourself! I can't believe I wasted my first kiss on a guy like you!"

For a moment Ash simply stood there, dumbstruck. The sudden outrage which washed over him instantly gave Misty control of the conversation once more, and he felt the familiar sense of defeat that he'd experienced so many times at Misty's hands when they were younger. He also felt the familiar reaction to such an inevitable defeat arise within him.

"You just don't know what you're talking about."

"No, Ash!" She stood up as she screamed. "You don't know what _you're_ talking about." Unlike when they were children, though, Misty did not wait for Ash to retaliate with a "yes I do". Instead she began a fast-paced march down the corridor of the stadium.

As he watched her walk away, he felt as if he were ripping in two. Half of him wanted to just watch her go away. _After all, she _is_ wrong._

However, in spite of his sense of self-righteousness, he couldn't deny the existence of the other half, screaming at him to go after her. He couldn't explain _why_, but suddenly being right seemed unimportant in comparison to her feelings. _She thought I cheated on her. I mean, that's a good reason to get mad, right?_

He knew he was in the right though. He'd never willingly given up a heated argument, and he'd especially never done so with Misty. _Besides, how can you cheat on someone when they're not even really your girlfriend? _After all, they'd never discussed their relationship. _Can Misty just say I'm not allowed to kiss someone even though she has no power over me?_

As she began to near the corner, though, the other half seemed to get louder. _Are you really going to just let her leave? Do you remember how miserable you were the last time she left you?_

And suddenly he felt his legs move beneath him. Against the will of his superego, his heart simply propelled him forward. Within a few seconds, he rounded the same corner and caught up to the gym leader. He reached out to grab her shoulder, to which Misty instinctively reacted by taking a step backward and landing on his right foot.

"Ow!" he cried as she continued on, acting as if she hadn't known he was there. However, he wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to go without Misty _again_. He ran after her, but this time passed her and held his arms wide as he planted his feet firmly to the ground.

Giving him a dark glare, Misty warned him to move.

"Not until you hear what I have to say." Ash couldn't help but gulp a little when he saw Misty's eyes almost pop out of her head as he ignored her command. To his relief though, she did little more as she awaited his explanation.

"I _was_ surprised when Dawn kissed me, okay? I mean, I don't know why I didn't move immediately after she did it, or why I didn't make a weirder face, but I _do _remember I was just so shocked by how different it felt from how it does when we do it." He couldn't help but feel slightly effeminate going into such detail with the redhead, but as he saw her face contort from anger to curiosity, he pressed himself to continue.

"I mean, when we, you know, it-it just feels a lot, uh, I dunno, better?" Though her features softened considerably as he went on, he could still see the hurt in her eyes.

_Keep going_, he ordered. Sharing feelings was not enjoyable at all, but at least it was melting her heart a little. Above, he heard the announcer ask why he'd left on the speakers.

"I-I'd never wanna kiss another, um, girl, Mist." Though his voice wavered, he did his best to sound as serious as possible. Looking into her eyes, he could still see some hesitance in the beautiful young woman as she stared at the ground for a moment, biting her lip.

_She must've really been hurt._

"Is it true, that, uh, you n-never kissed anyone else before?"

Scolding herself for opening up to him like that, Misty gave a slight nod.

"Well, um, it was my first time too," Ash informed. "To kiss, I mean."

With that, and his face as red as his counterpart's, he reached out and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked up slightly, and slowly stepped closer to him. Seemingly accepting his explanation, she wrapped her arms around him in a strong hug. Ash reciprocated and for a moment the two stood in the hallway, silent.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Where'd Ash go?" Gary asked as several reporters now flooded the battlefield, wishing to speak to the victor.

"Uh, I'm not sure," Dawn replied honestly. She'd been scouring the crowd relentlessly as she tried to find the object of her affections A few minutes had passed since their odd interaction though, and she'd yet to find where he'd run off to. "I'll go find him."

Taking off in the same direction as she last watched him go, she thought of what she would say.

_I can't believe you'd just run away after our first kiss! How could you be so selfish?_ She'd demand that he apologize for how he'd acted in front of everyone, and then she'd forgive him and everything would be perfect.

_Yes, that's what I'll do._

However as she continued to shove through the waves of people, she began to grow a little worried. _What if he ran off because he's mad at me? After all, Gary _did_ say it was his first kiss. Maybe I embarrassed him! _I_ should be the one who apologizes._ Coming to the conclusion that their future marriage was well worth a humbling apology, she found herself now on the outside of the large bubble of people.

Scanning the field, she assumed he must have gone through the exit since no one in the battlefield seemed to know his whereabouts. Briskly jogging through the doors, she was surprised to hear distant chatter to the left. Deciding to investigate, she snuck down the hall. As she got closer to the end of the corridor, even more to her shock, the voices became more clear and familiar. They were Ash and Misty's.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I _am_ sorry, Mist," Ash repeated as he rested his chin on top of her head. It was as if they were built for each other with how well they fit together hugging. "I would never do anything to make you upset like that, you know."

"I know Ash."

A cough from behind suddenly caught both teenagers' attention. Turning around, Ash saw Dawn glaring at him angrily, her arms folded. "_What_ are you doing?" Taking purposeful steps towards the couple, Ash separated from Misty and prepared for the assault of his angry aficionada. He saw an anger in her eyes that he rarely ever beheld, and he began to wonder if it was possible to spontaneously combust from having someone stare so angrily at you.

However, to his surprise, she didn't stop when she came to him, but instead continued walking until she was right in front of Misty's face.

_Uh-oh._

"How could you do this to me? You knew I liked him, but you just couldn't keep your hands off him, could you? What's next? Are you gonna go out with Brock just in case I ever develop feelings for him too? I can't believe you're being so selfish! You had your chance years ago and you never took it, and now that I have a chance you just waltz in here and take him away from me!" The rant continued for another minute, but Ash quickly realized that she seemed to be repeating herself as she progressively accused and badgered his redheaded friend. What worried him much more than Dawn's outrage anyway was Misty's reaction. As she continued to take abuse from the younger woman, he could see her cheeks growing red-hot, waiting to explode.

"Uh, Dawn."

"Don't even start talking to me Ash!" Dawn warned, turning around so quickly the wind almost blew Ash off his feet. Pointing an accusatory finger at him, the coordinator promised to "deal" with him in a moment.

_You don't have a moment._

"How dare you!" Misty suddenly yelled as Dawn turned back to face her. "You have no right to barge in here and start screaming at me and Ash like that! How dare _I _like Ash? How dare _you_ come in here acting like you know what you're talking about! We kissed before he left for his training camp, and then again right before his battle! _I'm_ the one who convinced him to use Pikachu, and _I'm_ the one who he likes. Not you!"

Ash winced as he waited for Dawn's reply. He didn't like seeing his friends fight like this, and he especially didn't enjoy being the reason for such a melee.

Instead of indulging in another long-winded rant, however, Dawn stood still for a moment before turning back around. Facing the raven-haired champion she asked, "Is it true?" Tears began to well in her eyes as her voice broke.

He almost asked her what part she needed him to verify, but he was well-aware of what she wanted to know. With a slow nod, he responded, "Yeah, it is."

Another moment of silence.

"Well then," Dawn replied, wiping away a tear furiously with the back of her palm, "I hope you two have a great time together." With that, she began sprinting down the hallway past Misty, and Ash instinctively made to go after her.

"No," Misty said, grabbing his collar and pulling him back. "You can't go after her."

"But Misty! Just because you two are fighting doesn't mean she isn't still my friend!"

"It's not that." Misty rolled her eyes at his dramatic response. "Give her a little while to calm down. If you go after her now, you'll just be giving her false hope that maybe you like her. She needs to be alone for a little while and then we'll _both_ go and see her." As angry as Misty had been, and was, with how Dawn had reacted to the news, she didn't like watching her embarrassedly run off either, and she couldn't deny the twinge of guilt which lurked in her stomach for making such a nice girl cry. Despite their shared desire for Ash's affection, they _had_ been friends.

"Mr. Ketchum!" Another voice came from behind the pair as they watched Dawn turn another corner and run out of sight. Turning around, Ash and Misty were immediately flooded by reporters and cameramen, all wanting to speak to the young man.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What a day, huh buddy?" Ash asked his yellow friend as the two walked into their luxury suite at the Anthony Deluxe Resort. It was hard for him to believe that less than a year ago he had walked into the same room, having just been declared the new Sinnoh Champion. After such extensive travel over the last ten months, his victory over Cynthia felt like a distant memory.

"Pikachu!" With a happy plop the electric mouse landed on top of the plush mattress. After being treated in the stadium's Pokémon Center, the spry Pokémon appeared healthy as ever. Unfortunately for Ash, the rest of his Pokémon needed to spend the night for recovery, but he intended to go get them back first thing in the morning.

"You were amazing out there Pikachu." Ash had already informed his Pokémon of this several times before, but he couldn't help the swell of pride he experienced every time he looked at his friend.

"Pika-pikachu," the creature replied nonchalantly. He scratched his right ear with his hind leg before laying down and closing his eyes.

Looking at the clock, Ash was amazed to see it was well past midnight.

_No wonder he's so tired._

Realizing how exhausted he himself was, he stretched while yawning before slowly trudging over to the comfortable bed. Noting the sheer silence of the room, he smiled at his intelligence. Though he'd obviously been given the option to sleep with his friends and family back at the League house, he'd chosen to spend the night back here, in the Champion's Suite, because he knew he'd get no sleep with Dawn in the room right next to his, and with Misty no doubt on the alert for any interaction the two might have. It would have been much too tense to relax.

As he pulled down the thick violet comforter, a large yellow envelope on his pillow caught his eye.

"What's this?"

Picking up the parcel, he examined the front of the paper container to find his name neatly scribbled across the front in bold, cursive lettering. Ripping off the top, curiosity piqued at the strange object, he peered inside to find a single sheet of paper and a pokéball.

_Ash,_

_If you want to follow in my footsteps, then you have a long way to go. However, maybe this will help just a little. Remember to only use it when you know the time is right._

_-The Master_

Immediately, Ash threw the letter to the side as he plunged his hand deep into the cavernous envelope, retrieving the pokéball he'd seen moments earlier. As he pulled it out, he was surprised to find that it was not colored like any of his previously-owned capturing capsules. While the bottom half remained white, the top was colored in a distinctive violet, with two small magenta circles on opposite sides of the letter "M" placed directly above the center button.

"No way."

"Pikachu?" The small Pokémon made his way over to his master as he heard Ash's audible gasp. Staring at the odd orb within his grasp, the electric mouse turned his head to the side in confusion. "Pikachu-pika?"

"This is a Master Ball!" Ash explained, certain that was what Pikachu wished to know. "It's the rarest kind of pokéball they make!"

"Pika-pika!" Suddenly Pikachu remembered the object. He and his friend had seen an old man unsuccessfully use one on a Whiscash years earlier.

Enlarging it, he gazed upon the sphere admiringly. _He's right, I'll definitely have to use this carefully._ He remembered the old man as well, and how he'd lost his prized pokéball after it was eaten by the large fish Pokémon.

"But wait, who wrote this?" Though only Pikachu was with him, he still asked the question aloud as he picked up the letter once more. Glazing over the paragraph, he quickly moved to the end. "'The Master', huh? I wonder which one it was?"

Though there was only one active Master ever, the title was lifelong, so even if you lost your throne to a challenger, you were always considered to be the "Master of Pokémon". At the present, there were only three Masters still alive, and after realizing that the two non-active ones were well over seventy years old, he came to the conclusion that only the active one would actually come all this way to give him a present.

Smiling to himself, Ash shrunk the ball and placed it on the small nightstand.

_I'm a lot closer to your title than you think._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ash, you're here!" Delia cried happily as the champion walked through the doorway, Pikachu on his shoulder. It seemed that everyone was once again crammed in the kitchen as his mother prepared breakfast.

"Oh goody, Mr. Sinnoh Champ finally decided to show up," Gary remarked snidely, paper plate loosely held at his side. "Now can we please have some of your delicious pancakes Ms. Ketchum? I'm about to die of starvation over here!"

"Now be patient Gary," Professor Oak said, clenching another plate. "It's not your place to scold Ash."

"Well it is mine," Misty growled, scaring Ash as she appeared from behind the throng of people. Marching over to the young man, she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the kitchen. "You kept us waiting forever since your mom, who's annoyed too by the way, said it would be rude of us to eat without you. But you know what's even ruder? Keeping us waiting till eleven in the morning for breakfast!"

"Sorry, Mist," Ash replied sheepishly, finally getting to speak. "Sorry to all you guys, but I completely forgot that you guys were here."

"Well where did you think we were?"

"Uh, I dunno," Ash answered, embarrassed. The truth was that he'd overslept, having forgotten to set his alarm clock, but the last thing he wished to do was admit to that. Instead, he apologized again, causing the room to break into a general murmur of forgiveness before dividing into several conversations once again. Appearing satisfied that they'd accepted his apology, he happily grabbed a plate on the counter and walking to his mom.

"Can I have some? They smell delicious!"

Delia shook her head. "You kept everyone waiting, so now you have to get yours last Ash."

"But Ma-!"

"No buts, Ash. Besides, you can use this time to go and talk to Dawn."

"Talk to Dawn?" His voice lowered to a whisper, afraid that someone heard his mother.

"That's right. You need to explain to that poor girl that you're not interested in a relationship with her." Delia poured some more batter onto the pan as Professor Oak scooped up several cooled pancakes beside her and placed them on his plate.

Blushing, Ash asked how she knew about this.

"A mother always knows these things," she explained. "Now go talk to her, and when you come back down you can have something to eat."

"Alright," Ash consented. His appetite had diminished after remembering the coordinator anyway.

"Pikachu, pikachu, pika-pika." In one foul swoop, his "loyal" partner jumped from his shoulder and snatched the paper plate from his grasp between his small teeth. Once on the ground, he turned around and headed back to Delia.

_Thanks pal._

Walking out the kitchen and beginning to make his way up the stairs, he suddenly felt a tug on his shoulder.

"You gonna talk to her too now?"

"Yeah, I tried to earlier today, but she's refusing to come out of her room." Misty explained. "I guess she's still really upset about what happened."

"I guess so." Ash felt sad as he remembered the blue-haired girl run away the day before. "I wish it didn't have to be like this for her."

"I know, me either," Mist replied, sounding equally depressed. Now that she'd had more time, even the rage she'd felt yesterday had evaporated, leaving nothing but grief in its stead. "I mean, I obviously didn't want her to like _you_, but I still wish her heart didn't have to be broken."

Ash silently nodded, and the two slowly made their way up the stairs. Once they reached the landing they continued until they reached the coordinator's door. Apprehensively, Ash knocked.

"Dawn, are you in there?"

Silence.

"Dawn, please let me come in for a second."

"Is Misty with you?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"No."

"But Dawn, we just wanna talk with you for a second," Misty replied. "Please, just let us in for just two minutes and then you can throw us out if you want. I promise."

"I said no!"

"Well I guess we'll just have to stay here until you come out," Misty concluded briskly, settling against the wall by Dawn's door. "You can't avoid us forever, Dawn. One way or another, we're going to talk about this."

There was another pause, before the lock in the door clicked reluctantly and the door swung slowly inward. Dawn didn't say a word as she stiffly jerked the door further open, allowing Ash and Misty to enter.

"Uh, nice place you got here," Ash commented as he and Misty took a seat on the twin-size bed in the far corner of her room. "Very, um, pink." He wasn't far wrong; the walls, carpet and furniture all looked like they'd been caught in an explosion in a cotton candy factory.

_Please shut up, Ash, _Misty begged mentally, as if he could somehow read her thoughts.

Unfortunately for the gym leader, the young champion was no psychic. "My room at the hotel last night wasn't this nice, I don't think. I mean, yeah, it had a bed and everything, and it also had a really nice television and a stocked refrigerator, but…um, uh, it didn't have a-a small bed!"

_Ash, please, I'm begging you._

"Yeah, I had one of those huge, soft beds. I like smaller beds better though. I mean, sure, big beds are comfortable and everything, but-"

Misty subtly kicked him in the shin. "Shut your mouth, or Gyarados'll shut it for you," she hissed.

"Okay, okay," Ash replied grumpily, trying to surreptitiously rub the bruise he was sure was now blooming somewhere beneath his knee.

Misty turned her attention to the room's other occupant, who was perched stiffly on the edge of a fluffy fuchsia chair, staring down at her hands.

'Er…Dawn,' she began awkwardly, wishing that the silent young Coordinator would at least look at her, "I just want you to know that, um, well, that…"

"Now who needs to shut their mouth?" Ash cut in with a smirk. Misty shot him her trademark glare; Ash shut up instantly.

Misty cleared her throat. "Dawn, I know how difficult this must be for you." She suppressed a shudder, a vivid memory of how she'd felt watching Dawn and Ash kiss flashing through her brain. "But we're here because we're your friends, and just because things didn't work out…as you'd planned them, it doesn't mean that we can't go on being friends. Ash and I might be together now, but we still care just as much about you. We just want you to be happy."

Dawn's chilly blue eyes flashed as she raised her head.

"Oh, gee, thanks Misty," she snapped bitterly. "Now I feel a _lot_ better."

Ash's eyebrows flew up. "Wow! That was easy!" he said happily as he made to stand up, but Misty grabbed him by the arm and forced him to stay down.

"She was being sarcastic, moron."

"_See?" _Dawn exploded, leaping to her feet. "How can you like someone who talks to you like that, Ash?" She pointed a dramatic finger at Misty. "All you've ever told me about her is how mean and horrible she is to you. I treat you so much better! How could you choose someone who calls you a moron over someone like me?"

Ash scratched his head. "Er…she has a point there, Misty."

"What?" Misty exclaimed in horror.

"No, not that," Ash interrupted her impatiently. "I mean, she has a point in wanting to know why I like you and not her. There is a reason, Dawn,' he added, turning to his younger traveling companion.

"Then what is it?" Dawn demanded. Her face was already flushed with despair as she awaited his response. There was no way this conversation would end with her winning him back.

"Um, I guess it's that she's a better motivator."

"What does that even _mean_?"

"I mean that, well, she's always there cheering me on and trying to make me a better trainer and person. She's been like that since I first met her, and she's kind of a big reason for why I've made it so far as a trainer." He blushed a little as he looked straight ahead at Dawn. Despite his line of vision, he could feel Misty's gaze upon him.

"So that's it? She cheers you on?" Dawn cried. "So do I! I even wore a cheerleader outfit for some of your battles! I doubt she ever did that!"

Misty frowned. "You wore a cheerleader outfit for him? When?"

"It was a long time ago," Ash assured the gym leader. The last thing he needed was more conflict between the young women. "And anyway, that's not what I was talking about Dawn."

"Then what were you talking about?"

"I mean, she cheered for me, but that wasn't all." He instinctively turned his head to the right slightly so he wouldn't have to watch the redhead in his peripheral as he spoke. "She also yelled at me a lot, and she always reminded me that I needed to stay, um, I guess the best word would be humble. She never let my ego get too big, and even after she left my group, I would always remember the lessons she taught me. Sometimes I still act really arrogant though."

_Big word for Ash, _Misty silently noted as she listened on. She herself felt a blush appear on her lily-white cheeks as he explained her prominence in his life.

"But the truth is, after travelling with Misty, I became a lot less big-headed and a lot more realistic. I trained harder because she had always bugged me to when we were younger, and I stopped taking great friends for granted. In fact, if it weren't for Mist, I probably would never have gotten to know you, Dawn."

"And how's that?"

"Misty was kinda a pain at first to bring with me on my journey-"

"Hey!" This was the second time he'd insulted her within five minutes.

"Sorry Mist, but it's true, and you know it."

"Well maybe if you hadn't destroyed my bike, then I wouldn't have been such a 'pain'! The only reason I was mean to you was because I knew there was no way I'd get you to pay for it unless I constantly reminded you. I'm a really nice person, you just aren't very smart."

Ash rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to smile; it still amazed him, how he could like a girl so much when she spent so much of her time telling him he was stupid. "Anyway, I didn't plan on having anyone other than my Pokémon with me on my adventures, but after Misty joined, I realized how much fun it was to have people with you," Ash continued. "Growing up, I'd always dreamed about going out and being with Pokémon as I became the Master. But Misty, and Brock, taught me that friendships with people are just as important and fun as with Pokémon. If she hadn't followed me after the accident with her bike, then I'd never have learned the importance of having human friends."

Dawn sagged back down into her chair, gazing at the bright fabric. "Okay, I get it," she replied dully. She had no wish to listen to Ash trumpeting any more of Misty's virtues, and it was clear he wasn't going to change his mind.

"But that doesn't mean I want our friendship to end, Dawn."

When she didn't respond, Misty continued for him.

"Dawn, what's important here is that we all stay friends – especially you and Ash. I understand that you're angry at me, but the last thing I would ever want to do is break up a great couple of friends like you two. He talked to me about you all the time when he called and when he wrote he would always say how great a coordinator you were. The truth is, I was jealous because of how much he'd talk about you, but I was also impressed because he saw so much potential in your skill. You've become a great coordinator, and he's become a better trainer, and you two did it together." The words burned in Misty's mouth as she said them, but she knew it was true.

Dawn averted her eyes to the ceiling. "I guess…" she mumbled reluctantly. She buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe we kissed in front of all those people."

"I know," Ash agreed. "It was all over the front pages this morning. It was even bigger news than me beating Paul!"

"It is?"

"Yep." Ash nodded to Misty. "I'm surprised everyone here hasn't made a bigger deal out of it, actually."

"Well, I kind of explained our situation to your mom last night, and I think she told everyone else."

"So _that's_ how she knew." Pride swelled in his heart as he gained one up on his mother. "I knew she couldn't read minds."

Dawn had had enough. She got jerkily to her feet and marched over to the door, snapping it open. "If you two wouldn't mind, I'd like to be alone for a little while."

"You're still mad?" Ash asked, startled.

"I don't know _what_ I am right now," Dawn snapped tersely. "I'm tired after not sleeping all night, I'm hungry from not eating since yesterday's breakfast, and I'm mad that I haven't gotten to brush my hair since I left my brush in the bathroom down the hall. So honestly, now would be a good time for you both to leave. I just need to think about this."

"We understand," Misty replied hastily, standing up and heading to the door. "Don't we Ash?"

"Yeah, I get it," he answered, following Misty's lead. "I hope we can get over this though, Dawn."

"I hope so too, Ash."

Dawn closed the door quietly in Ash and Misty's faces, and they turned and walked back down the stairs together.

"Do you think she'll wanna stay friends?" Ash asked, unsatisfied with the ambiguous ending to their conversation with the blue-haired teenager.

"Oh, I think she wants to – it's just whether she'll be able to. A broken heart's not something you get over easily. But Dawn's tough. I think she'll get over it, eventually. Maybe now that we've talked to her, she'll be able to decide what to do next."

As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Ash suddenly remembered his appetite. "Now let's get some pancakes!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Misty, your sisters wanna talk to you!" Tracey called from the living room as the redhead happily inhaled her breakfast.

"Off cous," she mumbled, pancake crumbs falling out of her mouth. Ash began to crack up at the sight.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Mist!"

"Shud up," she muttered, downing a glass of orange juice to swallow the remains of her delicious meal. Taking a big breath after getting it all down, she continued. "I've seen you eat way worse than that!"

"Yeah, but I'm not supposed to be a lady," he replied, still laughing.

"It wouldn't hurt to try being a gentleman though." She slapped him on the back of the head as she walked out to talk with her sisters.

"Hey!"

"You deserved it."

As she approached the phone, she was surprised to see Tracey standing there with the phone in his hand.

"She, uh, said that she wants to talk to you privately," he explained. "I'll be in the other room, but could you tell her I said I'm sorry?"

"Sure Tracey," Misty answered, wondering what had happened. Taking the receiver from his hands, she pressed the cool plastic against her ear as she sat down on the small wooden stool in front of the screen. "Hey Daisy, what's going on?"

"Like, first, is that weird-o out of the room?" the blond asked, appearing quite angry.

"Uh, Tracey? Yeah."

"Good." She huffed and swatted some hair from the front of her face. "That creep had the nerve to ask me how I was, like, doing."

"He asked how you were doing?" Misty asked in disbelief. "That's why you're so angry with him?"

"Like, yeah! Can you believe the nerve?"

"Um, no, I can't."

"Well, like, anyway, I didn't call to talk about him anyway. I wanted to call and ask when you're, like, coming back home."

"Coming back home?" she repeated, confused. "What are you talking about? You guys better not be taking another world cruise, or else I'll-"

"No, of course not," Daisy interrupted, stopping the redhead mid-threat. "I mean, we watched the whole kissing thing between Ash and that blue haired kid. What was her name again? Dusk?"

"Dawn," she answered, rolling her eyes. "And that kiss didn't mean anything. She kissed him, but he didn't want her to or anything. She just thought that by kissing him first that she'd get the upper hand or something."

"Well, like, did she?" Daisy asked leaning into the video with rapt interest.

"Didn't I just say it didn't? Ash didn't want her to kiss him."

"So does this mean he likes you, or just that he doesn't like that coordinator kid?"

Misty's eyes widened involuntarily as realization dawned upon her. She remembered that her sisters had never been informed of the "progress" in her and Ash's relationship. "I think he definitely likes me Daisy. As a matter of fact, I know he does."

"How can you be so sure?" her sister questioned, her eyebrow raised. "Just because he messes with you like when you were kids doesn't mean he likes you. I wish you'd just take my advice and be more direct with your feelings. Like I said a few weeks ago, there's no need to scare him off, but you could let on that you _might_ like him so he starts to think about it, or-"

"You mean like kissing him?" Misty interjected, a smile on her lips.

"Well, uh, no! I don't think anything that blunt would work."

"Really? Because it did for me."

"You _kissed him_?" Daisy shrieked. Seconds later, Misty saw her other two siblings, dripping wet, gather around the gym phone.

"Like, who did you kiss Mist?"

"Yeah, what's happening?"

"She kissed her champion guy!" Daisy explained, her voice still shrill. "And I guess he didn't mind, huh?"

"Nope," Misty replied, rather proud despite herself. She'd always hated girls who seemed to get joy from having a guy like them, but she was starting to understand the pleasure attained from such an accomplishment. "We've kissed a few times now, in fact."

"Like, no way!" Lily and Violet squealed together.

"So does this mean you two are, like, a couple now?" Daisy asked, pressing for more information. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Uh, I don't really know." She blushed slightly as she watched the celebration on the other side begin to die down.

"You mean you two have kissed and you haven't even, like, discussed what your future is?" Lily asked, sounding shocked.

"I thought you were supposed to be, like, the good sister or something," Violet added.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Misty asked in a half-yell. All three of her siblings flinched as they heard her voice rise an octave.

Gulping, Daisy took control of the situation once again. "Uh, I think she just meant that it's not smart to just start making out with a guy before deciding where you're relationship is, like, going. You know? You don't just wanna give him what he wants with the chance that he'll just throw you aside when he finds someone better."

"Ash would never be like that!" Misty replied in a gasp. "I can't believe you'd think someone as honest and kind as him would even think about using me like that!"

"Well, don't get upset at us," Violet retorted. "We've all known 'honest' guys before, but the problem is that they're still guys. No matter how honest they are, they're still not gonna try and become your boyfriend if you're making out with them and basically giving them no rules. Any guy would love to be in that situation, because it means that once he finds some other girl he thinks is pretty, then he can just tell you that you guys were never serious anyway and he likes her better."

"It's, like, true Misty," Lily agreed. "You have to get him to be your boyfriend. Once he, like, has that title, then it's a lot harder for him to just run off. He knows that you're serious about the relationship, so like, he will be too."

"But what if he doesn't wanna be my boyfriend?" Misty asked in a hushed voice, turning around, worried that someone would hear how girly she sounded. "What if he says he just likes things the way they are?"

"Then you don't need to be hanging out with him anyway," Daisy replied simply. "If he doesn't wanna commit, then he doesn't realize what a good catch you are."

_I guess all those magazines they read are finally coming in handy._

"Well then, I guess I better talk to him soon."

"That's right!"

"Without a doubt!"

"Like, definitely!"

Misty suddenly felt grateful for having her sisters call her. Though she always considered herself the black sheep of the family, as she'd grown older she'd come to appreciate the unique skill set her ditzy, and oftentimes annoying, siblings seemed to possess on the subject of love.

With a smile, she decided to carry on the conversation a little while longer. "So how's the gym doing?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So how are you enjoying your Champion Breakfast, honey?" Delia asked as she approached her son.

As he inhaled another five stack, he mumbled "uh wot".

Beaming , she continued. "Ash, would you come into my bedroom for a second? We need to talk about something."

Gulping down the remainder of his second course, he cringed slightly. She used the same tone when he was younger and she was about to break bad news to him. "Uh, sure, I guess." With a shrug, he walked out the hallway and to his mother's lush bedroom.

_Hers is way bigger than mine was, _he noted, silently wondering how she could achieve such a feat when _he_ was the champion. _Although,_ he realized, _I would've given her the bigger room anyway._

"Sit down for a second, dear." Delia gestured to the empty space of mattress next to her.

Taking a seat by his mother, the memories flooded back to him. His mom would call him into her bedroom only when she had something _very _important to discuss with him.

_What could she wanna talk about?_

"I think you already know why I want to speak with you," she began in a loving, yet firm manner.

"Uh, no, not really."

Rolling her eyes, she sat up straighter. "I want to talk with you about what's going on between you and Misty for a minute, dear."

"Oh…alright." Ash gulped, and felt a small shudder make its way up his spine. Talking about women with his mother was certainly among the top ten most uncomfortable scenarios he could imagine himself in. The last time they'd discussed the fairer sex, he was twelve, and she was talking more about certain _activities_ one could partake in with women, rather than any particular person. He couldn't imagine that discussing his and Misty's feelings would be much easier.

"So she told me that you two have kissed." It was rather a blunt start to such a fragile subject, but Ash realized this was probably not the easiest topic for his mother to bring up. "Is that true?"

"Yeah, we did." It was odd, but he almost felt guilty as he admitted to his and Misty's small rendezvous. Though they'd done nothing wrong, his mother's tone seemed almost accusatory in nature.

Delia cleared her throat before continuing. "Well, i-is that all you've, um, that you've done?"

"Whaddya mean?" Ash squinted at his mother, trying to discern her question.

_Well, we've travelled a lot together, and she's caught me a bunch of Pokémon recently._

"Ash, do you remember the talk we had with the puppets and the videos, and Professor Oak came over to talk with you after I became too embarrassed to keep going?"

Eyes wide, Ash shook his head violently. "No! We haven't done _anything_ like that! I promise!"

Relief seemed to wash over his poor mother as she breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that, well, you know, with you two out there on your own that you might start to get a little-"

"We didn't do anything Ma!" Ash covered his ears as he loudly repeated his small mantra. Though the idea was not unfavorable, talking to his mother about it certainly was.

"Okay, okay," she replied, now smiling. She forced his hands away from his ears. "Well that is certainly good news. You remember you're supposed to wait until you're married to do something like that, right?"

"I _remember_ Ma," Ash replied, exasperated. He was desperate to get off of this subject. "So you're not mad about me and Dawn not being in a, uh, relationship, then?"

"What? Of course not! In fact, I'm kind of excited for you and Misty."

A discerning eyebrow raised as Ash made sure he'd heard correctly.

"Well of course I'm excited!" she answered. "I remember when you two were just little kids with Brock there to watch over you. You always had a crush on each other, it was _so _obvious, but I rarely mentioned it because you'd get so frazzled when I would."

"So why didn't you say something when Misty stopped travelling with me?"

"Well, first, it wasn't my place to do so, and second, you were too young. You were only barely twelve when you left for Hoenn! Besides, I already knew that it would work itself out."

"How'd you know that?" Curiosity tainted his voice. "For all you know, me and Misty might have never talked to each other again, and I'd have May for a girlfriend or something."

"I knew it would work out because love always finds a way," she answered in a sagely tone.

Sticking his tongue out, Ash made a sound of disgust. "You sound like one of those people in those corny love movies you used to make me watch when I was growing up."

Delia gave a snicker at his comment.

"And besides, who said anything about love? I mean, yeah, I like her a lot, but I'm not sure it's big enough to be called 'love' yet."

"Are you saying you don't love her then?" Delia asked, eyebrows raised as she smirked at her son.

"Uh, well, no! I mean, um- I mean that I like her a _lot_, and I've never really felt like this with another girl before, but love is kinda scary, isn't it? I mean, that's what people say when they get old and wanna get married or something. Me and Mist are just, I dunno, still being friends, but kissing now."

Laughing, his mom ruffled his uncapped hair. "You sound like almost every man I've ever know; afraid to admit your real feelings. Love isn't just for old people. It's for whoever feels it! And as for you and Misty, I think you two should certainly discuss your relationship soon."

"What? Why?"

"You just said it yourself. You're just making out right now and not discussing the future at all."

"What's wrong with just kissing?" Frankly, it struck Ash as the best part of any intimate relationship anyway. "I mean, it's not like she's gonna start dating someone."

"But she might Ash," Delia responded. She felt proud as she realized she was giving her son advice about women. "Trust me. A girl will only swoon over you for so long before she'll begin to wonder if you're serious. If you don't start treating her like your girlfriend soon, she might think you're not serious and lose interest. Girls aren't like boys. They need more than just kissing to keep themselves satisfied. They need to know they're cared about."

"I do care about her!"

"Then show her. Take her on a date to a nice restaurant. Give her flowers. When you two get a little further along, buy her jewelry."

Sighing, Ash's shoulders sagged. "That sound like a lot of work and money."

"It is, but I read in one of those Pokémon League magazines the average salary for a Sinnoh Champion. I'm sure you can _more_ than afford it. Oh, and by the way, I wouldn't mind some jewelry for Mother's Day either." She laughed a little as Ash rolled his eyes. It was nice to be able to talk to her son like the young adult he'd become.

They talked for a while about lighter subjects before stumbling upon another important topic; Ash's "diploma" which he'd received in the mail from the Kanto School System.

"I know it's selfish, but sometimes I still wish you'd waited to go on your journey until after you graduated," Delia informed her son with a small sigh.

Ash gave a small nod. "Sometimes I wish I had too. I mean, it would have been pretty cool to go up on stage and get that diploma from a principal or someone rather than just get it in the mail like it's no big deal."

"Are you saying you regret leaving home so early?" Delia was shocked by the small confession. He normally instantly disregarded her wishes for him to have stayed through school.

"No, of course not!" Ash shook his head violently. "I mean, there are some times, like now, when I wish I could've

had a more normal life. But then I remember all the great adventures I've had, and I remember all the good friends that I've made. While some kids my age would have 'battles' with their pet Pokémon, I would actually be out competing in Leagues on television. When some kids were doing their homework at a table in their house every night, I'd have to do mine on a rock in a forest somewhere. Getting my diploma was a lot more difficult, but it was also more fun, and it made getting it a lot more rewarding."

Delia nodded. Smiling, she explained that she was glad that Ash was happy with his decision.

"For the first year, I was so worried something would happen to you. I mean, it's true that I could always find out where you were with the tracking device on your Pokédex, but I still felt uncomfortable about letting you out at such a young age. I was scared that something would disappoint you. When you were little, all you would talk about was how you were going to leave home and become a Master and make me so proud, but the second you left the house I began to worry that you'd get beaten early in your journey, or you'd get hurt, and suddenly your dreams would be crushed."

"You thought I'd quit because I'd gotten beaten?" Ash was surprised by the lack of his mother's faith. "I'd never give up because of something like that!"

"Well, I really thought you wouldn't either. You're no quitter, just like your father wasn't. However, I was still worried. I think I only began to relax when you called and told me about meeting some new friends, Brock and Misty, and told me how great they were. After I learned that you were meeting people and having fun, I stopped cringing every time I thought about you out in the wilderness with only that stubborn Pikachu. By the time you'd left for Johto, I was completely confident that you'd follow through on your dream."

"Well, I haven't followed through yet, but I will."

"I know you will honey," Delia remarked. "And I also know that you'll go to college and make me just as proud. You're still on track to battling the Master by January, right?"

Groaning, Ash realized he'd never told his mother about the bad news. "Sorry Ma, but I was doing the math and I don't think I'll even finish travelling through Sinnoh before next March."

Her lighthearted demeanor had instantly vanished as a frown crossed her face. "But that's a whole year from now!"

"I know, but I need more time." He gave a nervous laugh as he explained that he'd fallen a little behind his schedule.

"I don't care how far you've fallen behind. You're still going to college in the next fall semester."

"I will, I will," he assured. He explained his plans to leave for Hoenn in two weeks after wrapping up his catching list for Johto. "I should be home by March, and then I'll challenge Gary before going to face the Master himself."

Giving a small sigh, Delia nodded. "As long as you're enrolled, I'll be happy. I don't want you being like some of these people in the Pokémon League who think that just because they're paid really well means that they don't need an education."

"I know Ma," Ash replied. His mother had explained her disdain for rich, uneducated athletes many times before.

After he reassured her a few more times that he would not fall behind again, Delia rose from the mattress and smoothed her blouse. "So do you want to go say goodbye to everyone?"

"Are they all leaving?" He was surprised to see them all go after just getting there a day earlier.

"They have to, Ash. Most of them had to take vacation days just to come see your battle."

"Yeah, I better go tell them goodbye then."

However, as he walked out the door with his mother, his mind was far removed from the distant relatives and acquaintances he was about to see off. He was much more focused on how he was going to make Misty his girlfriend.

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter was not as action-packed as the last few, I know, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I'm not an expert on Delia, so if she seemed out of character to you, then please let me know. I wrote down her character as best I could with as little as we know about her from the anime, but if there's a part where you think I wrote her saying the wrong thing, or if you think I just wrote her entire character wrong, then I'd really like to hear your thoughts on how I could improve that, since she's bound to be in future chapters. Also, I know many of you wanted me to vilify Dawn, but, despite my status as a loyal Pokéshipper, I couldn't just make her plain mean. Some of you will be upset, I'm sure, that I didn't make her seem really mean, or that I didn't have Misty just murder her, but I need this fic to be realistic, and the truth is that I don't think Dawn is that hateful a person. She just had a crush on Ash, so I did my best to portray her more as a girl with a broken heart in this chapter than as some spiteful woman bent on getting revenge. Still, if you think I could've improved on her or Misty's reactions, then please let me know!

Anyway, here's my recommendations for this week:

Actually, I don't have any recs for this week. As many of you know, I've started my own community on this site (check out my home page if you haven't seen it) and I now have a select team of three readers (who go through the endless list of AAML stories and find the best written ones for the community) and one fellow writer, **The Bloody Knife**, who helps me keep the community relevant. She's an awesome author, and if you haven't checked out her fic, "Midnight", then you should.

Anyway, as of now, this community has exactly 30 fics, all of which have passed my staff's very discriminating tastes. Of these 30 fics, six are frequently updated and still in progress, so please take a look at them and send a review to their authors if you think they're good enough for your time.

Before I say goodbye (to anyone who's read this far), I'd like you to know how committed I am to this story. I have been living with my family in Naples, Italy for the last two years (Navy brat), and I had to come back to the States to get ready for college and because Texas is 1,000 times more awesome than Italy. Anyway, yesterday was hard because I had to make two layovers and go through customs all by myself (I've always flown with family and friends), and by the time I made it here, to my grandparents' house, I'd been awake for 27 hours with no food to speak of. I slept in and missed Church this morning (for obvious reasons), but as soon as I woke up, the first thing I thought to do was grab my laptop and finish editing my story to put it up. I just wanted to share this story so you all know that I'm extremely motivated to keep writing this thanks to your awesome encouragement and reviews. Though I'd like to say writing is its own reward, the truth is I probably wouldn't keep this up if I wasn't constantly getting great advice and compliments from readers such as yourself. So remember to PLEASE REVIEW if you have even a second for a one-word comment. Your opinions are important to me (which is why I always try to reply to them).

Have a good two weeks!


	31. Awkward Ride

**Hey Everybody!** Here's chapter 31 for you, out on time this week! I'm going to say in advance that I feel a lot better about this chapter. Several of my readers mentioned in their reviews that the last chapter, though entertaining, seemed a little choppy, and I completely agreed. Last chapter, as stated, was meant to be a kind of transitional chapter into the next arc of the story, but that doesn't excuse the mild skill I exemplified throughout the installment. Anyway, I just want to assure y'all that this chapter, by far, flows together better. However, I'd still love to hear your thoughts, be they good or bad, in a REVIEW after you finish reading!

Speaking of reviews, I have to apologize to my reviewers. I did not write any of you over the last two weeks to thank you for your input. While I'd like to think you know how important your thoughts are, I know that some generic thank you in the author's notes is not truly a sign of appreciation for your commitment to this story and its success. Please, if you're a new reviewer and didn't get a PM from me in return, give me one more chance and leave your thoughts following the reading of this installment, and if you're a regular reviewer, do the same. I assure all of you that I'll respond to each and every one of this chapter's reviews.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 17

Dawn: 14

Delia: 40

Oak: 56

* * *

"You gotta hurry up!"

"Just give me another minute!"

"You said that half an hour ago!"

No response.

Giving a sigh, Ash fell backward against the redhead's door. Two weeks had passed, and within that time the young man and woman had successfully captured the rest of his Johto list. Though several Pokémon now needed to be trained and evolve so that his Pokédex would register them, both had decided that it was entirely possible to raise them as they continued their journey into Hoenn.

Suddenly, Ash felt the support disappear from behind. Flailing his arms, he landed hard on his back within Misty's doorway.

"Whoops! Sorry." Misty tried to cover her mouth as the hilarity of the situation threatened to break the sincerity of her apology. "I didn't know you were there."

"Yeah, yeah." Standing up, Ash quickly dusted himself off before walking out the door with his friend.

"Why is it that when we were younger, you used to get mad at me for never hurrying up, but now you take forever when we're about to go anywhere?" He grunted as he completed his inquiry, surprised by the weight of the suitcase Misty had drug to the door with her.

_How could she carry this thing?_

Misty frowned. "I never take forever. You just are always too nervous and want to leave immediately. We have plenty of time!"

"The ferry leaves in two hours!"

"So?"

"It's a three hour drive, Mist."

Placing her hands on her hips, Misty glared at the champion as he pushed the button to bring up the elevator. Glancing over at the object of his affections, Ash flinched.

"Don't act like I'm some dummy, Ash!"

"What're you talking about?"

"You're acting like I don't know how long it takes to get to the ferry!"

"Well, you don't."

"I do too!"

Now it was Ash's turn to glare. "Then why aren't you worried about us being an hour late?"

"Because I said that it'd take three hours with bad traffic! Do you think the traffic will be bad at five in the morning?"

Ash opted to leave the question unanswered as the elevator doors swung open at the perfect time. With another grunt, he lifted the suitcase and drug it into the small compartment. As the doors closed, Misty smirked.

"So I guess I win then, huh?"

"No you don't." It was too early for this.

"Yeah, I do."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Pikachu-pika!" warned the electric mouse from atop his friend's cap. Several sparks jumped from his small cheeks threateningly.

"I guess Pikachu didn't feel like waking up early this morning, huh?"

"Nope. He almost killed me when I pulled him out of bed by the tail."

"You deserve it for yanking on his poor tail." Misty pouted her lips as she stroked the small creature behind his ear. Pikachu cooed happily as he nestled back to sleep upon the young champion's head.

"No one likes a suck-up, Pikachu."

The doors opened once again, and the two hurriedly made their way through the lobby, their previous discussion coming back.

"With no traffic, we'll get there with time to spare."

Beginning to sweat from the weight of the luggage, Ash replied with an honest "I hope so."

After they loaded Misty's suitcase and Ash's backpack into the trunk, the two teenagers hopped into the front seat. Ash gingerly laid Pikachu onto the plush leather backseat as Misty started the ignition and practically raced out of the hotel parking lot.

Pulling onto the freeway, the two fell into a lapse of silence as the exhaustion and slight awkwardness between them settled in.

Over the last two weeks, though they still knew the other had strong feelings for each other, they'd been granted very little alone time to talk. Between dodging the paparazzi, which had resurfaced immediately following Ash's reclaiming of the Sinnoh Championship crown, and trying to catch the almost thirty different Pokémon he still needed, the two were barely able to mumble a few words goodnight every evening before setting off to their respective rooms for well-deserved rest. Though both had dwelled extensively within the recluses of their own minds on the advice of their loved ones during their off-time, neither had come to a viable solution.

_I could battle her, and if I win she has to be my girlfriend._

_I could just keep punching him in the arm until he finally agrees to start going out with me._

The various strategies and plans created by the two had the potential to fill a warehouse. However, despite the sheer volume of ideas, neither could find one which would make bringing up the subject any less uncomfortable.

_I'll just have to wait for us to get a quiet moment alone, and then we'll talk about it. It'll be awkward, but we have to do it._ Though she cringed at the idea of discussing a relationship with the dense teenage boy, Misty could think of no better option. She hoped that perhaps the ferry ride would provide them with some privacy to discuss the matter, in fact.

_I just wish I could kiss her again._ There was no doubt Ash's train of thought was shorter on the subject. Though he hadn't given up trying to find a way around direct confrontation with the redhead, he was beginning to grow desperate. Even discussing their "future" and "feelings" seemed like it was almost worth the pain if he could once again reclaim those lush, beautiful lips. They'd yet to kiss since before he went to battle Paul, and he couldn't help but begin to empathize with Brock's constant swooning. After tasting something so sweet, it was hard not to think about it on a consistent basis. While he, of course, wanted her to be his girlfriend for more reasons than just the physical, he couldn't deny that it was certainly a large reason for his determination.

As they each dwelled upon their separate goals and intentions, neither noticed how quickly the time flew by. After what felt like mere minutes, the sports car neared the looming ferry. As the large structure caught Ash's gaze, he quickly looked down at the clock to find that they'd barely made it in time.

"Told ya I wouldn't be late."

"We're not there yet," Ash reminded, pointing towards a giant door at the base of the ship which had a small bridge which connected it to the port. "You've still gotta park it in there."

"No problem." She sped quickly through the lines of parked cars and soon found herself face-to-face with one of the guards, who held a clipboard in one hand and a sandwich in the other.

Taking a bite, he gave them a brief welcoming to Johto Ferries before asking their names.

"Um, Misty Waterflower?"

Chewing on another piece, the slightly overweight man glanced over the paper on his clipboard before giving a small nod. "Just pull the car into there and find an empty space. Y'all shouldn't have too much trouble since this is an exclusive ferry ride."

"It is?"

The man nodded again before pointing her in the direction of the ship's hull. Rolling her window up, Misty drove slowly across the bridge and asked Ash what an "exclusive ride" entailed.

"I forgot to tell you about that. I saved us seats on this ferry because I thought we wouldn't want to deal with a bunch of people asking for autographs and stuff if they saw me on the ride. The lady said we could travel on this one after she found out who I was."

"You sure do think a lot of yourself to be worried about people wanting _your_ autograph, don't you?" She gave a smirk, knowing that despite her teasing, his fears were actually quite legitimate. Even before his victory over Paul, he was stopped more often than not by many a random passerby for an autograph or picture. Still, she couldn't help but jab at his ego a little.

"Well, I _am_ pretty famous, Mist."

Rolling her eyes, she sarcastically agreed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You're positive I should do this?"

"Pikachu!" The small rodent gave a thumbs-up at his buddy for reassurance. Though he wasn't quite sure what was happening, he could sense tension between the two teenagers and it seemed as if Ash had some plan as to how he could end it.

Ash gave his friend a bright grin. "You haven't failed me yet. I'm gonna do it!"

As he reached for the doorknob to leave his expansive ferry quarters, he suddenly paused as the fear of his decision washed over him.

"On the other hand," he said, turning back to face his loyal Pokémon, "a small snack would probably be the best thing to have before doing something so important. Don'tcha think so?"

Pikachu gave another enthusiastic nod and thumbs-up, instantly recognizing the word "snack". Jumping onto his master's shoulder, he emitted a small squeal of approval as the young champion headed towards the snack lounge.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Showtime," the redhead muttered under her breath. She rose from the twin-size bed provided to her in the small room and release a slow breath. Walking out the door, she made her way to where the Sinnoh Champion was almost guaranteed to be: the snack lounge.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Time to chow down, buddy!" Ash announced as he steadily balanced the plate of ribs in one hand and his soda in the other. "We're lucky! The chef said _no one_ asks for ribs, so we got the only plate they had prepared!"

Setting the dish in front of his friend, Ash grabbed a stool from beneath the bar and quickly took a seat. Pikachu took his own spot next to the plate, eyeing the meat hungrily.

"Normally I wouldn't give you this kind of food, but I think you deserve this after all the help you've given the last two weeks with catching all those new Pokémon."

"Pika-pi!" He believed he did too.

"Well then, let's get started!" he cried happily, tearing off one rib for his friend, and preparing to devour the rest.

As Pikachu wrestled with the slab of meat, Ash greedily took several large bites off the nearest end, causing sauce to cascade down his chin. "Dewicious," he mumbled, reaching for the soda and downing half the glass in a single swig. "Mist should try this!"

"Pi-kachu."

"There you are Ash!"

Confused, the two broke their mealtime chatter. To Ash's general shock, Cynthia, Steven, and Lance had all appeared beside them without their noticing. "We've been looking all over for you," remarked the former Sinnoh Champion. "Though it seems you've been extra busy the last few minutes." She and the others laughed as she pointed to his face.

Ignoring their guffaws, he grabbed a napkin and greeted the trio. "Hey guys! What're you doing here?"

"We're glad we were finally able to track you down," Lance said with a smile. "You practically fled Sinnoh after that victory."

Scratching the back of his head, Ash gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess we did kinda leave in a hurry. I had a bunch of Pokémon to catch in Johto in a small amount of time, so I haven't had a lot of time to stop and talk to people."

"I understand," Cynthia replied, knowingly. "Your mother explained your 'deadline' to us when we tried to contact you at the League house the day after you won. It sounds like you've got quite a bit of work ahead of you."

"Yeah, I do. So did you guys come all the way here just to say hi to me?" He was impressed momentarily by his seeming importance to the three.

"Uh, well no, not really," Steven answered. "I mean, when we heard you were onboard, we were quick to come find you, but we actually have some G-Men stuff to take care of back in Hoenn."

"Wow, that sounds important."

"Well, not every mission is as important as the one we just finished with you, but the job definitely keeps you busy. When you're finally done with all of this Master stuff, would you consider becoming a member yourself?"

Ash's eyes reflected his surprise to the invitation. "The Master can become a G-Man?"

"Of course!"

"Is the Master a G-Man right now?" His voice grew quieter as he anticipated a top secret answer. To his surprise, though, all he received in return was a snort from Lance.

"Mr. Kanto becoming a G-Man? No way. He's too busy spending all his time in that mountain training to think about anything else."

"You shouldn't be so jealous," Steven advised, obviously trying to stifle a laugh.

Lance turned to him in a blink. "I'm not jealous of him!"

"Well, I mean, it's perfectly natural that you would be," Cynthia seemed to be in on Steven's joke as her voice gave a slight waver. "I mean, he did beat you when he was, what, ten? That couldn't have been a fun battle to lose."

"For your information, he was _eleven_," Lance replied. "And besides, that was years ago! I'm a much more experienced trainer now than I was then."

"So is he."

Lance gave a small "humph!" in return before turning his back to his two comrades. Both winked at the teenager, who'd watched on in quiet wonderment at the childishness of some of the greatest trainers in the world.

"We like to tease him about that…a lot." Steven gave a bigger grin as Lance stamped his foot on the ground.

Ash and simply gave an awkward smile back in return. He wasn't completely comfortable making fun of the powerful dragon trainer without understanding the joke. "Why did you call him 'Mr. Kanto', Lance?"

"Because that was his nickname after he beat Lance here like thirty years ago," Steven explained, grabbing the champion by the shoulder. "Everyone called him 'Mr. Kanto' because he was the youngest champion they'd ever had. No one does anymore though, except Lance, who seems to think it's some insult."

"Anyway," Lance interjected, shoving the hand off his shoulder, "if he was such a great trainer, he would've accepted our invitation."

"Invitation?"

"Yeah, when we'd decided to train you in Hoenn, we all sent him private messages asking if he'd be able to come and help," the Kanto Champion explained. "But as per usual, he never even wrote us back! We're constantly doing stuff and it's extremely rare that he ever helps out. If it'd been up to him, I guess we'd have a Team Rocket member as a champion right now."

Steven leaned in closer and spoke quietly to Lance. "Keep your voice down." He motioned with his head to several people who were passing by in the lounge and appeared at least somewhat interested in listening to the champion's rant.

"Well, I don't think he wanted me to fail or anything," Ash replied. "I mean, he did send me this." Reaching at his belt, he pulled out the Master Ball. "This has to be some kind of present for winning."

The three champions' eyes shot wide as he enlarged the capsule.

"I-Is that a Master Ball?"

"Yeah! The night I won, I went to my hotel room and found it on my pillow with a short note. He said that he hoped I used it correctly."

The champions gathered around Ash and silently admired the object for several seconds.

"Amazing." Cynthia was the first to find her voice. "I can't believe he'd give anything like this away."

"I know," Lance agreed. The wonderment which adorned his tone gave away his admiration for the gift. "This is one unbelievable present."

"So what're you gonna catch with it?" Steven asked, grazing his hand over the orb.

"I dunno." Ash gave a shrug. "I mean, whatever it is, it'll have to be really hard to capture. One of these doesn't come along very often."

"I'll say." Cynthia, despite her normally cool presence, seemed ready to drool at the sight of the rare pokéball.

Ash suddenly remembered a question he'd had. "Why did he have one of these if they're so rare? I mean, doesn't Silph make pokéballs? Isn't it their decision who gets these?"

"Almost always it is," Lance answered, straightening back up, though still holding his gaze on the object. "I mean, Silph is a private company. However, every once in a while they'll create a pokéball, like the Master Ball, which could have serious repercussions if it fell into the wrong hands. The Pokémon League owns a large portion of Silph's stock, so we have a pretty big say in what pokéballs should be released to the public, and which ones shouldn't. Most of the time, the one's that shouldn't are just destroyed and their designs are put in the archives, but the Master Ball was an exception. Though we couldn't release it to the public, we realized it definitely had some potential in helping to capture extremely dangerous Pokémon, so we agreed that one person, the Master, should have these accessible to him or her at all times."

"So now it's kind of the Master's job to protect the world from a dangerously powerful Pokémon when and if it begins to rampage," Cynthia clarified. "Before, the Masters would have to do this by beating the Pokémon, but now they just have to catch them."

"Does that happen very often?" It seemed to Ash that if this were the case, then he shouldn't have had to do all that work in trying to save the world from Arceus, the Unown, and the several other legendary Pokémon he'd come across during his journeys.

"More often than you'd think. We try to keep those types of operations quiet from the media."

"So then he has as many of these as he wants?" Ash looked at the pokéball admiringly.

"Yep, and you will too after this is over with."

"But wait!" he cried with a start. "You guys said that Silph isn't allowed to sell any dangerous pokéballs. How is a Master Ball dangerous? It doesn't do anything bad to the Pokémon, does it?"

"No, it's not that," Steven began. "The problem is that if we allowed all trainers the ability to catch as many Pokémon as they wanted, it could do serious population damage. Imagine a world where every trainer, no matter how inexperienced, could instantly catch every Pokémon they'd come across. That would have terrible consequences for certain ecosystems which are carefully balanced between Pokémon and other species of animals."

"Right now, things are perfect the way they are," Lance continued. "Pokéballs and their counterparts are effective capturing tools, but only if the Pokémon are weakened first. This ensures that not just any unskilled trainer can come and completely deplete a habitat of its Pokémon. By the time most trainers _do_ have that ability, they're more mature and understand why they shouldn't anyway."

"If I were you, I'd save that for one of the rarest Pokémon you'll have to find that's on the list," Cynthia suggested. "Maybe a Lucario, for instance."

"Or a Dragonite."

"Or a Metagross."

After several more minutes passed, with each of the trainers taking turns at what rare, and possibly legendary, Pokémon Ash could capture with the expensive device, their conversation eventually returned to his victory over Paul.

"I definitely wanna say thanks again for helping me train. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have won that battle!"

"No problem," Steven answered. "Of course, next time a challenger comes along, you'll have to deal with them by yourself. Don't think this is a regular thing!"

Ash gave a small laugh at the light scolding. "I won't."

"And remember that we're due for a rematch soon!" Lance reminded, giving his counterpart a light punch on the shoulder. "I was going easy on you before, but next time you'll get a taste of my full power!"

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "You know you gave it everything you had. Maybe you should use more than just dragons all the time…you know, a little variety never hurt." Before he could respond, she turned to Ash. "And as for you, you're doing very well, Ash. Truthfully, when I left you that note, I was wondering whether or not you'd really follow through. The task of catching every Pokémon is pretty daunting to most people, and the fact that you're giving it your best, under a time limit no less, really speaks to your dedication. Steven's right, we won't always come to help you like we did this time, but know that if you're ever in trouble we'll be ready to help."

"Also, don't forget about our little invitation," Lance reminded, still giving Cynthia a murderous glare for her previous comment. "After this is all over, we'd love to add you to our team…whether or not you make it to Master status."

Giving another smile, Ash thanked them all once again before they walked out the lounge, arguing over the pros and cons of type specialization.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_There he is._

Sitting at the bar, Ash was leaning over the counter as he and Pikachu greedily devoured what appeared to be some kind of meat.

Giving a small chuckle, Misty walked over to the teenage boy and lightly tapped him on the shoulder.

Turning around, he jumped slightly upon seeing the redhead staring back at him with smiling eyes.

"Oh! Hey Misty! I was just gonna go look for you."

"Pikachu-pika!"

"Yeah, it looks like it." She was still smiling, but she gave him a knowing glance which spoke volumes.

"No, really," he insisted. "I was just having a small snack first." He grabbed one of the napkins next to his plate and wiped off his chin and mouth to the best of his ability. Misty didn't bother to tell him he still had a rather large slather of barbeque sauce on his right cheek when he finished his thorough scrubbing.

_It looks like he bathed himself in it._

"Why were you gonna go looking for me?"

"Um, well…" He cleared his throat. "I was wanting to talk with you about something."

Blushing, Misty looked at the ground as she gave the carpet a small kick with her left sneaker. "Actually, I was wanting to talk to you about something too."

"Really? Why don't you tell me what you wanted to say first, and then I'll tell you?"

"Why should I go first?"

"Uh, because I think what I wanna talk about is gonna be important." Misty instantly turned sour at the comment, and Ash backpedaled quickly. "I mean, I know that what you're gonna say is important too, but I just think that what I wanna talk about is going to be _more_ important."

Huffing, Misty assured him that whatever he wanted to discuss could not be nearly as vital as her topic. "It just seems smarter to get the small stuff out of the way first."

"But it's not small, Misty!"

"Well, it can't be as important as what I wanna say!"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Of course it _couldn't_ be as important as what you want to say. Trust me, I think I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, Ash. You can go second, but only if you tell me what it's about."

His cheeks became flushed at the challenge. "How about you tell me what you wanna talk about first? If I think it's more important, then you can go after me."

"Because I already asked you."

She had a point.

"Just tell me what the subject is, and then we can decide." She felt as if she were bargaining with a man about to jump off a building.

"Well…alright," he reluctantly agreed. Focusing on the ground, he gathered his nerve. "I-I wanted to talk about, uh, us."

_No way._

Misty's eyebrows shot up. "Um, what about us?"

"Hey! You said that I only had to tell you what it was I wanted to talk about. Now do you see why it's more important than whatever it was you wanted to say?"

"It is _not_ more important," she replied, angry that he'd think he had the better topic.

"Then what did _you_ wanna talk about?"

Now it was Misty's turn to look down as Ash's inquisitive glare met her nervous eyes. Taking a deep breath, she quietly murmured "the same thing".

His entire body stiffened at her words.

"I guess we had equally important stuff to talk about, huh?" she joked, hoping to ease the tension of the renewed awkwardness. She was beginning to grow sick and tired of these silent lapses between the two of them.

_What happened to when it was just fun to be around each other? Not always having to worry about saying the wrong thing?_

Giving a half-hearted chuckle, Ash agreed. "Do you wanna talk about this here, or somewhere else?" He only asked after seeing that several more strangers seemed fixated on his and the redhead's conversation. Though the ship was exclusively carrying "V.I.P."s, it was clear that many of these people wanted to know what the champion was doing with a different girl than the one they'd seen him kiss recently. There was nothing juicier than celebrity gossip.

"We probably should. Do you wanna go to your room or mine?"

"Mine's closer."

"Then let's go."

They both stood up, Pikachu jumping atop Ash's shoulder once again, and made their way to his room in relative silence. Walking through corridor after corridor, both began to prepare for the long conversation that certainly awaited.

_Just be calm, Ash. You've won championships, caught tons of awesome Pokémon, and even saved the world. This'll be a cinch._ Despite the pep-talk, his stomach clenched tighter as each second passed by.

Misty grit her teeth in determination. _You're strong and smart. Just remember that it's only Ash. This is the same guy who sent a Pikachu to battle an Onix for his first badge. He's not intimidating or scary…he's just Ash._

Before either knew it, they were standing in front of his door.

"Do you wanna unlock it?"

"Uh, oh yeah!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slide card for the door. With a small beep and a green flash, the lock unhinged itself, allowing the two entry.

Walking in, Misty didn't even take time to admire the lavishly decorated room he'd been provided, nor to scowl over the fact that he hadn't offered her the better quarters. Instead, she quickly made her way to the mini-fridge located next to his big-screen television and opened a bottle of mineral water. She was suddenly very hot.

"Could you get me one too?"

"Sure." She took another out and threw it to him, which he made clear he hadn't anticipated after fumbling with the plastic bottle in mid-air before allowing it to hit the soft carpet with a "thud".

"Whoops," he mumbled, bending down to grab the bottle. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten Pikachu was still on his shoulder, and the little mouse gave a squeal as he fell off of his trainer.

"Oh! Sorry about that Pikachu!"

"Pika-pika," the Pokémon forgave, wearily picking himself off the carpet and hopping atop the bed. He laid down and allowed his full stomach to process the half-rib he'd ingested downstairs as his master and friend began their conversation. Hopefully Ash knew what he was doing so things would go back to normal between the pair.

"He must be pretty full," she noted. "He's usually quick on his feet."

"He's just not used to Tauros meat, I guess. Pikachu usually just eat plants and stuff."

"I guess that makes sense." She was reaching for conversation here. "I mean, Pikachu are naturally forest-dwellers after all."

"Yep. Not many ribs in the forest I guess." Both gave some weak laughter to reinforce the poorly presented joke.

"So…"

"So…"

"Do you wanna start, or should I?"

"Well, I mean, how do we know what we wanna talk about? I mean, we know we want to talk about us, but what if it's about different things about, um, us?"

Misty blinked for a moment, trying to understand the question. "I-I guess we could just take turns saying what's on our minds?" It was amazing that she could be so headstrong ninety-nine percent of the time, and yet act so completely incompetent the other one percent. Where was her confidence?

"Alright. You start."

"No, you start."

_We've been over this before._

"No way, I think that-"

"Fine! I'll go ahead and start the stupid conversation!" The sudden outburst forced Ash to jump a little. "Seriously, we're not thirteen year old girls! We're supposedly adults! Since you're obviously having trouble grasping that concept though, I'll begin our little talk."

"Alright, s-sounds good." He was a little shaken by the small rant, but at the same time felt himself relax at the return of the old Misty's tone.

Fired up, she felt a little braver as she began. "I don't think that what we've been doing is any good for us. I mean, it's been fun, uh, you know, _doing_ that stuff and whatever, but I just don't think that, um, well, that we should, uh, keep…doing it?"

_Lost steam pretty quick._

"You don't want us to travel anymore?" This was news to Ash.

"What? No, no. That's not what I'm saying at all," she answered, shaking her head. Giving another sigh, she tried again. "Look, what I'm trying to say is that it's no good for us to just be kissing and stuff."

"It's not?"

"No! I mean, sure, it's really fun and exciting, and um…"

_What did I just say?_

"Well, it's not like we've kissed recently or anything," Ash reminded.

_Fifteen days to be exact._

"I know, but I, well, I know that you've been thinking about it."

He didn't respond, but instead gave the young woman a questioning stare.

"I mean, I'm sure you've thought about it at least as much as I have. After all, my sisters say that guys pretty much only think about girls, so, I mean, it's not really hard to believe you've been thinking about whether or not we were going to do it again."

"So you've been thinking about kissing too?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"And you thought it was fun?"

"Uh-huh."

"But you don't want us to do it anymore?"

"Um, no, I don't mean that."

"Then what are you talking about, Mist?" His voice was growing annoyed at the redhead's ambiguous replies.

"I guess what I'm saying…" Her voice died out as a small whimper escaped her throat in its stead. Why was this so difficult to bring up? "I guess I'm saying that I don't just wanna kiss and then act like nothing else is different."

"You want me to start acting different?"

"Kinda," she answered helpfully. "I mean, I don't want you to stop being who you are, but I think that our _relationship_ should change."

He cringed at the word. She _was_ thinking about the same thing. "Oh, so you want us to be _more_ than friends?"

Snapping her fingers, she replied with a happy "exactly". At last they were on the same page.

"I mean, we both like each other, right?"

"Yeah! I mean, I like you, definitely."

"Good, because I like you too, a lot." She saw his face turn red at the obvious news. "And I don't think that we should just keep acting like friends when we could be more."

"Me neither," he agreed happily. "So what _should_ we say we are?"

"Well, I guess we could say that we're, um, in a relationship?"

"You mean, like you're my girlfriend?" Ash almost wanted to laugh at the question. It was too absurd to think of Misty as anyone's _girlfriend. _Especially his.

"I think that's what we'd call it," she answered nervously. It was weird to hear Ash use the word to describe her. However, it certainly wasn't unpleasant.

_In fact, it feels kinda nice._

Wiping his forehead with the back of his palm, Ash gave her a small smile for the first time since they'd entered the room. "So then you're my girlfriend, and I'm your boyfriend?" It still sounded far too weird to say aloud. He stifled another potential laugh.

"Yeah, you're my boyfriend." She needed to hear herself say it before she could believe it had happened. The two had actually just maintained a semi-mature discussion about their relationship, and Ash Ketchum, master of being oblivious to all things not related to Pokémon, had agreed to become her boyfriend. She couldn't help the huge grin which graced her features.

"Um, so now what?" he asked after the two had stood and stared at each other for a good several seconds.

"Now that you're my boyfriend, I guess the next thing for us to do is for you to take me on a date," she replied with a shrug. "I mean, that's what my sisters' boyfriends always did."

"A date?"

"Uh-huh .You can take me to the movies, or a quiet candlelit dinner, or maybe on a romantic picnic-"

"But we're on a boat to Hoenn."

"So? Hoenn has nice places to go on dates, I'm sure."

"We're not going there for dates and stuff, though. We're going there so I can catch more Pokémon, remember?" His mom had warned him she may expect something like dates, but he'd assumed she meant after they'd completed their journey…not right in the middle of it.

"Of course I remember. That doesn't mean we can't take a break to enjoy each others' company…no matter how unpleasant yours can be sometimes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you can be a real jerk sometimes, Ketchum. We just decided that we're gonna be in a relationship, and all you can do is think about Pokémon training? The very least you can do is offer to take me somewhere nice to eat or something."

"But we go to eat all the time. Why does it have to be candlelit or a romantic picnic?"

She huffed in anger. "Because that's how it works, Ash. People who go on dates don't spend the whole time insulting each other over a plate of burgers and fries! You go to a nice, quiet, place and you say nice stuff to each other and have an expensive meal."

"I can't imagine you in a quiet place saying nice things for long." He grinned at the wittiness of his own insult.

"I can't imagine you using a fork, but if we're going on a date, then you better learn how!"

_Dang it, I had her._

"Fine," he answered. "I'll go on a date with you…but I'm not gonna wear a suit or something dumb like that!"

"You'll wear nice clothes because we'll be going to a nice restaurant," she informed. "I don't wanna look like my boyfriend's a hobo."

"I never look like a hobo."

"Says you." She stuck her tongue out, invoking a similar response from her companion.

* * *

Author's Notes: The truth is that I realize this chapter's significantly shorter than the last few. While I'd like to apologize for that, I really can't because I couldn't make it any longer. For a while, I considered just putting in a bunch of filler to make it 7,000 words (it's only a little over 6,000 now), but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I'm writing this story for your enjoyment, and I can't imagine that the filler I had in this chapter, which was neither important to the plot nor even entertaining, would have helped you savor the chapter anymore. However, the next installment does promise to be a long one, so keep your eyes peeled as Ash and Misty change their Facebook accounts to "in a relationship" and travel through Hoenn (guess which one's a joke).

Also, before I let you go, I'd like to say that I received a couple of reviews over the last couple of weeks from various readers which put me a little on edge. As many of you know, Pokémon Black and White is coming out soon with the new Isshu region. Of course, when it does, this story will no longer be canon, and as three readers reminded me, that will mean I'll have to make this story AU. While I basically told all the readers that what makes a story good is its writing, not its perfect relevance, I realized that many of my readers may not feel the same. If you think I should continue on this story in spite of its impending "lack of canon-ness", please tell me so in the reviews, and if you think I should wait to re-write it with Isshu included (which I'll just go ahead and warn would be quite a lot of work), then please tell me that too. As I always say, I'm writing this for y'all, and I certainly don't intend to continue if you guys would prefer a different kind of story.

Anyway, that's about it. To all the Americans out there, have a great Fourth of July! Go tar and feather some British people if you know any! (That's what we do in Texas, at least) To everyone else…um, well, have a good day, I guess.


	32. Preparations

**Hey Everybody!** Before I say anything else, I want to begin this chapter with a formal apology. I told all of my reviewers in my replies to their comments that I was going to have this chapter out by last Sunday. Unfortunately, over the last three weeks SO MUCH has happened. I originally was going to go into detail about my life, but then I realized I'm not that interesting, so instead I'm just going to give a quick list of the crazy stuff that's distracted me from the story recently: four day college orientation, rekindled an old flame, got a Texas driver's license, got a new pick-up truck, quit the old flame (again), stared at my handsomeness in the mirror for hours at a time, found a new congregation, placed out of twenty-five hours of college credit, saw "Despicable Me" with my sister, and killed a man with my bare hands. Okay, I admit one of those was a lie, but everything else happened. So yeah. In addition, right now I'm in a Best Western in Florida with my dad. We're going to the beach and Disney World this week before heading back to Texas. However, believe me when I say that chapter 33 will be published on time two weeks from now despite the short vacation.

Anyway, please enjoy this new installment and REVIEW after you finish reading!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

The alarm clock hit the floor, immediately startling the two awake.

"Ugh. There has to be an easier way."

"Pika-pika."

Ever so slowly, the trainer mustered the strength to get out of his bed and head to the bathroom. Brushing his teeth, he wondered if he _really_ needed to be getting up this early.

_After all, I could just get up at nine._ Even as he considered it, though, he knew it was impossible. He had plenty of things to get done today, and sleeping in would only hinder his chances of finishing on time.

Getting dressed quickly, he left the Pokémon Center which, like the surrounding buildings of Fortree, rested high in the air connected to one of the many towering trees. He slowly climbed down with Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Pikachu-pika."

"I'm _being_ careful, Pikachu. Don't worry."

Reaching the bottom, Pikachu jumped off the champion's shoulder, and the two began their "five in the morning ritual", which had become fairly routine over the last few weeks.

"Let's see what Pokémon I don't have from here yet." Opening the Pokédex, Ash chose his location, and then clicked the "Pokémon Available" button. A small pokéball began to spin in the middle of the screen for a moment as the miniature computer searched its memory for the data before a list popped up. Almost all of the Pokémon names on the list were highlighted blue, meaning he'd already captured them, but there was one left which had, up to this point, eluded him; a Tropius.

Clicking on the name of the Pokémon, a small picture appeared, along with a mechanical voice, informing the trainer that the flying and grass type was fairly rare in the wild, but had been known to nest along the outskirts of Fortree.

"It looks like this is the last one, Pikachu." He flipped the Pokédex closed and placed it back in his pocket. "This shouldn't take too long. Then we can get ready for Misty's birthday present."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"_You look beautiful tonight, Misty, my dear," Ash complimented as he held his hand out to pull her from the limousine. "The moon seems to reflect its majesty in your perfectly mixed aqua-green eyes."_

"_Thank you, Ash." She was blushing at the compliment…though she couldn't help but admit he was right. She _did_ look beautiful. Giving him a once-over, she was impressed to find that he too appeared impressive, wearing a tuxedo and the faintest hint of aftershave._

"_I was thinking that after our dinner, you might enjoy a carriage ride through the park? A night as beautiful as this one shouldn't be wasted indoors. At least, not with a girl who's beauty rivals that of all nature."_

"_I think that would be absolutely-"_

"And it looks like it's gonna be another beautiful April morning here in Fortree. The Taillow and Beedrill are singing, and the temperature's just perfect for a picnic! So get out there and start your morning-"

Misty's hand slapped against the alarm clock as she carefully raised her head from the pillow. At some point in the evening, she'd managed to roll onto her stomach, causing her neck to stiffen in its current uncomfortable position upon the pillow.

"It's seven already?" she asked to no one in particular. Looking at the clock, hoping she'd simply hallucinated the radio's alarm, she was disappointed to find that it was, indeed, time to wake up. She groggily stood up and stretched, feeling a satisfying "crack" as her back realigned itself from the awkward way it had been shaped during the night.

_I shouldn't even be doing this for him. He hasn't done what I wanted yet._ She gave Ash Ketchum several mental insults while dragging herself to the mirror to see how she looked as an eighteen year old. Unsurprisingly, little had changed from when she'd fallen asleep, besides her hair's desperate need of a brush. Sighing, she headed into the bathroom, cursing Ash again as she realized he was probably already gone.

_I bet he didn't even stay to say happy birthday! Why's he been so crazy lately?_

Ash had always been insanely obsessive about Pokémon since she'd first met him, of course, but over the last couple of weeks that obsession seemed to have multiplied. He'd be gone at the crack of dawn to look for new creatures, and he wouldn't come back until evening, completely exhausted. While she often admired how hard he was working, it was beginning to annoy her that he'd become such a workaholic. He'd been so busy that they'd still not gone on their date, which he'd promised weeks earlier.

_Well, kinda promised, anyway._

And today, her birthday of all days, she was positive he'd already run off again.

_He probably didn't even remember my birthday at all! _she realized angrily. Her face began to blush in rage as she combed down her shoulder-length fiery locks.

"Ow!"

_I shouldn't brush when angry._

Putting away the comb, she reached for a toothbrush.

_It would serve him right if I just stayed in bed all day!_

Despite her thoughts, though, she knew that wouldn't happen. She didn't know why, but he seemed to have a hold on her. She yelled, and even hit, but she couldn't really hurt the young champion. This was his dream, and she wanted to help him reach it.

_But why can't I have my dream too? Is a simple date too much to ask for!_

She went back into her room and hurriedly dressed into the clothes she'd prepared the night before.

Looking back in the mirror, she scowled, trying to practice for when she saw Ash again. He was going to be in so much trouble.

_I'd better get going._ Though she knew it was a long-shot, she decided to knock on the trainer's door before leaving the Center.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It's been three hours Pikachu! How have we not seen a single Tropius in three hours?"

"Pikachu." The small rodent shrugged, giving his master and friend a look of bewilderment.

"I mean, I know they're rare, but they're not extinct!" the champion continued, pushing past another thick bush as they made their way through the extensive forest. "We should've run into one by now!"

"Pikachu!" The yellow mouse pointed in the air excitedly in response.

"Yeah, Pikachu, they fly. I already know that, but I haven't seen any on the land or in the air yet, so-"

"Pika-pikachu!" The rodent shook his head and pointed at the sky once again. Noticing the peculiarity of his movement, Ash followed his pointing finger's direction in the sky.

Through the thick foliage overhead, he could make out the shape of a large flying Pokémon.

"I wonder…" he muttered, reaching for the Pokédex. Pointing it at the sky, in the general direction of the shadowed Pokémon which slowly soared above them, he flipped it open. After a second of inaction the small device gave a "ping" and came to life.

"Tropius, the Fruit Pokémon," the mechanized voice informed. "The fruit that grows around its neck is sweet and popular with children. It flies by flapping the large leaves on its body."

Closing the device, Ash grinned. "Let's go!" he ordered giving chase as the shadow continued forward.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What a good for nothing little punk moron…" Misty muttered as she stomped around the forest. She continued to curse under her breath as she looked for a Tropius which, according to Ash's list, was the last Pokémon they needed to find before they'd, no doubt, get back in the car and drive to some other city to look for other creatures. "What a great birthday I get to have. Walking around in the forest talking to myself and looking for a giant, living banana tree."

"Psyduck," the water type replied, escaping from his capsule and instantly grabbing his head.

"What? No Psyduck, I'm really not in the mood to talk with you right now. Can you get back in your pokéball?"

The duck Pokémon simply turned his head and stared at the young woman in confusion. "Psy?"

"When do you evolve and become useful, again?" At this point, she had serious doubts about her headache-ridden friend _ever_ making it to his more useful stage.

"Duck."

"I'm sorry." She bowed her head, ashamed that she'd be mean to something so oblivious as her Pokémon. It wasn't his fault that he was even more dense than Ash. "I shouldn't be taking my anger out on you like that."

"Psyduck-duck." He seemed to agree with her, though she couldn't really tell.

She sat on a nearby boulder which, conveniently, was tall enough to double as a small chair. Looking over at the yellow Pokémon, she sighed and gave a shrug. _This is the closest I'll get to a couple's therapist, I guess._

"I just don't know what's been up with Ash lately. I mean, we say we're gonna be boyfriend and girlfriend, but then nothing happens. He seems preoccupied all the time, and we haven't kissed or even talked about the date we were supposed to go on!"

"Psyduck," the Pokémon replied ambiguously. He turned his head to the other side.

_That's something, at least._

"I know this is important to him, but if he's not going to take our relationship as seriously as he does his training and catching, then how can we stay like this? I don't want to always be second to going out and capturing new Pokémon, you know?"

"Duck."

"See? You understand! Even on my birthday he doesn't wait to say good morning to me. It's like now that we've admitted we like each other, he wants to spend even less time together than before! Do you think…do you think it was a mistake to start this whole thing in the first place?"

"Psy-psyduck."

Shrugging, she reached for his pokéball. "Thanks, but I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet. Come back into your pokéball for now." As the creature returned in a beam of red light, she began to ponder her own question. Were she and Ash really supposed to be together?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"No, wait!" Ash cried before running into yet another tree. The Tropius he and Pikachu had stumbled upon was apparently quite mischievous. After discovering that she was being tracked by the two, she'd begun to fly closer to the ground, zigzagging between the trees and shrubbery with excellent precision while consistently dodging each of the electric type's attacks.

"That's going to hurt tomorrow," he moaned, getting up and rubbing his forehead. However, he was determined to make this Pokémon his own. He began sprinting through the forest again, Pikachu leading him as they winded through the natural maze. He was barely able to keep the flying Pokémon within his line of vision.

"We've gotta slow it down, Pikachu," he panted. "Try another Thunderbolt!"

"Pika-chuuu!" Another zap went flying by as the Pokémon lifted itself higher and dodged the assault.

"Dang it!" The mobility of the large creature was surprising, to say the least. "We've gotta try something else."

"Pika-pika," the electric Pokémon agreed, quickly running out of breath like his friend. They'd been sprinting for over ten minutes, and the strain was beginning to take its toll.

_I can't have Pikachu use Agility because of all the trees, but I can't keep running like this. I need some way to slow her down._

Suddenly, an idea struck the young champion as his right arm grazed over his pokéballs.

_Of course!_

Reaching for a small capsule, he enlarged it and gave it a toss. "Go Scizor!"

The red bug and steel type emerged and immediately began running alongside her master, giving him a questioning glance. "Sciz?"

"We're trying to catch that Tropius!" he explained, jumping around another tree and momentarily losing sight of his prey. "I need you to use Agility and start cutting down all the trees! Get in front of her and block her path so we can catch up!"

Giving a nod, Scizor burst forward in a flash of light, downing several trees instantaneously as they crossed her path.

_Tropius will just try to fly above them, _Ash realized, dropping the small grin he'd acquired from admiration of his own intelligence. If the land route was blocked, and the Pokémon simply flew away, there was no way he and Pikachu could continue to give chase. He wracked his brain as he watched Scizor take the lead and begin to cut down several trees in front of the flying and grass type.

"Hoot!" cried a small owl Pokémon from above. Ash's eyes grew wide in response.

"I know what to do!" he informed Pikachu, who wheezed happily in response. "Come on out, Swablu!"

"Bluuuu!" sang the blue and white feathered creature happily, giving a somersault as he was freed from the spherical device.

"Swablu, I need you to fly ahead of that Pokémon and keep it from escaping." As Ash gave the order, he pointed ahead at the Tropius, who had almost nowhere left to go because of the fallen trees which completely blocked her path.

"Swablu!" With a few flaps of his small appendages, the cotton bird Pokémon rose high into the air and soared ahead of Pikachu and Ash. As they neared the large clearing which Scizor had created, Ash watched on as Tropius did exactly as he'd expected. With no where left to go near the land, the large Pokémon began to lift her large body into the air using leaf-like wings.

"Swablu, use Mist!" Ash ordered, finally able to stop and catch his breath as he stood directly beneath the two flying types. He reached for his pokéball and returned Scizor, who'd depleted all of her energy trying to cut down the surrounding trees.

"Swab!" Opening her small beak, she released a large amount of crystallized vapor into the air. Using her small wings, she directed the vapor in the direction of the fleeing Tropius.

"Tropius!" the Pokémon cried, unable to see through the moisture. From his vantage spot, Ash could tell that the Pokémon was uncertain about which direction to go.

Motioning to the confused grass and flying type, he continued with his plan. "Now use Sing!"

"Swablu-blu, swab-swab…" the Pokémon chirruped from the sky. Despite his distance from the two fighting creatures, Ash still couldn't help but yawn at the sound of the melody. Unfortunately, the Tropius was more determined than he'd first anticipated. In the middle of his song, Swablu was cut off by a large beam of green light which shot out of the cloud in a flash.

"Blu!" he cried, his wing severely injured, as he began to spin slowly towards the earth.

"Oh no," Ash muttered. Returning his tired flying Pokémon, he gave it a quick thanks before ordering Pikachu to follow up with a Thunderbolt.

With a small roar, Piakchu unleashed another bolt of electricity, but this time made contact with the flying type. As the electricity surged through her body, the Tropius was forced to lose some altitude and gave a small cry of pain. Looking down, she gave a strong flap of her four wings, creating a strong gust of air which struck Pikachu into the ground.

"Chuuu," the Pokémon cried, taken by surprise. Getting back up, he locked back onto his opponent before giving another shot.

"Tropius," the Pokémon cried, seemingly laughing at the failed attempt as she rolled out of the way. Her wings grew bright and in an instant she shot another Solarbeam from her jaw.

"Watch out!"

"Pikachu!" With all the strength he could muster after so much running, the small electric Pokémon used Agility to get out of the way of the incoming attack. The assault hit the dirt hard, and caused a plume of soil and leaves to rise up in its wake.

Coughing, Ash ordered Pikachu to keep its eye on Tropius.

"Pika-chuuuuu!"

_I wonder if he hit,_ Ash thought as he covered his eyes and tried to make his way through the seemingly endless cloud of dirt.

Another Solarbeam attack which barely missed the young champion answered his question.

"Hang on, Pikachu! I'm almost there!" He began to run as the cloud grew thin. Above, he could see the Tropius getting higher and further away.

"Ivysaur, grab 'er with your vines!"

In another flash of light, the grass and poison type emerged and gave a low growl as his vines shot out. Eyeing the area carefully, he quickly found his target and willed his extended members in the direction of Ash's target. Though Tropius was at least a hundred feet in the air, Ivysaur's vines were twice as long as they'd been in his pre-evolved state, and he easily grabbed a hold of the flying type's back legs. However, the flying type continued to move forward with all the strength she could muster, causing Ivysaur to dig deeply into the ground with his paws. He tried to backpedal, but it was clear that he was on the losing side of the two's small tug-of-war.

"Hang in there Ivysaur!" Ash commanded, running behind the Pokémon and pulling backward on the stem of his flower to help his friend resist the pull of the Tropius. Despite their combined strength, though, both continued to move forward as their feet scraped against the dirt below.

"Pika-pikachu!" The small mouse ran up behind Ash and used all of his strength to pull on the teenager's jeans' leg.

Suddenly, Tropius lurched forward, and Ash heard the Pokémon give a cry as Ivysaur's short legs were lifted off the ground.

"Uh, oh."

Not a second later, he felt his own legs begin to dangle from the forest floor.

"Hold on tight, Pikachu!" The small mouse gave up on pulling the two back, and instead clung tightly to his friend's pants leg.

As they slowly ascended, Ash noticed they were dangerously nearing some treetops.

"Ivysaur, pull us up closer with your vines!"

"Saur!" grunted the Pokémon, using all of his strength to pull all three of them closer to Ash's prey. The trainer's leg barely brushed against a couple of the tall Oak Trees before his grass and poison type managed to lift them higher. Looking up, he saw they'd halved the distance between themselves and the Tropius.

"Awesome job, Ivysaur! Now try to hit her with a Razor Leaf!"

Giving another grunt, the Ivysaur shot dozens of sharp-edged leaves at his opponent, grabbing the Tropius' attention once again. Turning her long neck back to face the pests, she quickly shot off another Solarbeam. The attack barely missed, and as it blazed by, Ash covered his eyes to protect himself from the brightness.

"We need to get closer so she can't do that."

"Ivysaur." His trusted friend and Pokémon gave a nod before pulling Ash to within five feet of the flying creature. Though Ivysaur was panting hard from the effort, he seemed determined to hold on, and Ash's heart swelled with pride at the strength of his comrade.

"You're almost done, buddy." He gave the grass type a small pat on the head before looking down to Pikachu, who was watching the distant ground apprehensively. "Get up on my shoulder, Pikachu!"

"Pika," replied the Pokémon, quickly scurrying up his friend's back.

"Get ready to jump!" His voice was hoarse as he tried to yell above the boom of another Solarbeam which flared overhead. "When we get on top, you'll need to give 'er one good Thunderbolt!"

"Pikachu!" answered the electric Pokémon with a thumbs-up.

Ash slowly edged himself around Ivysaur's flower, from the back to the front, and grabbed a hold of the plant as he leaned forward, preparing to make the small jump. Despite the short distance, the altitude at which he was leaping still caused his heart to beat rapidly as the wind beat against his eardrums.

_It's now or never._

"Let's do it!" he cried, releasing his strong grip on Ivysaur and jumping onto Tropius' back.

"Tropius!" cried the Pokémon, apparently surprised by the newfound weight on her back. She began to buck about mid-air in an attempt to rid herself of the trainer and his Pokémon. However, Ash quickly scrambled up her back and wrapped his arms around the Pokémon's long neck. Closing his eyes, he held on tight.

"Oh no you don't!" he cried as his body bounced up and down against the grass and flying type's back.

"Chu!" squealed his friend, holding on tightly to his master's collar as he bounced around.

"We've got her, Pikachu!" Ash cried happily as the bucking died off. It was as if the Tropius had given up on ridding herself of the extra weight. "Return, Ivysaur!"

As they continued sailing through the air, Ash looked over at his loyal Pokémon and flashed a grin. "Alright, buddy!"

"Pika-pika!"

With a small cry, the electric mouse jumped atop the grass Pokémon's head and unleashed a Thunderbolt which, unfortunately, coursed through both his opponent's and friend's bodies due to their contact.

"Ahhhhh!" Ash cried, in unison with Tropius, as the three began to lose altitude immediately. Though Pikachu had managed to stop the attack the second he realized his opponent was not the only victim of the electrical assault, Ash had still been fairly surprised by the attack, and he almost appeared unconscious as Tropius began a nosedive toward a clearing in the forest below.

"Pikachu!" the small mouse cried, clinging tightly onto the flying Pokémon's head as the ground grew nearer.

"Huh? Ah!" Ash's response was almost instantaneous as he awoke from the semi-comatose state. Acting on impulse, he reached for Swablu's pokéball. "Save us!"

As the blue Pokémon emerged, Ash tightened his grip on the Tropius. "Grab my collar!" he ordered, indicating the top of his shirt.

Though tired, the cotton bird Pokémon didn't hesitate as he clipped Ash's shirt with his small claws and began flapping rapidly. As they came within about twenty feet of the forest floor, Ash began to notice a small sag in the rate of their fall as he continued to scream alongside Pikachu and Tropius.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It's almost been an hour! Where could a Tropius be?" Misty peered around a small bush, unsure of where the elusive Pokémon could be found. "Knowing Ash, there are probably Tropius in Sinnoh and he just read the map wrong." Snorting at her own joke, she continued on before halting in her tracks.

"Ahhhhh!"

"What was that?" She instinctively reached for Starmie's pokéball. "W-Who's there?"

Silence.

Misty continued to hold onto the capsule as she carefully took several steps forward. There appeared to be a clearing in the distance, and it sounded as if a person had just been seriously injured, but she was weary to find who it was.

_Did Team Rocket follow us out here?_

Continuing forward with apprehension, she listened attentively, but could only hear a couple of moans from beyond the shrubbery veiling the open space.

Reaching the brush, she peered carefully through, looking to find the source of the commotion. Scanning the area, her eyes grew wide in recognition.

"Ash? What're you doing?" She stepped forward, bewilderment apparent in her expression as she examined the young champion. His clothes were completely torn up, his body appeared covered in dirt, and it looked as if Pikachu had given him a good shock or two. To his right, Pikachu and a Tropius laid on their backs, breathing hard and appearing quite battered, and to his left, his new Swablu was quietly murmuring its name while holding his left wing delicately. Around the entire group were several broken tree limbs and newly-fallen leaves.

Opening his eyes, he appeared dazed as a low moan escaped his lips. She bent over and gave him a quick slap before repeating the question.

"Gee, thanks for the help," he muttered, rubbing his sore cheek. Leaning on his elbow and looking around, he jumped at the sight of the Tropius. "I've been trying to catch her all morning! Stand back Misty!" Staggering to his feet, his eyes wide with lunacy and desperation, he reached behind his back for a new pokéball. After a moment, though, his face fell.

"What's the matter? Catch her!"

"Um, well, I can't." Despite the soil covering his face, Misty could still see his face grow red.

Misty furrowed her brow. "Why not? She's obviously injured!"

"I know that! It's just that I…forgot to bring a pokéball."

For a moment Misty simply stared. "You mean you got up early and went through all of this trouble, just to find out that you forgot to bring a pokéball with you after you beat the Pokémon?"

"Kinda," he answered sheepishly.

Groaning, Misty rolled her eyes. Digging into her khaki shorts pocket, she retrieved a small pokéball and dropped upon the still-fainted Tropius. "There you go," she remarked as the center button almost instantly faded to white.

"Thanks, Mist. It sure was lucky that you were out here!"

"Yeah, lucky," she responded, unable to stop the sarcasm. "Without me, you'd have had to lug that huge Pokémon on your back to the Center!"

"I guess," he mumbled, dusting himself off before thanking and returning Swablu. He gently bent down and picked Pikachu up as well. "I need to drop these guys off at the Pokémon Center before I go…um, do some errands."

"Errands? What do you have to do?"

"Just have to get some stuff," he replied vaguely. Looking himself over, he gave her a weak smile. "Of course, I might need to wash up first. Do you know which way the Pokémon Center is from here?"

"Of course I know. Unlike you, I have a _great_ sense of direction."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Two hours later, the teens finally stumbled through the entrance of the Pokémon Center.

"Great sense of direction, huh?"

"Shut up." He'd been making fun of her for the entire trip, and she was getting close to slapping him again.

"I'm just saying that when I know where something is, it usually takes a little less time," he explained as he placed the three pokéballs and Pikachu on Nurse Joy's counter. He turned and gave a smug look at his redheaded counterpart. "You shouldn't act like a know-it-all unless you actually know something."

"You shouldn't open your mouth again unless you want me to shut it for you," she threatened darkly, glaring at the teenage boy.

Giving a small gulp, Ash smiled at her nervously. Knowing Misty, that was no idle threat. "I-I'm just kidding with you, Mist. Y'know, like we always do?"

Her expression softened a bit. "Yeah, I know. I'm just not in much of a joking mood right now."

"Oh…alright," he answered with a shrug. "I'm gonna go take a shower and then go do my errands." He began to walk to his room.

"Hey Ash."

"Yeah?" He turned around. "What is it, Mist?"

"I was just wondering if you knew what today was?"

For a moment his mouth opened, and she could have sworn that he was going to give the correct answer. However, a mysterious expression set over his features a second later and he locked his jaw closed. "Hmmmm, I dunno, Misty," he relented after a quiet second. "It's Tuesday, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's Tuesday." She gave a small sigh. "See you in a little while, Ash."

"See ya." He went inside his room and congratulated himself on his great acting abilities.

Misty, on the other hand, stormed off to her room in a huff and slammed the door. Falling backward upon the twin-size bed in the room's corner, she stared at the ceiling and began to wonder why she'd done this. Why had she made Ash Ketchum her boyfriend? The one guy in the world who'd give up air to see a Ho-oh?

She remembered what he'd told Dawn almost a month earlier:

"_She's always there cheering me on and trying to make me a better trainer and person. She's been like that since I first met her, and she's kind of a big reason for why I've made it so far as a trainer."_

Was that it? Was she only an inspiration to him, like a good luck charm? And what about her? Just because she thought he looked really handsome and she'd had a huge crush on him years ago, did that qualify as a proper foundation for a relationship? It was true that what really attracted her to the champion was his boyish charm. Even in the worst predicament, he could still smile, and he'd almost always find a way out of the trouble he'd gotten into.

_That boyish charm might be the problem, though, _she realized. _He's still like a little kid. He doesn't wanna go on dates or talk about the future. He's just interested in Pokémon!_

In fact, the only true semblance of a relationship that she and Ash possessed between themselves was the fact that they occasionally kissed. Though being romantic seemed to fly over his head constantly, it was quite obvious that he'd taken a strong liking to any physical interaction with the young woman.

_In fairness, I'm don't exactly hate it._ She blushed lightly as her lips tingled at the memory of his. Despite the heat rising in her face though, she shook her head and determined to stay focused. The kissing might not be bad, but everything else about their relationship at the moment was.

_We're gonna have to have another talk about this. _She huffed angrily again as the thought crossed her mind. They'd _already_ talked about this weeks ago, and she'd thought they'd cleared everything up. How many times would she have to remind Ash that she was his girlfriend and he needed to treat her with romantic interest; not just childish back-and-forth?

_Is it really worth it to try and be the girlfriend of a guy who doesn't have a single romantic bone in his body?_

She gave another small sigh at the question. She hated herself for even wondering such a thing, especially after al she did to get him in the first place, but she couldn't help but consider that perhaps this was a "the grass is always greener" scenario. Since she was twelve, she'd imagined how romantic it would be to have a boyfriend like Ash. Someone who was famous, loved Pokémon, and had even saved the world. Now that she had him, though, she was beginning to see the pitfalls of such a romance.

A knock on the door scared her out of her thoughts.

"Um, Ms. Waterflower?" Nurse Joy's voice called through the door. "I'm sorry to bother you, but someone's on the phone. Can you come and talk?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," she replied, getting out of bed. Who could that be? She hadn't had time to tell anyone where she and Ash were in the last couple of weeks, and it was hard to believe that her sisters were so determined to wish her a happy birthday they'd called every Pokémon Center in Hoenn.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Thanks, Ma," Ash said as Nurse Joy went to get Misty. "I think she's starting to get a little suspicious about my errands, so I just need you to talk to her for a while and keep her busy until I can leave the Center. After that, you can say you've got a flower shop emergency or something."

"No problem, dear." Delia gave her son a smile. "I'm so proud of you for doing all of this for her birthday! This is such a cute idea!" She gave a small squeal as Ash rolled his eyes.

"It's not cute-" He cut himself off as he saw Misty come out of her room. "I gotta go, Ma. I'll talk to you in a little while."

"Okay hon. I love you!"

"Love you too, Mom." He quickly stood and faced Misty. "I was just saying hi to her. She called to wish you a happy birthday and talk about something."

"Alright," Misty answered, a little curious. What could Ms. Ketchum want to discuss with her?

"I'll see ya later, Mist!" He ran out the door in the blink of an eye, leaving the teenage girl and his mother alone in the lobby. Misty stared awkwardly at the screen for a moment before snapping from her reverie and giving Delia a big grin.

"Hey Mrs. Ketchum!" She took a seat in front of the small videophone. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, dear," she answered with a smile. "Happy birthday!"

"Thank you so much! That was really sweet of you to call! Not even my sisters know where I am, so I was surprised to hear that anyone wanted to talk on the phone."

"Well, Ash's locator is still on his Pokédex, so it's easy for me to catch him when I need to." Delia gave a sly grin and wink. "Don't tell him I still haven't deactivated it yet, though. When he turned fourteen he got all mad, so I told him I'd quit spying."

Misty laughed. How could Ash think his mother, one of the most protective women in the world, would allow him to wander the globe with no idea of where he was at fourteen? "Of course I won't tell! I think that's smart."

"So do I," Delia agreed with another wink.

"So, Ash told me you wanted to talk about something?"

"He did?" Delia appeared momentarily thrown by the new topic, but quickly regained her composure. "I mean, of course he did! I was actually wanting to talk with you for a couple of minutes about how things are going in Hoenn. You know how Ash is. He could be in the middle of a tornado and still tell me that everything's fine."

She nodded in agreement. "He does seem to look on the bright side a lot. Well, I guess everything is going good here. We've managed to catch all the Pokémon he's needed a lot quicker than he planned, so-"

"Actually, I wasn't really talking about his Pokémon catching," Delia interrupted. "I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to cut you off, but what I was really curious to hear about was how things are between the two of you? I mean, is my son the perfect little gentleman I always raised him to be?"

"Uh, well, yeah." She was a little surprised to be discussing the topic with Ash's _mother_ of all people. In fact, she'd begun to fear that Mrs. Ketchum would grow to dislike her for "stealing her son" or something along those lines. It certainly would have been in-character for such an attached parent like Delia. However, her concern over Ash's behavior seemed to indicate she harbored no such disdain. "He's been very nice since we decided to be, um, in a relationship, I guess?"

Delia gave the girl a small grin. "It's hard to say still?"

"A little."

"I can imagine. You two spent so long pretending to _not_ care for each other, it'll be a while before it feels natural, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I guess so." She chuckled nervously. For a moment she felt the temptation to tell Delia about Ash's problems as a boyfriend, but quickly stopped herself.

_She doesn't want to hear why Ash is a bad boyfriend._

"Are you sure everything's alright Misty?" Delia narrowed her eyes suddenly, still smiling. Despite the fact that she was simply looking at the redhead through the lens of a video camera, Misty could still feel the strong gaze penetrate her shaky smile. "You seem a little upset."

_How could she know that?_

"No, I'm fine, really."

"Okay, but I really get the feeling that something's bugging you."

_Maybe she really_ is_ psychic._

"No, it's nothing important."

"But there is a problem, right?" Delia gave a knowing glance, and Misty fought the urge to cover her mouth.

_Did I mean to say that?_ Admittedly, Misty would like to talk to someone besides Psyduck about her romantic problems. _But should I really discuss it with his mother?_

"If you don't feel comfortable discussing it with me, then you don't have to." Delia frowned and gave Misty a serious look. "But please remember that I'm always here if you'd like some motherly advice."

"Well…" Misty held her breath for a moment, mulling the idea over. "Alright." It would be nice to get some feedback from a truly mature woman like Mrs. Ketchum. Also, though she'd never admitted it, she had always considered Ash's mother to be a type of stepmother to her as well after all the times she'd gone to visit the Ketchum household; even when she was no longer travelling with the trainer.

"Good!" Delia's mood picked up instantly as she smiled cheerily. "Now what's the matter?"

"Well, it kinda has to do with Ash."

"I figured it might."'

"Yeah, it's nothing big or anything, but, um…"

"But you're still bugged by it."

"Right! I mean, it's just that nothing has really changed between us since we decided that we were gonna be boyfriend and girlfriend. We still go around catching Pokémon and getting into stupid fights and everything."

Delia nodded. "You don't want to fight with Ash anymore, right?"

"No, actually, that's not the problem," Misty answered, wracking her brain for words to describe what she was feeling. "Believe it or not, I kinda enjoy the teasing and all that. I don't know why, but I guess because we've always done that, and I know that when we're fighting it's never really serious. It's just us doing what we've always done."

"That makes sense, but it doesn't explain why you're upset."

"Well, I like the little fights and everything, but I mean _nothing_ else has changed. I told him that we were gonna have to do relationship stuff like go on dates, but he hasn't even treated me to a hamburger yet!"

Ash's mother began to smile. "I get it now. You want to do the things that everyone else does, like holding hands and going on picnics, and all that other fun stuff."

"Exactly! But Ash doesn't want to do any of it. Today's my birthday and he left before the sun came up! We spent two hours looking for the Pokémon Center and he didn't wish me a happy birthday or anything. He's just too wrapped up in his training, and I'm starting to wonder…"

"If maybe you shouldn't have become his girlfriend?" Delia's voice was etched in sympathy, and Misty didn't fear her reaction when she nodded.

"I really like him, Mrs. Ketchum," Misty continued, beginning to feel a small lump in her throat, "but I don't want to be second to Pokémon training the whole time we're in a relationship!"

"Well, first, I can't tell you what to do, obviously, but I would say that you need to give it just a little more time before you do or say anything too rash. You really like Ash, don't you?"

"Of course!"

"Then just give him another chance. You're right that he's distracted right now, but I think he might just surprise you yet with his thoughtfulness." Misty staved off the instinctive urge to roll her eyes.

_Ash being romantic _would_ be a surprise._

"But if you're having serious doubts," Delia continued, noting the lack of confidence in the gym leader's eyes, "then you need to discuss them with Ash. It's not fair to either of you for you to be miserable and not allow him to know."

Misty agreed. "I should talk to him about it. Maybe when he hears my side he'll stop being so thoughtless."

"Less thoughtless, anyway."

For a moment, Misty gaped at Delia, surprised by the quick-witted jab at her own son.

"What? I'm allowed to make a couple of Ash jokes too, right? I _am_ his mother after all."

Misty broke into a fit of laughter at the statement, and Delia soon joined in.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ugh, this is taking forever!"

"Mr. Ketchum, don't you want to look good on your date?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then you need to be _patient_." The elderly woman put special emphasis on the last word as she pointed a threatening finger at the champion. "A good suit is like hidden treasure; very hard to find, but completely worth the wait when it's discovered."

"I'm just saying that I really liked that blue suit earlier."

The woman took off her glasses and shook her head. "Young men typically don't understand. That suit looked fine…but not on you."

"I just want to give you guys my money and leave. Can I do that?"

"Not until I get your measurements."

"But you've measured my arms and legs a thousand times already!"

The woman gave the champion a stern glare. "Do not exaggerate. It's not healthy. Also, I have measured your arms and legs, but I haven't checked your waist yet." She pulled out the now-dreaded yellow measuring tape and wrapped it around the young man. Leaning down, she examined the number before giving a low hum. "You're too skinny. You should eat more."

Rolling his eyes, Ash assured the woman that he ate many times a day.

"Well, it's obvious you need to eat more," she explained, mercifully putting away the tape once again as she looked through a nearby rack of blazers. "Ah! Here we are! This color would be perfect on you!"

"It looks like the brown one from earlier."

She scowled. "That was _not_ a brown blazer you tried on earlier! It was mahogany. This-" she lifted the new jacket in front of his face for emphasis "-is ochre, and I think it would go nicely with your brown eyes."

"They're not brown, they're mahogany." He couldn't help but laugh at his own wit.

"Shush." She gave the champion a slap on the arm, immediately eliciting a howl.

"That hurt!"

"I saw you get smacked with a Zap Cannon on television. I highly doubt a slap is worse than that."

"Still hurt though," he mumbled to himself. Too bad Pikachu wasn't here to comfort him.

_He probably would've sided with the old lady anyway, _he realized with a touch of bitterness. Pikachu _always_ seemed to side with girls when they argued with Ash.

"Try this on with these slacks and these loafers." The woman shoved all of the clothing into his arms at once, catching him off-guard. "When you're done, come out and show me how it looks and we can check you out if everything fits right."

"Yes ma'am."

He went into the dressing room for what felt like the hundredth time. After he put on the "ochre" blazer and matching slacks along with the black loafers, he walked out of the cramped room and back to the suit section, where the old woman was busily folding new button-up shirts.

"What do you think?"

She eyed him up and down before giving a big smile. "I think it looks absolutely wonderful on you! See? What did I tell you? It's like finding a hidden treasure!"

"Yeah…that's exactly what it's like." As he looked in a full length mirror to his right, though, he couldn't help but admire the new clothing. He wasn't keen on keeping up with fashion, but the suit _was_ pretty good looking.

_Misty'll be impressed I bought such a great suit on my own._

"Also, take this white shirt and red tie to go with it." She shoved the other articles into his arms.

_Well, almost on my own, anyway._

After thanking the woman and paying, Ash quickly ran out the door and ran across the bridge which connected the tree holding the store to his next destination; the restaurant.

Walking through the glass door of the "Treetop Delight", Ash heard a small bell tingle and he was immediately confronted by a waiter wearing an apron.

"I'm sorry sir, but we're not open right now," explained the young man. In the dim light of the romantic eatery, Ash thought he looked younger than himself. "We are only open for supper, and that's only if you have a reservation."

"Uh, yeah, actually I wanted to make a reservation for me and my, uh, my, um-"

"Girlfriend, sir?"

"Yeah! That!"

He stepped behind a podium which rested directly in front of the door and squinted down at a large book. "And what day would you like to reserve a table for?"

"Tonight?"

Inexplicably, the waiter broke out into a raucous laughter. Some of the other workers inside glanced over at him, curious about the sudden outburst. Speaking between breaths, he explained that the Treetop Delight normally required a reservation two or three weeks ahead of time.

"What? But the guide said this is one of the most romantic places to eat in all of Hoenn! I practically killed myself to get here in time for my girlfriend's birthday!"

"Why didn't you make a reservation on the phone then?"

For a moment, Ash considered the question before he slapped himself on the forehead. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"If it's any help, I could try and squeeze you into a slot for next month," the waiter added helpfully. Though Ash had never been the most astute study of human behavior, he could swear there was a hint of malicious sarcasm in the waiter's tone. "Or you could come back next time your girlfriend has a birthday?"

"I don't think so," Ash replied, turning away.

_How could I have been so dumb? I'm the Sinnoh Champion, but I can't even remember to-_

He turned around, a smile permeating his features. Striding confidently back up to the waiter, who was busy sorting menus, he gave the man a tap on the shoulder.

"Yes?"

"How long do champions need to wait for a reservation?"

"Pokémon League champions? I dunno. Why do you care?"

"My name's Ash Ketchum, and I'm the Sinnoh League Champion." Ash reached into his pocket and flipped open his Pokédex, verifying his identification. Despite the mood lighting, he could see the waiter's stunned expression as he jumped slightly.

"Uh, M-Mr. Ketchum, um, I'm _so_ sorry for my rudeness. We have a special wing for our more…_cultured_ guests. Would a table at eight be to your liking?"

Though he was momentarily tempted to refuse, Ash's good nature got the better of him.

_He's embarrassed enough._

"That'd be great. Thanks!"

"No problem, sir. Let me just pencil you in." He walked back to the large book and scribbled the champion's name onto the page. "There you are. Please enjoy your meal this evening."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_Let's hope this works._

Ash took a deep breath and knocked on Misty's door.

"One second!"

The sound of locks being unhinged rang from behind the barrier, and a moment later Misty appeared, a surprised expression donning her expression. "Oh, Ash! Hey! I thought you might be Nurse Joy telling me someone else had called."

"Nope. It's just me." Ash gave a small laugh and shrugged. Misty joined in before falling silent.

"Listen, Misty, I wanted-"

"One second, Ash," she interrupted, holding up her hand. "I have something that I need to get off my chest."

"Um, alright." He wasn't expecting this.

"Do you wanna come in for a minute?" She motioned to several trainers who were gawking at the champion from afar, clearly desiring to speak with him. "It seems like it's getting a little crowded out here."

"Yeah." He walked in and sat next to the redhead on her bed. "So what did you need to tell me?"

She began twiddling her thumbs, but looked him straight in the eye as she began. "Ash, today I realized that maybe you don't need a girlfriend."

Ash's eyes grew wide as he registered what she said.

_This is a joke, right?_

"Don't get me wrong. I really like you and would absolutely love to be your girlfriend, but I just don't know if that's ever going to happen. It seems like you're just too busy becoming the Master to worry about girls and dates and all the stuff that's important to have in a relationship."

He couldn't close his mouth he was in such shock.

"What do you mean you would love to _be_ my girlfriend? You _are_ my girlfriend."

"But we're not doing any of the stuff that couples do. I talked to your mom earlier today, and-"

"Wait, you talked to my _mom_?"

"Yeah, when she called to tell me happy birthday, she asked if anything was wrong and I told her you'd forgotten it even _was_ my birthday. I told her that we really don't seem to have time for each other, especially since we decided to be in a relationship, and that I'm just a distraction."

"A-a distraction?"

"Yeah, and she told me that I should talk with you about this before doing anything rash, and that maybe you'd surprise me. But I know you really well, and I know that it just wouldn't work between us after being together these last couple of weeks. So I want to spare you the trouble of having to worry about me by telling you that I've decided it's just better for both of us to quit being boyfriend and girlfriend." Her voice wavered at the last part, but she kept her eyes firmly locked on the champion as she finished. "I can stay and help you catch Pokémon if you want, but we just won't be together anymore."

For another moment, Ash just stared back at her blankly. His mind seemed to be going into overdrive as he thought of everything she'd gotten wrong and misinterpreted. It was clear that he was too good of an actor. Finally, as a tear cascaded down her right cheek, he found his voice.

"You're wrong about everything."

"Huh?" She looked up from her lap, wiping her eye. "What're you talking about?"

"That whole speech was just wrong! You couldn't be more wrong if you wanted to!"

Misty simply gave a bewildered expression in return.

"First, you're not a distraction! You're the biggest reason I try so hard, and you always have been. Where would I be if you hadn't pushed me around so much when we were kids? What about our battle before I went to train with the champions? When I'm about to give up, you change my attitude. You're not a distraction, you're the reason I do so well." He was so caught up in his will to keep her from breaking up that he didn't feel the slightest bit of embarrassment during his admission.

"Also, I'm _not_ too busy to have a girlfriend."

"But you've been gone before I've even woken up every morning since we arrived in Hoenn!" Misty interjected.

"Do you know why I've been so busy?"

"Because you wanna hurry up and battle the Master, I guess."

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. "It's because I wanted to be here in time for your birthday. The Treetop Delight is one of the best restaurants here, and so I thought that it would be a nice surprise if we could go on your birthday."

"M-my birthday? But that's today!"

"I know it is. I didn't forget your birthday, Mist. I just wanted this to be a surprise, so I acted like I didn't remember."

"Oh my gosh," she muttered, hiding her face in her hands. "I can't believe I did that."

"Did what?" Ash asked, confused.

"Just tried to break up with you because you weren't being romantic! I can't believe how stupid I was."

Ash's eyebrows lifted in surprise. It was rare for Misty to ever declare herself "stupid", and the humiliated expression which she bore compelled him to comfort. "I don't think I can blame you, though. You're right that we haven't really done anything fun or romantic since we became a, uh, a couple. I'd be mad if I were you too."

"I wasn't really mad, though," Misty replied, lowering her hands and looking at the trainer again. "I was just sad. I couldn't believe how something that I'd imagined would be so great could turn out so bad."

"I understand." He put a comforting arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to himself and enjoying the feeling of her body leaning on his. This was the most contact they'd had in weeks, and he felt almost lightheaded at its effects. In addition, the slowdown of his pounding heart caused him to sigh contentedly. In just five minutes he'd gone from happy, to devastated, to relieved.

_This is scarier than battling Paul._

"I really am sorry, Ash," she apologized, surprising him once more. "I said I know you well, but I guess I really don't. I was just acting like a spoiled child who wasn't getting what she wanted. Even if you _were _too busy, I should have understood and stayed with you."

Ash gave a small laugh. "It's no problem, Mist. We're new to this relationship stuff. It'll take a while, but I'm sure we'll get it down eventually. No matter what though, remember that I'll always stick with you."

"I'll always stick with you too," she responded, smiling as she enjoyed the feel of his reassuring touch. It was nice to feel as if she weren't alone. "I've learned a lesson."

"Never thought I'd hear you say something like that. Usually you teach people a lesson." He laughed, and despite herself, so did she.

"Sooo," she began after another minute of silence. "What time are our reservations for?"

"Eight," he answered, his eyes closed peacefully as he rested his head atop hers.

"Eight this evening?" she practically screamed, startling the champion from his restful trance. "That's only two hours away!"

"Yeah, so? I told you this early so you wouldn't have to freak out about getting dressed. Two hours is plenty of time."

"Maybe if I hadn't been wandering around the forest all morning," she replied, standing up and quickly rummaging through her suitcase on the floor. "I've got to get showered, do my hair, fix my make-up, shave, iron my dress, and brush my teeth!"

_I have to put on my suit…_ The list seemed to end there for the champion.

"This is really thoughtful and all, but next time, give me a little more warning when you surprise me," Misty explained as she lifted Ash from the bed and pushed him towards the door. "I need you to get out now so I can get ready!"

As the door slammed behind him, Ash tried to comprehend what had just happened.

_Two minutes ago she was crying, and now she's getting dressed for our date._

He shook his head and walked back to his room.

"I'll never understand women."

* * *

Author's Notes: I'm actually pretty happy with this chapter. The last two before it were basically transitional chapters to move the story arc from Johto to Hoenn, but this was really the first authentic installment to take place in the new setting. Also, frankly, I was pretty much on fire when I finally got around to writing it. Sometimes I struggle to write chapters, but this one came pretty easily to me, and I think it reads pretty well.

However, whether you liked it or not, please leave me a REVIEW telling me. I respond to all reviews (eventually, haha), and I need your input so I can improve my writing abilities and make this story more enjoyable for all my readers.

Before I let y'all go, I want to remind everyone here of my community (which you can find by going to my profile page and clicking "communities" at the bottom), called the Texas Longhorn Pokéshipping Community. It's got a ton of great AAML fics, and I've added yet another great staff member (Pokémon-Princess.8) and she's bringing even more awesome stories to the TLPC. So please, drop by and read some great fics, and if you like it enough, subscribe to it as well. The more people subscribe, the better-known the community becomes.

See y'all in a couple of weeks! Adios!


	33. A Night Out

**Hey Everybody!** I did it! I made the deadline (with like an hour to spare!). I'm so glad that I was able to get this chapter out to you guys on time, and I want to say before you read it that I truly believe this is one of the best chapters I've written in a while. As per usual, though, I'm not going to give anything away up here, so please read my notes at the bottom for any thoughts I had on this installment.

I have two small things I need to mention before I let you read (though you could just, you know, scroll down and skip this against my will, haha). The first thing is that I haven't gotten to write back all of my reviewers from last chapter yet. As many of you know, I spent all last week in Florida with my dad (had an awesome time, for all of you who asked), and this week's been kind of busy because I didn't pass a math placement exam for college to get into Calculus my first semester, so I'm going to retake the test in a couple of days and I'm studying like crazy before the big retake. Anyway, the point is that I was really busy doing this and fulfilling my promise to have this chapter published on time, so that is why if you reviewed, I may not have answered you. Please don't give up on me though! Give me another review with this chapter, and I'll definitely get back to you (I hate giving this speech every time I don't answer everyone, but I truly do take everyone's feedback into consideration and your thoughts are all important to me).

Also, before you read, I'd like to give a small shout-out to a new fan called **forgottennmmemories**. She left me one of the nicest reviews I've ever received (though I've received many from all of you!), and so I have to mention her in today's author's notes.

Anyway, go ahead and read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

Ash groaned as he rolled the tape around his torso a final time before cutting off the end. Placing the small metal hook into the wrapping, he carefully secured his handiwork before checking his image in the mirror.

_Looks like I got it covered._

Though the gash opened by the Zap Cannon had healed fairly well, there were still some serious cuts into his flesh which the local Nurse Joy had warned could become infected if he didn't deal with them carefully. She'd given him some bandages normally used to cover the wounds of injured Pokémon, but she said their antiseptic would work just as well on his own lacerations.

_Kinda stings, _he noted, feeling as if the cuts were bubbling beneath the thin blanket of cloth. He resisted the urge to scratch his stomach and instead took his newly-purchased white shirt off the hanger. He buttoned it up and tucked it into the slacks before reaching back into the closet and seizing the sports jacket. He'd decided against wearing the tie after realizing that, unlike his previous ones, it could not simply be clipped on. Instead, he opted to simply leave the top button of the shirt undone and hope Misty wouldn't scold him later.

Looking at the clock, he saw he had twenty minutes left before he met his date at the door of the Pokémon Center.

_Wow! Only three minutes to get dressed!_ That was a new record for the young champion. Scratching his chin in earnest thought of what to do with the time, he realized he hadn't shaved in quite a while.

"Might as well," he muttered, heading back to the bathroom.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The pop music in Misty's room blared above the loud hum of the hair dryer as the redhead cursed herself repeatedly. The humidity in Fortree was doing her no favors as each strand of her fiery locks fought against her will and the searing heat she continued to pour upon them.

"Why won't you stay down?"

Shaking her head in frustration and giving up the war for a moment, she turned her attention instead to the now-presentable dress. She'd been rather dismissive of the gown lately, mostly throwing it in her suitcase along with her t-shirts thoughtlessly. Fortunately, she'd managed to iron most of its wrinkles away, and as she lifted it to her body, she looked in the mirror and smiled.

"Now if I could just fix my stupid hair!" She put the dress's hanger back onto a small metal knob jutting from the room's wall and refocused her efforts.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash gave himself one last glance as his sweaty palm grasped the doorknob. It was amazing that he could feel so nervous about a date with a woman he'd already kissed and made his girlfriend.

_We've even gone on a date before, _he realized, thinking back to the champions' dinner party over a month earlier. However, in his heart, he knew this date was different. This time it felt real; as if their last outing had simply been a test run.

Gulping, he turned the doorknob. He silently wished he'd brought Pikachu out of the recovery room to wish him good luck as he turned the door closed behind him and made the long walk down the hallway and to the entrance of the Center. It would have been nice to have some moral support and reassurance before the most important night of his life.

_Other then when I became Champion, of course._

Turning the corner, he was surprised to find his date already waiting for him at the door. Her back was to him as she stared out the large glass door at the setting sun, and he couldn't help but smile at the beauty she projected even when she wasn't facing him. The golden color of her silk dress seemed to reflect the setting sun's beauty, and he had to force his eyes away from her long legs, which were on display beneath the bubble skirt she adorned.

Taking one last deep breath, he walked up to her and gave her a slight tap on the shoulder. Turning around, she greeted him with a luminescent smile that seemed to match the brightness of the sunlight itself.

"There you are! You ready to go?"

He couldn't restrain the grin that permeated his features. "Definitely."

Misty began to open the door, but before she could step out, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back toward him. Before she could even ask why, he quickly entwined the fingers of his left hand with those of her right.

She gave a small laugh as her cheeks grew slightly red. Squeezing his hand in return, she opened the door again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As the waiter seated the two, Ash took in the romantic setting. The entire restaurant was completely full of other couples, all leaning across the table and speaking to each other in intimate whispers. The small candles provided on every table were the only source of light in the large building, and the champion squinted as he looked from person to person, wondering what they were talking about.

_Can I talk with Misty like that?_

Misty, too, took notice of the high-profile setting. Everywhere she looked she saw people in love and, though she was dying to be like them, couldn't help but feel skeptical that she and Ash could carry on such heavy-handed conversation for long.

Clearing his throat, the young waiter from earlier in the day snapped the two from their thoughts.

"My name's Jonathan, and I'll be serving you two tonight. If there are any problems or concerns, please tell me immediately. To begin this evening's dining experience, would you two like a drink?"

"Uh, I'll have water," Ash answered.

"Yeah, me too."

Jotting down the orders in his small notebook, Jonathan gave a nod before assuring them he'd return in a moment. "Until then, you might want to look at our menus and decide on an appetizer to begin your date."

Graciously taking the large booklet, Ash opened it and quickly scanned the page. His mouth began watering at the sight of so many delectable opening courses. However, a small cough from behind the menu reminded him of why they were here. Lowering it, he looked over at Misty.

"Um, what would you like for an appetizer, Mist?"

For a moment, Misty gaped at the champion, unable to comprehend the question. In all the time she'd known him, she'd never heard Ash ask someone else what _they_ wanted to eat. Smiling at the kind gesture, she gave a small shrug.

"I dunno. Do you like breadsticks?"

Fighting the urge to moan, Ash nodded.

_Why would you pick the least tasty thing to eat? _Personally, he'd been hoping she'd want hot wings.

_It's her birthday, though, _he reminded himself as her smile grew larger. She was clearly glad that he'd wanted her input, and the thought of making her happy instantly evaporated any disdain he held for her bland taste in food.

The young man returned to the table a moment later with both of their drinks. After ordering their starting dish, Ash decided to slowly wade his way into their first "date conversation".

"So do you like the restaurant?"

Misty eagerly nodded, glad to have some discussion. "It's really beautiful here, Ash."

"Not as beautiful as you."

The second the words came out, Ash tried to will them back in.

_How could I say something so stupid?_ He felt like a corny romance character in a poorly-written story.

Despite his inner-turmoil, though, Misty showed her approval of the response with a small giggle and a light blush.

"Thank you, Ash. That was a really nice thing to say."

_Maybe he isn't as dense as I give him credit for. That was a pretty clever comeback._

"N-no problem," he answered sheepishly.

_I knew she'd like that._ He had to force himself to not try and high-five someone after seeing how pleased the small comment had made his date. _This dating stuff really isn't that hard. I might do it again sometime._

"You look really handsome tonight too."

It was now Misty who fought the urge to cover her face and scream in embarrassment. Though she'd meant to return the compliment, the words just seemed foreign coming from her. To her relief, though, Ash simply gave a small smile in return and scratched the back of his head in awkward inexperience.

"So…" she trailed after a quiet moment.

"Yeah, so…"

Jonathan made his reappearance at just the right time as the two continued their stare-down.

"Um, here are your breadsticks. Have you decided what you would like to order for the main entrée?" He pulled out his small notebook again and placed the bowl of bread next to the candle.

"Oh! I forgot to look at the menu!" Misty quickly grabbed her booklet and scanned the pages.

"I think we need another minute," Ash explained, realizing that he too had yet to look over their options for dinner. "We were kinda caught up in our conversation."

"Yes, it sounded enthralling, sir."

_Was he being sarcastic?_

"I'll return in a couple of minutes for your orders."

Both teenagers looked over their respective pages, mentally checking off courses which seemed inappropriate or distasteful.

"What's caviar, Mist?"

"Fish eggs, I think."

Sticking his tongue out, Ash replied with a "yuck". "Why would anyone wanna eat a fish's eggs? I thought only bird and bird Pokémon eggs were the kind people ate."

"I don't know," she answered with a shrug, still scanning the options. "I mean, maybe it's one of those things that you have to get used to. You know, an acquired taste? I hear it's really expensive and that usually rich people eat it a lot."

"You'd have to be rich to eat this stuff! Have you looked at the price?"

Misty retorted with a small glare over the top of her menu, silently scolding how loud he'd announced the price of caviar.

"Sorry," he whispered. "But seriously, look. It's twenty dollars an ounce!"

Rolling her eyes, Misty flipped through her booklet looking for the item. "I'm sure it can't be that much…" Reading under the "seafood" heading, however, she soon discovered that her date had been correct. "Twenty dollars an _ounce_? What do they think we are, millionaires?"

"Well, I mean, _I_ am, but-"

"You don't need to rub it in, Ash."

"But don't you think that's a lot of money? I can't imagine it's much better than a hamburger or something."

"It has to be delicious to cost that much."

"I dunno. I bet it tastes bad, but rich people act like it's good just to show off."

Misty gave a sigh. "People wouldn't just act like something's good and charge a lot of money for it if it didn't taste delicious."

"I think they would."

"No they wouldn't."

"Yeah, they would."

"No."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Have you decided what you would like for your first course?" Jonathan seemed to emerge from nowhere, and his presence immediately silenced the squabbling couple.

"Uh, not yet, but could we have a few ounces of this caviar?" Misty asked politely. "Me and my friend have never tried it before."

"Yes ma'am, but just so you know, it's a very pricey delicacy."

"It's no problem. Ash is a millionaire, right Ash?" She gave the champion a sly smirk and winked.

With his pride on the line, the young trainer had few optional responses. "Sure I can afford it. In fact, bring out ten ounces!"

The waiter's eyes seemed to bulge from his head for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and answered with a small "yes sir", before turning and walking back to the kitchen.

"Ten ounces? We don't even know if we like it yet!"

"You're the one who ordered the caviar in the first place," Ash reasoned. "Besides, what's a hundred dollars for a millionaire, right?"

"It's two hundred, genius."

"What?" Ash clutched his chest for a moment, appearing as if he was about to have a massive heart attack. "I just spent two hundred dollars on fish eggs?"

"You didn't think one hundred was too much?" Misty stifled a giggle at the question. The look of panic on Ash's face was almost priceless.

"Well, I mean, um…"

"You should think before you let your pride take over."

"Oh yeah? Well you should, uh, quit being a jerk on your birthday." He couldn't help but smile at his own weak response. It was fun arguing like old friends again.

"Why? If it's my birthday, then I should be allowed to do whatever I want."

"That's not how it works. You're supposed to be nice to everyone because if you're not, then you might not get your present."

"Present? I thought the date was my present."

Ash shook his head and flashed a toothy grin. "There's more to it than just supper. When we get back to the Pokémon Center I'll show you."

The delighted expression which graced the redhead instantly made Ash's heart leap once again. Making her happy had become an addiction.

"So what is it?"

"I can't tell you what your present is. That would take away the surprise!"

"How about just a hint then?" Misty pressed her thumb and forefinger together, signifying her desire for a small clue. "If you give me just a tiny hint, I promise not to ask any more questions."

"Well…"

"Here is your caviar, Master Ketchum." Another waiter appeared, slowly lowering a silver dish onto the center of the table. The dish held a pyramid of small black eggs, which was surrounded by rectangular crackers. "Please enjoy your appetizers. Would you like to order your main dish now?"

"Um, just a couple more minutes please."

"Also, it's very nice of you, but I'm not a Master yet. I'm just the Sinnoh Champion."

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean that you were a _Pokémon _Master. I just meant, 'master', as in a single young male."

Ash gave the waiter a curious glance. "Whaddya mean?"

"You are so dense," Misty interjected. Looking to the waiter, she apologized. "He's a few Magnemite short of an evolution."

"It's quite alright," the older gentleman responded kindly. "Your regular waiter will return momentarily to take your orders."

Thanking the man, Misty turned her attention back to Ash. "You seriously don't know what it means when someone calls you a 'master'?"

"Nope. No one's ever called me that before."

Rolling her eyes, Misty explained. "It's like when a girl is single, how everyone calls her 'miss'. It's the same thing for boys, except instead of 'mister' you're just called 'master'. How could you not know that?"

"I just have never been called that before," he answered with a shrug. "That sounds really cool, though! I might never get married just so I can still be called a master. It sounds so much more important."

"Yeah, you do that," she answered sarcastically. "But let's get back to business. What's the hint for my present?"

"I'm not giving you a hint now," he replied in an obvious tone. "Not after you told that guy I'm a few Magnemite short of an evolution."

"What? You can't not tell me because of that. You were acting really dumb."

"Shows what you know. I wasn't acting at all!"

She bit her tongue, not wanting to further alienate her chances of finding out the manner of his gift. "I'm sorry, alright? I shouldn't have said what I did to him. You're a very smart guy, and I'm sure there are a lot of other people who don't know what 'master' means." The sincerity of the apology seemed somewhat offset by the monotone voice in which she delivered it, but Ash was still impressed.

"Wow, you must really want a hint to actually apologize to me."

"I'm desperate, I guess."

"Well, since you admitted that you're wrong and I was completely right, I guess I could give you one clue under one condition."

Squinting her eyes, she asked, "What's that?"

"Eat some of the caviar first." He pointed at the black mound of delicacies lying in the middle of the table.

"What? Why?"

"Why wouldn't you want to? You said that it's probably delicious. I just want to know how it tastes before I actually take a bite from it." He mocked her with his own sly grin, narrowing his eyes in the dim light. "If you take a bite, then I'll give a great hint."

"You should take a bite first, though. You're the one paying for it. It'd be rude of me to take the first taste."

Ash gave the girl an inquisitive look. "Why are you so scared all of a sudden when _you_ ordered it to begin with?"

"I'm not _scared_, Ash Ketchum. I just…don't think it looks very good. Do you?"

Ash couldn't deny that the very sight of the rare treat made him feel a little queasy, but he wasn't about to let the redhead go. "I dunno, it looks alright. Besides, it doesn't matter what I think about it. If you want a clue, then you have to eat it."

She shot the champion a dark glare, but he remained unfazed while pretending to uninterestedly browse the menu.

"I'm thinking about lambchops. Mom used to make them for me before I left home, and-"

"Fine! I'll do it, okay?"

Smiling, Ash nodded. "It doesn't have to be a big bite or anything. Just enough to taste it."

"You better give me the best hint ever after this," she warned. Picking up a cracker, she slowly dipped the tip into the black substance and scooped a tiny fraction of the pyramid. Lifting it up to her lips, she paused momentarily and mentally prepared herself.

"C'mon, Mist."

Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth and took the entire cracker in one bite. She hoped that by eating it all at once, she could dilute the flavor.

"So? How does it taste?" Ash was practically climbing across the table as she opened her eyes. "Does it taste gross? I can't believe you actually ate that! Is it squishy?" She remained quiet as she carefully munched upon the small morsel. Though the cracker did help to cover the flavor, she could still feel the soft chewiness of the eggs between bites, and the thought of what she was eating almost made her gag.

_Though, to be fair, it isn't terrible tasting. It's just so gross!_

Swallowing the substance quickly, she downed half her glass before answering the wide-eyed trainer before her. "It tastes very salty and, yeah, squishy too. It's not really disgusting or anything, though."

"Really?" Ash eyed the small dish with curiosity. The mental struggle taking place was clear from the expression on his face, and Misty snickered lightly. "Do you think I should try some, or not?"

"What am I, your mom? Just try some for yourself if you're curious."

He gave the silver platter another uneasy glance and shifted in his seat. "I'm not so sure that's a great idea. What if they're undercooked or something?"

"Are you gonna try a bite or not?"

"Alright, alright, I'll eat a little."

Grabbing a cracker, he slowly nudged the tasteless bread into the mound; consequently gathering a much larger dollop than Misty. He too took a moment to stare at the odd cuisine before shrugging and taking the whole thing in a single bite. A surprised expression crossed his face immediately as he hurriedly chewed.

"It's vewy code," he explained with a full mouth. He quickly drank some water and forced the rest into his stomach, as if afraid the eggs would hatch if he left them in his mouth too long. "I wasn't expecting that. It was like eating a popsicle or something."

"Did you like it, though?"

"Kinda. It would have been better if I didn't know what it was."

"I see you're both enjoying the caviar," Jonathan interrupted. Ash gave a small start at his reappearance.

_Why's it so dark in here?_

"Are the two of you both ready to order now?"

"Well, _I_ am, but I'm not sure if she is yet."

"I'm ready too, for your information," the gym leader replied. "I'd like the house salad, with olive oil dressing, and-"

"What are you doing?" Ash asked, sounding panicked.

"What?" Misty looked herself over, worried that a bug had landed on her.

"Why are you ordering a salad here?" He raised his voice, but didn't seem to care.

She stared in bewilderment for a moment before she seemed to grasp his meaning. "Oh! Thanks, Ash! I almost forgot to ask if you put carrots or peppers in the salad?"

"No, not that," Ash continued before the waiter had a chance to answer. "I mean, why do you keep buying salads? Every time we go to a nice place, you just get a salad or a sandwich. You need to be more like me in what you eat."

She snorted. "More like you? If I ate like you, I'd bloat up to the size of a Snorlax. Girls are different than boys."

"I know, I know. My mom gave me that talk when I was twelve…with _puppets_. But still, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself every once in a while. This is your birthday! You should get a great meal that tastes really good instead of worrying about blowing up or whatever."

The scowl on her face from his original insult turned into a small smile. "That's actually kinda sweet of you, Ash. You really don't mind if I eat something bigger?"

"Why would I care?" His arms flailed out in confusion. "Get whatever you want, but please not another salad!"

Still smiling, Misty agreed. Picking back up her menu, she insisted that the champion order ahead of her as she decided.

"Well, I'm gonna have the rack of lamb with mashed potatoes."

"Very good sir," Jonathan replied, putting down the order. "Would you like the potatoes to be mixed with our chef's famous garlic butter marinade? He's world-renowned for the flavor."

Though the idea was at first tempting, Ash caught a quick glimpse of his date's lips and instantly remembered the commitment he'd made before leaving the Center.

_No bad-smelling foods._

"Um, no thanks."

"Very well." He took Ash's menu before turning back to Misty. "And have you decided what you will be dining on tonight?"

She bit her lip before finally looking up. "I guess I'll have the filet mignon, rare, with mashed potatoes too."

Taking the menu, the waiter repeated his question.

"Sure, why not?" she replied cheerily. However, the moment she agreed, she noticed Ash shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?" He seemed surprised that she'd noticed. "Oh, no! There's nothing wrong."

Despite his upbeat tone, though, she could tell something was bothering him.

_What could I have said that-_

She cut herself off mid-thought as she saw Ash's eyes dart to her lips for a slight moment before returning to meet her gaze. He gave her another big smile.

Understanding the problem, she looked back to Jonathan, who was beginning to walk away. "Uh, excuse me!"

"Yes?" He turned back to the table. "Is there something else you'd like?"

"Actually, I was just wondering if I could have plain mashed potatoes. I just remembered I don't like garlic very much."

"Certainly." He ran a line through his notebook before returning it to the front pocket of his apron. "Please let me know if you need anything else."

Though he tried to hide it, she could see the relief in her date's eyes as the waiter slipped back into the darkness. Discreetly, she gave him a small wink before sipping some more water.

Blushing, Ash wondered if he'd just imagined what he saw.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow, this looks awesome!" Ash declared as the sizzling entrées arrived. As the rack of lamb was placed in front of his hungry gaze, he quickly grabbed a knife with one hand and a fork with the other. "Let's get started!"

"Try not to bite the waiter's hand off, Ash," Misty joked as Jonathan placed hers down. Staring at the seven ounces of steak before her, though, she fought the urge to follow the young man's lead. "It _does_ look really tasty."

After announcing that he would take care of any needs the couple might have during their dining experience, Jonathan walked off, and the two began cutting into their respective meals; Ash with more ferocity than his date.

"You're gonna cut through the plate if you keep that up," she criticized. "You're supposed to do it like this." She provided an excellent example of proper dining by slowly working through the thick Tauros meat with her knife. When she finally cut through, she carefully picked up the small piece of steak and carefully chewed. Swallowing, she looked up and asked if Ash understood "how it's done". To her dismay, however, the young champion had apparently been too busy consuming over half of his rack of lamb to heed her example.

"What're you talking about?" He looked up, swallowing hard before taking up a forkful of mashed potatoes and chasing them after the meat.

"Ugh. You're disgusting. I was saying that you need to have better table manners."

"My table manners are fine," he answered flippantly. "The whole world isn't watching how I eat." He took a breadstick and dipped it in his potatoes before biting down on it.

"No, but I am," she answered, wincing from the mental scarring of watching such a ravenous scene. "It wasn't even fine to eat like that when we were just friends, but now that we're on a date, you _have_ to have better etiquette in public. Do you see how I'm eating at a normal rate, and not like I've been lost in the wilderness forty days?"

Ash glanced skeptically at her plate. "Yeah, and I also see you've had two bites so far. I'm winning!"

"Eating's not a contest, Ash. Now slow down before you choke and kill yourself."

"I'm not gonna choke." He rolled his eyes at her dramatic worries.

"Well, you better hope you don't, because if you do I'm not gonna save you."

"You'd save me." He gave her a knowing look before dipping another chunk of lamb in his mashed potatoes and practically swallowing the morsel whole.

"Would not."

"Then what about when we were in the Orange Islands and I almost drowned? You saved me then, right? And also, remember when you thought I died or whatever in Lavender Town when we were kids? You practically killed yourself you were so sad!"

"I did not! I barely even cried."

He pointed an accusatory finger as he muscled down another bite. "But you did cry. I remember."

"Fine." Her voice carried the low tone of begrudging forfeiture. "I admit that I don't like the idea of you dying. But that doesn't mean I'd embarrass myself by trying to save you from choking on lamb chops. If you start coughing to death, it's your own stupid fault."

"Actually, this is a rack of lamb." He picked up one of the remaining cuts by the bone and gnawed on the remaining meat. "It tastes a wot better than Ma's wambchops."

The rest of the supper progressed more or less the same. The two took turns between playful jabs, reminiscent of their childhood, and more meaningful conversation about which Pokémon they most preferred.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After an hour of discussion, and after Ash had completed both his meal and the vast majority of his date's, the two decided to pay the bill and leave for the Pokémon Center.

As they walked out, Misty complained about how full she was.

"How could you be full at all? You took like five bites before letting me eat the rest."

"I don't know how you ate all of that and can still walk."

"Actually, I'm kinda still hungry." He eyed a small ice cream shop they were approaching as they crossed the bridge connecting the restaurant to the rest of the "tree house city". "Would you like some ice cream?"

"I knew that was coming, but no thanks. I can't imagine eating another bite of anything for a while."

"Well, I think I could have some ice cream…" He seemed entranced by the ice cream shop as they arrived on the small store's tree.

"If you want some, then go ahead. I'll wait out here."

"Okay. Are you sure you don't want some? It _is_ your birthday, after all."

Still surprised by his uncharacteristically thoughtful nature, she refused once more before he ran inside. She smiled to herself before turning and looking up at the night sky. The moon was in a waxing crescent stage, and the stars seemed to shine extra bright without its full luminosity.

_A perfect birthday…so far. _She couldn't help but hope that their evening wasn't about to end already. Though they'd been out for almost two hours, her desire to spend more time with the champion was impossible to deny. _Just being with him is addicting._ It felt like she was eleven all over again when they were together. She'd feel the same lurch in her stomach every time he gave that goofy smile, she'd get as excited when they were arguing over any menial subject, and she would even remember long-forgotten childhood dreams after simply staring into his eyes. Working at the gym for several years had been good for the relationship between her and her sisters, but it had, unfortunately, also forced her to grow up quickly. By the time she was fourteen, she'd learned to balance a checkbook and keep up with a strict Pokémon League budget, while at the same time keeping maintenance of a large gym building and rebuilding the posterity of the Cerulean League facility altogether.

_Being with Ash is like getting back some of my youth._

"Mist! You'll never guess what they had in there!" Ash ran out of the store with a double scoop cone in his hand. He licked the frozen treat happily as he awaited her response.

Eyeing the ice cream, she smiled and shrugged. "What?"

"Blueberry flavor! I never had that kind before, so I got two scoops! Isn't that cool?" He took another lick and grinned, his lips beginning to match the violet hue of the dessert.

The redhead cocked her head in interest. "I've never heard of that flavor before, either. It sounds good though. Can I have a lick?"

"What?" Ash rolled his eyes. "You just told me you didn't want anything. You shoulda come inside when I went in."

"I wasn't hungry for blueberry-flavored ice cream then," she explained, folding her arms and glaring at the young trainer. "Are you really gonna tell your girlfriend she can't have any ice cream _on her birthday_?"

"You can have ice cream. Let's just go inside and get you a cone too."

"I don't want a whole cone! I just wanna try a bite of yours to see what it tastes like."

"Then go inside and ask for a sample."

"Ash, you have two choices." Misty lowered her voice as another couple strolled by on the tree's platform. "You can either give me the ice cream cone, or I can take it away from you. It's your choice."

The champion took a moment to process his options. His gaze shifted from the ice cream, to his angry girlfriend, back to his ice cream, and finally back to Misty. Sighing, he handed the cone over in defeat. "Just don't eat the whole thing, okay?"

She didn't respond. Instead, she simply licked a side of the ice cream quickly before giving Ash a victorious smirk. "See? That's all I wanted."

Pulling the cone back, he looked at her in surprise. The old Misty would have gone ahead and eaten the whole thing, in his experience. "Um, thanks, I guess." He took another bite of the treat and held out his hand.

The gym leader stared at the gesture for a moment before finally seeming to realize what he wanted. Tying her fingers between his once again, the two walked across another bridge which led to the Pokémon Center, blushing heavily.

As they approached the doors, Misty couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. It looked like the date was going to end despite her wish. As she reached for the door handle, though, she was surprised by the sound of Ash clearing his throat. "Um, Mist, I was wondering if you wanted to stay out a little longer?"

"Huh?" She turned around, their hands still joined. "What'd you say?"

"Well, I mean, I've been having a great night so far with you, and I don't feel like just saying good night to you yet. I know it sounds stupid, and I don't blame you if you don't get it, but-" He would have continued, but the press of the redhead's lips upon his own impaired him immediately. Though it lasted only a moment, his lips continued to tingle as she stepped back quickly and gave a weak smile.

"I'd love to stay out."

Ash did his best to get his now-frazzled emotions and hormones under control before giving a nod. Holding her hand had been problematic enough for his breathing, but the sudden kiss had absolutely taken away his ability to function. Misty began to lead him down another bridge as he tried to regain his composure and relearn the skill of walking.

Tumbling forward slightly, he asked where they were going.

"Earlier when I went out looking for Tropius, I saw they have an above-ground picnic area. I thought maybe we could go there and…I dunno."

Smiling, Ash agreed. "S-sounds good to me."

She led the two down another bridge, this one slightly older and more rickety, before arriving at what indeed appeared to be a small picnic area. There were several tables and benches, as well as a few barbecue pits for normal visitors. Scanning the area, Ash was pleased to see that he and Misty were alone. It would have been uncomfortable to have fans nearby as they talked.

"Do you wanna sit down?" She pointed to a table closest to the edge of the platform, directly facing a clearing in the foliage above. "It looks really pretty over there."

"Uh, sure," he answered. He couldn't help the small bubble of anxiousness which welled inside him as they took their seats. He sat backwards on the bench, using the table itself as a backrest for him to lean upon and look up at the sky. Misty followed suit. Neither let go of the other's hand.

"It sure does look nice tonight, huh?" His heart began to race as he felt her other hand grab his forearm.

"Yeah, it does." She too was looking at the sky, but her movements proved that her focus wasn't on the stars.

"So what do you wanna talk about?" His voice was shaky as the question came out.

"I dunno," she answered truthfully. She knew this was a romantic moment, but she was inexperienced as to how to act in such a situation. "How about the future?"

"The future?" The curiosity seemed to repossess his fear. "Like what?"

"Like, what do you wanna do after you become a Pokémon Master?"

Chuckling, he corrected her. "_If_ I become a Pokémon Master."

"When did you become so mature?" She laughed too. "The Ash I know would never doubt he was going to win. Besides, we both know you're gonna make it."

"We do?"

"Of course. You have me for a coach." She looked over at him and gave a small wink. "By the way, you might wanna take care of that ice cream." She pointed to the previously-frozen dessert which was slowly dripping on the bench next to the champion.

"Oh man," he moaned. He put the cone on the table and stared at his ice cream-covered hand. Several beads of blueberry goodness slipped down his palm. "I completely forgot I had that."

"I made you forget about ice cream?" Misty gave another laugh. "I _must_ be important for that."

Ash smirked. "I guess you're kinda important," he joked. Slowly but surely, he was beginning to get used to their flirtatious banter. "I mean, for a girl and everything."

"Well, you're kinda important to me too…y'know, for a boy." She gave him another wink and he laughed.

"I wish we had a napkin or something though," he mentioned after a moment, staring at his hand. He could feel the stickiness of the sugary substance take over his fingers. "I'm not gonna be able to move my hand in a couple of minutes at this rate."

"Do you wanna leave?" She was already confident in his answer.

"No way!"

"Good." She snaked the hand on his forearm over his hand. Untangling their fingers, she snaked her other hand under and around his bicep, leaning her head against his shoulder. "I'm kind of comfortable like this."

He snickered. "We wouldn't wanna make you uncomfortable."

Her voice grew softer. "Nope, but I think I know how we can take care of your ice cream problem."

"Really? Do you have a tissue in your purse or something?"

"N-not exactly," she stammered. Ash could feel her heart beat faster as she leaned closer against his arm.

_What's she talkin' about?_

Using the fingers resting on his upper-arm, she reached out and grabbed his other hand. Slowly, she brought the index finger to her lips. She gave the finger a light kiss, sucking a small puddle of the melted ice cream off at the same time.

"I-is that, uh, better?" She felt completely awkward doing such a thing, but the star-struck appearance on Ash's face made her burning face feel worthwhile.

"Uh…" He seemed dazed.

Giggling, she gave another kiss. "I'll take that as a yes." It felt good making him happy in such a simple way, and looking up again, she was beyond pleased to see the huge grin which had made its way onto his lips. He stared down at her for a moment before craning his neck and placing a light kiss on her forehead.

"Um, thanks, Mist."

"No problem, Ash. I can't have you looking like a slob, anyway." Knowing that she was in control of the situation continued to fuel her confidence as the teenage boy appeared to still struggle for words. She kissed his fingers a few more times before sighing contentedly and turning her attention back to the night sky. She saw Ash instantly use his now-free hand to wipe the quickly-formed sweat from his brow. She could feel his speeding pulse surging through his hand, and she gave his arm a reassuring squeeze in an attempt to soothe him.

"So, back to our plans for the future."

"Huh? Oh, yeah." He wracked his mind to comprehend her words. "Oh! So what are your plans after I become a Master?"

"Hm, I dunno. I haven't thought a lot about what I'll do when I get back to Cerulean City, but I guess I'll go back to the gym and work as a leader again."

"Really? I thought you didn't like being a gym leader?"

"Well, it's not so bad. You're pretty much guaranteed a job as long as you keep winning more than you lose, and now that they pay for janitorial services and stuff like that, it's pretty easy to maintain such a big building. It used to be a real pain two years ago when we still had to do everything by ourselves, and any renovations came from our own paychecks."

"You had to pay to fix the building by yourselves?" He was shocked to hear about this.

"Yeah, and a lot of places still do. We were lucky that the Kanto Pokémon League Board decided to start this new program. It's really saved a lot of gyms. Brock probably didn't know it, but Pewter's gym was almost out of business eighteen months ago. Apparently they'd overblown all the money they'd had on changing it to a water gym, and then back to a rock-based one. The new rule that we'd get paid for winning each battle saved them."

"So the janitors and everything are bought by you guys after you win?"

"Yep. I told you this before, remember? The League pays us for each win, and the money they give us has to stay strictly spent on the gym. They keep their eyes on all the gyms to make sure no one abuses the system, but most leaders I know of wouldn't even dream of stealing that money…their buildings need it too bad."

"But what happened before if you couldn't pay for a repair or something?"

"Then the regional director would shut you down after you failed the annual inspection."

"That's not fair at all!" How had he not known about how bad the gyms had always had it? "You can't expect people who barely make enough money for themselves to pay to fix their own buildings."

"Well, like I said, in Kanto we're lucky we don't have to worry about that anymore. Of course, here in Hoenn and in Sinnoh they're not so lucky."

"You mean this is still going on in Sinnoh?"

"Yeah, and they're paid even less than we are in Kanto."

"I didn't know about any of this." He sounded almost remorseful as he admitted his ignorance.

"It's not your fault," Misty consoled. "How could you have known what goes on behind the scenes at Pokémon Gyms?"

"But it's my _job_ to know, Mist," Ash explained, looking down at her. "I'm the Champion of Sinnoh! I'm supposed to at least know how all of this stuff works in my region! There are tons of leaders who are struggling just like you did, and I'm not doing anything to help them."

"Well…you could start then."

"Yeah, but how? I mean, I don't think the Pokémon League likes people just running in front of its headquarters and screaming at them to pay their gym leaders more."

Misty gave a half-hearted laugh. "No, I don't think they'd like that either. But I think you really could change things if you wanted to. I know all about what it takes to run a gym, and I understand the Pokémon League after working for it for so many years. With my knowledge and your high position in the League, we could really help the Sinnoh gym leaders!"

"You think so?" His smile reappeared at the level of certainty in her voice.

"I'm positive, Ash. And now that you don't have some big match with Paul hanging over your head, we can focus on making change for a while."

"So that's what we'll do. We'll start making life better for the gym leaders."

For a moment, the two sat silently and continued their gaze of the stars above, soaking in the new resolution.

"So you really think you'll go back to the Cerulean Gym after this is over?"

"Why not?"

"It just doesn't sound like you're very enthusiastic about it, is all. That's great if you wanna, but all the reasons you gave me sounded like you just wanted to work there for the money."

"That's the reason most of us take jobs, Ash."

"Yeah, but you should also be enjoying what you do. Making money's no fun if you don't."

She laughed again. "I think that's easy for the millionaire to say."

"Well, what would you do if you didn't need to make money?"

She pondered the question for a moment. "I guess I'd become a marine biologist and study water Pokémon. They've always been really interesting to me, and I pretty much spend all my extra time reading about them."

"Why don't you do that then? It sounds like an awesome job!"

"Oh, it's definitely awesome…but it also requires a degree."

"Then you should go to college with me," the champion concluded. "Then we could hang out together and you could have your dream job."

"College costs money, Ash."

"Well, there are other ways to get in. You could try and get a scholarship or something."

"You know about scholarships?" She was surprised that someone who seemed so oblivious would have knowledge of such a topic.

"Yeah. Before I won the Sinnoh League, my mom was always talking about me getting a scholarship by being on the competitive Pokémon battling team at Vermillion. She said they'd pay for my whole time if I won a lot."

"I never thought about being on a Pokémon battling team before."

"You should, you're an awesome trainer! I bet they'd pay for your whole family to go if you agreed to battle for them!"

She blushed at the compliment. "Thanks, Ash. That's really sweet."

"No problem. It's just the truth." He shrugged and tried to act nonchalant, praying that the darkness hid his own embarrassment.

"So what'll you do after this is all over?"

"Go to college like Ma wants, I guess. It doesn't seem like such a bad idea."

"What about after college?"

"I'll probably try and help the Pokémon League however I can. Lance gave me an invitation to join the Pokémon G-Men, so I might become part of their group and try to help take down Team Rocket."

"That sounds cool."

"Yeah, it'll probably be fun. Of course, I might do something different. I was reading about Master Rohan a few days ago, and it said that he spent his whole time as Master trying to grow the Pokémon League so it could make more money."

Misty laughed. "You're not much of a businessman, Ash."

"Yeah, but the more I learn about it, the more it seems like being the Pokémon Master's like being the head of a company or something. Battling's not as important."

"You are the head of a company, technically," she reasoned.

"You wouldn't know it by looking at the Master now, though. Lance said all he does is train in a cave or something all day."

"Yeah, he's been the Master since before I was born, but the entire time I was a gym leader I never saw him at one of the League Leader Conferences, and as far as I know he's never made a single new rule. Pretty much the PLB has been doing all of the work since he took over."

"Still, he's my favorite of all the Masters."

"Well, he _is_ a good battler, I suppose. It's just too bad he doesn't care more about the welfare of the League."

"Yeah."

They remained quiet a while longer, Misty's head against Ash's shoulder, and their hands entwined. Staring up at the sky, both of their minds wandered on their discussions and each other.

"Wait a minute!"

Ash jumped back to reality, having almost fallen asleep from the serenity.

"What? What is it? Team Rocket?" He reached for the one pokéball inside his jacket pocket and searched the area.

"No, not Team Rocket." Misty sat up, and looked angrily over at her date. "You told me that you were gonna give me a clue about my present if I had that gross caviar, but then you never did! I almost forgot there even _was_ a present!"

He gave a sheepish grin and tried to laugh off his mistake. "Uh, oops. Sorry about that."

"Well, what's my clue then, before we go back? You said you'd give me a great hint."

"Um, alright…" He squinted his eyes as he tried to come up with a clue that wouldn't be too obvious. "Okay, I got one! The hint is that this present is something you can wear."

"Jewelry?"

_How'd she guess so quickly?_

"Yeah. Did you cheat?"

"No I didn't cheat." She rolled her eyes. "What else would you have bought me that I could wear?"

"Um, a scarf?"

"In April?"

"Whatever," he muttered, reaching into the pocket of his slacks. He pulled out a small rectangular black box, and handed it to the redhead. "Anyway, I wanted you to have this. I, er, bought this at a jewelry store back in Littleroot when we first got here. I wanted to give it to you after we decided to be, you know, in a relationship, but then I thought it'd be nicer as a birthday gift."

Her hands began to shake as she reached for the box. Biting her lip, she willed herself under control. _Why do I feel so nervous about a present?_

Grasping the felt box, she quickly popped the spring-loaded cartridge open. Processing what she saw, she began to laugh as she held up the small pearl necklace. Though it was beautiful in its own right, what really overjoyed her was the small jewel in the middle; the Cerulean Gym Badge.

"Is this yours?"

"Yep. I figured that it would be a good way for you to remember who gave it to you. I bought the necklace at the jewelry store, but then I clipped the badge onto the small string myself." He wanted to ask whether she liked it, but the answer was all too apparent in her eyes. "I'm glad you think it's so nice."

"It's wonderful, Ash," she replied, breathlessly. She undid the clasp and strung the pearls around her neck. Clicking the small mechanism back into place, she was pleased to see that the raindrop-shaped badge stayed neatly in the center of the line of pearls. "What do you think? Does it look good on me?" She turned on the bench to face him fully, still holding his hand.

Forcing the lump in his throat down, he replied with a guttural "of course".

"Thank you so much for a great birthday, Ash."

"Oh, it was nothing, really," he replied bashfully. "I'm just glad-"

Once again he was cut off mid-sentence as the redhead forced her lips upon him. Unlike earlier, though, neither of them pulled away. Instead, both grabbed the other by the back of the head, ensnaring their fingers in handfuls of hair as they kissed deeper and longer than ever before.

* * *

Author's Notes: I really did like this chapter. This was another one which, though it took a while to write, seemed to come naturally as I worked on it. Though some of you will probably call for more romance, I have to say that for their first official "date", I think they were just about romantic enough. I also know some of you will probably mention that they were too romantic (ice cream scene, right?), but the way I figure it, they're two hormonally driven teenagers who haven't even kissed in about a month, so I had to include a somewhat sexually-charged scene. However, I hope y'all appreciate that I tried to balance the more romantic scenes with their still rather naïve frames of mind (mostly through their movements and thoughts). Anyway, whether you loved or hated it, PLEASE REVIEW!

Also, I want to remind everyone of the great community which I have. You can go to my home page, scroll down, and click on the "communities" tab to find a community full of great AAML fanfics (over forty now!), many of them being currently updated. My staff continues to do a great job of including only the highest-quality stories, and I admit that sometimes I'm a little jealous of how good some of the fics on there are!

Anyway, please visit it if you've got a second. Until two weeks from now, later days!


	34. New Partners

**Hey Everybody!** I'm sorry for the delay of this chapter, but if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't just goofing off. I actually just moved into my college dorm room Sunday and got internet, so I didn't really have much capability before now. Anyway, I can't give anything away, but I will say that this chapter's definitely the start of a new sub-plot for the story as we continue to progress with Ash's journey to become a Master.

Again, I'm sorry to anyone who hasn't yet received a review reply from me. Like I said, it's been really hectic lately saying goodbye to family and moving in and whatnot, but I'm doing my best to write back everyone with the amount of time I have. Please, even if you haven't heard from me yet, give me your thoughts on this chapter as I work to catch up and reply to everyone's feedback. Thank you guys so much!

Anyway, please go ahead and read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

"Hey Mist! We're back!" The champion and his Pikachu greeted the redhead in triumphant fashion as they marched through the empty Pokémon Center's doors. In his hands, Ash held two blue and red pokéballs. "Thanks for letting me use Starmie for the day! I would've ridden Gyarados, but he was still tired."

"No problem." She continued to stare at the computer screen as the young man walked to Nurse Joy's desk and handed over his two newest team members.

"So how was your day?" He walked over to her, Pikachu remaining behind as Nurse Joy gave him a quick once-over. "How did your research go?" He leaned over and gave his girlfriend a small peck on her crown as he glanced at the screen. He tried to read, but became quickly intoxicated by the sweet smell and soft feel of her hair beneath his chin.

_What does she use for shampoo? Strawberries?_

"It's been alright. I spent the first half of the day pulling up all of my old gym expense reports to find out how much it cost me and my sisters to keep up and running, and then I pulled up the other Kanto gym reports to see if they were basically the same." She smiled at the very feel of him so near to her. Being in a relationship was beginning to show its many rewards. She turned and beamed up at him. "Did you finish your part of the deal?"

"Of course! I'm the Sinnoh Champion! There's nothing I can't do."

"Except eat like a normal person, that is." She gave him a mischievous smirk, and he glared at her for a moment before the two broke out into a small fit of laughter.

"Anyway, yeah. I caught a Lombre and a Feebas. I battled with them for a little while so they could get to know me, and they both seem pretty strong and friendly."

"Why have you been battling with the new Pokémon so much lately? You never used to."

"That was a mistake." His mood seemed to darken suddenly. "After you yelled at me about Pikachu and all that, I started to realize that I'd been treating all of my Pokémon kinda bad. I mean, I like being friends _and_ battling partners with my Pokémon, but I was acting like the new ones I caught were just tools that I would use until they evolved. So now I'm getting to know all of the Pokémon I catch a little before I decide if they even should evolve. It's not fair to them if I just battle with them and never build a bond."

"Well, I'm glad I was able to make you a better person."

"I wouldn't go that far. It's not like I was abusing them or anything."

"Still, without me you'd never have won your battle with Paul, and you'd probably be kicking your Pokémon for fun by now." She gave him a smug look. "I guess you're really lucky that I saved you."

"Sure, whatever."

"So are you ready to go?"

"Ready to go where?" He didn't remember scheduling another date yet. It had only been a week since their second.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "To the library, Ash. We need more than one computer so that we can both look up stuff. I told you about this before you ran out of the hotel like a five year old this morning, remember?"

"Not really…" He squinted, trying to recall the conversation. "I just remember the free breakfast was pretty good."

"Well, whether you remember it or not, you said you would, so let's go!" She logged off of her current P.C. and stood up. "Pikachu can stay here and play with the other Pokémon if he wants."

Ash folded his arms. "Why should he get to have fun if I don't?"

"Oh, c'mon Ash! You promised me you'd go, and this _will_ be fun." Seeing that he didn't appear ready to fold, she gave him a stern glare. "Don't make me hurt you."

Though slightly disturbed, he remained adamant. "But I'm tired, Mist. I think I got a sunburn from being on the lake all day, and me and Pikachu must have battled like a million Magikarp waiting for Lombre and Feebas to come along."

"You wanna be the Pokémon Master and yet you're whining about battling Magikarp?"

"They splash at you!"

"That's almost all they can do, Ash. Now let's go!"

He let out a large sigh before hanging his head in defeat. "Fine. We can go, but just remember that you made me."

"Why would I remember that?"

"In case I die, or something."

"From a sunburn?"

"It could be more dangerous than a sunburn. Maybe it's actually a fever, and I just don't know it yet."

"Okay then. I'll take full responsibility if you die in the library."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So why did you look up how much it cost to keep the gym going?" Ash whispered as the computer screen came to life before him. He typed in the short password given by the librarian while awaiting Misty's response.

"Because I needed to figure out how much it costs to run a regular gym. Then I looked up the other forty-nine gyms and compared their average price to mine. It was about the same."

"Why do we need to know that?"

"Because if you're gonna really talk to the PLB about why the League needs to pay for gyms' maintenance, then you need numbers. Since the Cerulean Gym spent about the average amount, I can give you good information on the problem of having gym leaders pay for their own repairs and problems."

"It sounds like you already know everything you need to know. Why're we even here?"

"Because I don't know everything yet. Since I'm from a Kanto gym, I can only access the Kanto gym archives. We need to know the same information for gyms in Sinnoh. Also, we have to know about how much the average gym leader makes a year, including benefits and healthcare, and we should learn about how you can set up a meeting with the Sinnoh Pokémon League and discuss these problems."

Ash's head felt like it was spinning at all the information the redhead needed. In his mind, he'd imagined that he would simply tell the Sinnoh League to change their rules, and they would do so with little trouble.

Misty could see the small glaze form over her boyfriend's eyes. "I know it sounds like a lot of stuff to know, but this is important to have if you're serious about helping out the gym leaders in Sinnoh."

"I just thought it would be easier for me to change everything since I'm the Champion already."

"Yeah, you're the Champion Ash, but that only makes you equal to the Sinnoh Pokémon League's President. You still can't just make rules on a whim."

"I know that. I read that the champion has to let the board vote on an idea before it becomes a new rule, but dontcha think that they'll just vote for this idea because it's good? It doesn't seem like something I would have to explain to them."

"They've already turned Cynthia down for it," Misty informed. "I was reading some of the old Pokémon newspaper articles from Sinnoh, and it talked about how she'd tried at the very beginning of her reign to make the League pay for gym expenses and maintenance, and they voted her down nine to one."

"Nine to one?" Cynthia had always seemed like a nice person, and Ash couldn't imagine how such a simple proposal from a likeable person could be rejected so vehemently.

"Yeah. According to the newspaper, the board said that it would cut too heavily into their own budget to maintain all the gyms, and that the gym leaders made enough to pay for any damages by themselves. That's why we need to know how much they earn."

"So how do I find out?"

"Well, I figure if I'm just a gym leader and have all the Kanto information, a champion must have even more." She shrugged at the simple explanation. "I'll put in the Pokémon League address." She leaned over and typed in the small URL. Instantly, the page of the website popped up. "Now do you know the login information?"

Ash embarrassedly stared down at his shoes. "Uh, no. Not really."

"Really?" She'd assumed he'd been given something after becoming Sinnoh's Champion. "Are you sure Cynthia didn't tell you about this website after you won?"

"No, she definitely didn't. All she gave me was the letter about being a Master."

Misty stopped herself from smacking her forehead. Instead, she returned to her own screen and pulled up the League's Headquarters' phone number. She punched the number into a pink cell phone and dialed.

"Yes, hello. My name's Misty Waterflower. I'm the gym leader of the Cerulean Gym."

"Yes, Ms. Waterflower," replied a cool female voice on the other side. "What can I do for you today?"

"My friend is a member of the League, but he doesn't know what his password is to login to the site, and we were wondering if you could give it to us?"

"Sure," replied the calm woman. "What is his last name?"

"Ketchum."

There was a long pause on the other side of the line. "Um, did you say Ketchum?"

"Yeah."

"And you're Misty Waterflower from Cerulean, right?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe I'm talking to you!" a voice squealed, forcing Misty to pull the small electronic device from her ear.

Misty began to resent calling on Ash's behalf. This woman was obviously one of the millions obsessed with the champion and his love life. Though they hadn't been seen together "intimately" yet, rumors were circulating that she and Ash had developed strong feelings for each other. While this alone would normally be a big deal for the tabloids, as were the romantic interests of all the champions, the matter was made even grander in the public's eye because of the kiss he shared with Dawn on international television. Everyday Misty would see new magazines questioning who Ash's true "love" was.

"So is it true that he actually got you pregnant and that's why you're travelling together?" The impassive demeanor had completely vanished from the young lady's tone. "Or is he actually in love with Dawn, and you're just trying to keep them apart because of your child?"

Her face began to flush red in humiliation. "Who said I was pregnant?"

Ash's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You're pregnant?"

"Of course not moron!"

"So then, why _are _you travelling with him?"

"It's none of your business," the gym leader answered sharply. "Now just give me his password!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that." The coolness in her voice returned. "I'm afraid that I have to see the champion's face on videoscreen before I can give away such an important detail."

"Fine," she relented, hanging up quickly. "You need to call her on the phone so she can see your face or whatever. I have the number saved on my phone, so you can use that." She shoved the phone into the champion's hands, her face still quite red.

"Why are you so upset, Mist?"

"Why do you think, Ash? Apparently there's _another_ rumor going around saying that I'm pregnant or something."

"Seriously?"

She snorted. "Yeah. I can't believe how stupid people are. Can't we just tell them the truth? It would make things a lot easier, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah it would, but I need to talk to Dawn first, still." He winced as Misty shot him a dark look. "You know I don't wanna just humiliate her in public by saying that her kissing me was a mistake."

"But she never answers her stupid phone," Misty rebutted. "What are we supposed to do until she finally picks up? Have people think we're starting a family? I like Dawn a lot too, Ash, but I can't keep this up!"

Ash placed his forefinger over his lips as the librarian jerked her head in their direction. "I know, I know. I don't like it either. But just give her a little while longer. I promise, if she doesn't answer my calls soon, then we'll just go ahead and tell everyone the truth."

"Fine," Misty huffed, leaning back in her chair and folding her arms. "But she's on a thin schedule. Whether it embarrasses her or not, the truth's gotta come out."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

An hour later, the two were resituated at the desks. This time, Ash was able to quickly punch in his four digit code, and suddenly the Sinnoh Champion League page opened before his eyes. He was impressed by what he saw, to say the least. Before him was a plain page with the Pokémon League emblem in the top left corner, but filling the page were hundreds of links to different archives.

"Look at that," Misty whispered. "This must have everything we need! I only have a few links, but it looks like you get to know everything."

"Makes sense, because I'm so important." He tried to puff out his chest, inciting another eyeroll from his counterpart.

"Look under salaries," Misty instructed. "We'll start there and then see what other information we can use."

The two spent another couple of hours meticulously gathering data. Though at first resistant to the idea of more work on top of his already arduous schedule, Ash began to truly become interested in the information they garnered as Misty continued to remind him of their cause. "We're doing this for the gym leaders," she'd remark every time he groaned or asked to leave.

Finally though, the redhead decided that she too was tired, so they clicked off of their current page and turned off their monitors. Misty closed her small notebook, wherein she'd kept careful notes of any important figures, and the two stood up and stretched.

"Well, I _am_ glad we're doing this," Ash mentioned, placing his cap back on his head. "I do wanna help out. It's just still surprising that Steven or Cynthia weren't able to convince their Leagues to change. I wonder why Lance was so different."

"We'll find out soon enough. We need to talk to him and ask how he convinced his board to amend the laws for Kanto. He might have some good advice for you."

"Sounds good. So what do you wanna do now?"

"Do you want to eat?"

"Always, Mist." They walked out, and Ash fought the urge to grab her hand. It was fine to do on dates at night, where it was dark, but the sun was still up, and Rustboro was significantly larger than most cities in Hoenn.

"What do you feel like eating?" Misty asked above the noise of the congested traffic before them. They began walking down the sidewalk, looking at the millions of choices.

"Whatever you want, I guess." Though he was no expert, he'd slowly been trying to put Misty's thoughts and desires before his own, per the advice of his own mother. This time it was especially easy since he'd eaten earlier.

"I don't really wanna go anywhere crowded," she mentioned as she felt the presence of several eyes examining her and Ash. Though the sidewalk was just as full as the streets, many people still seemed to recognize the pair, and from the corner of her eye, Misty even saw a woman point at the duo. "Maybe we could just have supper at the hotel?"

"Sounds good to me." Ash was preoccupied as he spotted what appeared to be a dozen young trainers making their way towards him. Turning around, he grabbed Misty by the arm and began their hurried jog back to the hotel.

Once inside Ash's room, they were finally able to relax. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ash fell backward on his bed, and Misty began to sit in a plush chair located in front of the television. She stopped herself though, right before making contact with the leather upholstery.

"Ew," she commented, picking up a sweat-ridden t-shirt. "That's disgusting. I can't sit down on this chair!"

"Just push the clothes off," Ash mentioned, closing his eyes.

"Ash, I'm not sitting on a chair that had sweaty clothes on it."

"Well, you can always sit on the bed." He motioned to the spot next to him.

"As flattering as that is, I don't think that bed's much cleaner." She noticed even more clothes, as well as candy wrappers, and various Pokémon magazines sprawled across his sheets. "How could you keep stuff so organized when we were camping, but now that you have a nice room it looks like clothes are exploding off of your body?"

"I dunno." He shrugged, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Well then, let's go to my room," she suggested. She opened the door, and Ash moaned, still not moving.

"I don't wanna get up, Mist."

"Fine. You don't have to get up. You can lay there the rest of the night for all I care…but I don't think you'd have as much fun by yourself as you would with me." She gave him a playful smirk as his head instantly jerked up.

"Alright, I'll go," he grunted, standing up. It wasn't fair, but he didn't really mind.

The two walked down the hall and into Misty's room. To Ash's humiliation, her quarters seemed impeccably clean. The bed was made, her floor was clear of clutter, and not a single sock littered her chair.

"See Ash? This is how a civilized person keeps up with their room." She sauntered to her bed and fell backward, imitating Ash moments earlier. "Since this is _my_ room, you can take the chair." She pointed to the piece of furniture in the corner.

"I knew there was a catch." He dragged the chair next to the bed as Misty turned on the television.

"Do you want room service?" Misty grabbed a small menu on the nightstand. "I think they have a lot of good stuff here."

"I could eat a hamburger, I guess" he mentioned. "With fries, of course. Also maybe a milkshake…and a hot fudge sundae."

"Seriously, it's a wonder you haven't died yet, Ketchum. I'm just gonna have some soup, I think."

"That's a pretty small meal for me, actually." Ash informed as she picked up the non-videophone. "Besides, I haven't eaten in, like, three hours."

"I didn't eat all day," Misty retorted as the phone rang.

Ash simply stared back at her in stunned silence while she ordered their meals. Hanging up, she gave him a victorious grin before turning the volume of the television up. Out of respect and awe, Ash stayed quiet when she chose a particularly effeminate program about women who were given makeovers to help themselves appear more attractive.

A knock rattled on the door less than minute later, and both teens exchanged surprised glances.

"That was fast." Ash stood up and walked to the door. Opening it, he was both surprised and a little frightened to find himself in the close embrace of a young woman. He kept his arms far away from her while simultaneously trying to walk backwards, which resulted in the two falling to the ground.

"What's going on?" Misty asked, hearing the raucous and jumping from the bed. She gasped when she saw the two piled on the floor. "I can't believe it!"

_Oh man,_ Ash groaned inwardly. How had this fangirl been let into the hotel?

"May? Is that you?"

The champion blinked for a moment, registering the name. He looked down, and saw May's embarrassed face staring back at him with a small smile. "Uh, hey Ash. Sorry about that." She slowly scooted off the trainer and then helped pull him up. He gave her a large grin in return and reciprocated the hug from earlier.

"May! It's great to see you again!"

After separating, the brunette looked over his shoulder to his travelling companion. "Hey Misty!" The two teenage girls squealed and ran to hug.

"Hey Ash," another voice greeted from the doorway. Turning around, Ash was surprised to find Drew standing with his hand out. A little thrown by the courteous gesture, it took the young man a second before realizing the coordinator meant to shake hands.

"Um, hey Drew." Everything seemed to be happening really fast, and Ash instantly felt a hundred questions barge through the forefront of his mind. He decided to start with the most obvious.

"So what are you guys doing here?"

"We've been in the city the last couple of days," May explained, taking a seat next to Misty on the bed as Drew closed the door. "There's a new contest here, and me and Drew competed in it."

"How'd you do?" Misty asked eagerly, always happy to converse with May.

In response, the young coordinator reached into her small pack and pulled out an orange case. Pushing a button, the top slid to the side, revealing a single pink ribbon. "See for yourself!" She placed the container in Misty's hands and looked over at Drew. "He did a really great job, though."

"I don't need to be babied," Drew pouted, leaning against the door and brushing his hair from his eyes. "I just wasn't good enough today. I'll beat her next time."

"So you two are still travelling together?" Ash questioned. All he'd ever seen was May and Drew fight, with the rare exception, and it was hard to believe that the two would still be journeying the regions together.

"Of course," May answered. She took back the case and dropped it back in her pack. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "It just seemed like you guys fought a lot and didn't like each other. Are you still with Harley or Solidad?"

Another blush emerged on May's cheeks as she shook her head. "Not right now, at least. Drew and I decided that we wanted to travel alone for a little while."

"Huh?" It seemed like they'd want company.

"We just thought we'd like some time with just…us, for a while," Drew continued. He seemed just as squeamish as his friend on the subject. "Do you understand?"

"I-I guess, um, well no."

"Ash? How do you not get what they're saying?" Misty asked, resisting the urge to slap her thickheaded boyfriend into understanding. "They're obviously in a relationship. That's why they wanna be with just each other."

"What? That doesn't make any sense, Mist!" He began to laugh at the thought of the two as a couple.

"Actually, Ash," May interrupted as his body wracked in laughter, "she's right. Drew's my boyfriend!" She squealed a little at the last sentence.

Instantly the laughter ceased as Ash looked back and forth between the two. "Seriously?"

"Uh, yeah," Drew answered. Though his girlfriend seemed excited, he appeared more nervous than anything. "We've been dating for, what? A year now?"

"Thirteen months and four days, to be exact," May corrected. "And you know that, Drew." She seemed to be fully out of her shell now. "You should see him when it's just us. He's constantly romantic; writing me love poems and songs, and dedicating new combination moves to me, and-"

"May!" He ran his thumb along his neck, begging her to stop.

"Oh, you need to quit being so shy about it. He's really very romantic, is what I'm saying," May explained to Misty, "but he has a hard time showing it when other people are around for some reason."

"I don't have a _problem_," he revoked, emphasizing the last word. "I just don't think it's everyone's business."

"So you guys are _really_ together now?" Ash seemed stuck on the concept.

"Yeah. Why is that so surprising?"

"Well, you always seemed to fight with Drew when we were in Hoenn and Kanto. Not to mention all the times you guys competed and beat each other. I just figured people who fought all the time like that wouldn't end up together."

"If that was true, then we wouldn't have a shot," Misty answered.

"Uh…oh yeah."

"Wait? Are _you two_ together too?" May's voice reached an uncomfortably high pitch as she spoke, and Ash did his best not to cover his ears.

Misty gave Ash a small look, seeming to say "we may as well", before nodding her head in the affirmative. "We've been a couple for about a month now."

"I can't believe it!" May cried happily. "I wasn't sure what to believe after seeing what happened on T.V., but I actually didn't see Ash and Dawn as a good couple. She is _so_ nice, but I thought she was a little, uh, young." May winced a little at the idea, and Misty laughed.

"So how did you know we were in this hotel?" Ash inquired, wanting to stop their discussion about Dawn before it became uncomfortable.

"She read it in one of those girl magazines," Drew explained, sighing heavily. "I swear, she reads one of those things a day. I don't know how she can afford to keep buying them."

"I do _not_," May corrected. "And besides, most of those articles are about contests."

"Yeah, like that one you were reading today. That movie star seemed like he'd be a really great coordinator." He smirked as May fell silent. "Anyway, she practically blew up from excitement when she read some column that said you guys were staying here. I told her that those magazines are usually just gossip and are wrong, but I guess it was right this time."

"Oh yeah? Well what about those magazines I see you look at with all the cars and women in stores? I know for a fact you don't know anything about cars."

"I-uh, um." A knock on the door interrupted his comeback. Opening the door, the four teens saw an older man with a tray before him.

"I have two meals for room three sixteen," he explained, pushing the silver cart in.

"Oh! You two were about to have supper, huh?" May asked. "That was rude of us to just barge in here like this. We'll leave and see you guys again tomorrow!" She stood and made as if she were going to leave, but Misty stopped her.

"Why would you leave? Where are you guys staying for the night?"

"We normally just rent two rooms from the Pokémon Center," Drew explained, ogling the hamburger and fries that appeared as the waiter lifted the chrome cover from Ash's dish. "That or we end up camping outside if it's too full."

Misty widened her eyes in surprise. "Then why would you leave? There's plenty of room for you two! May can stay in here and Drew can sleep over with Ash!"

"Really?" May asked, already excited. "Are you sure we wouldn't be imposing?"

"Yeah, do you really want us to?" Drew seemed a little uncomfortable at the prospect.

"Definitely," Misty replied. "It'll be just like a slumber party! Don't we want them to stay Ash?"

"Sure!" he answered with a bright smile. "It'd be great to catch up with you May. You too, Drew." Though it was certainly a treat to see his old travelling partner again, he couldn't help but cringe a little at Misty's term in application to Drew sleeping in his room. He doubted their interaction would in any way resemble a "slumber party".

"Do you want something to eat too?" Misty asked, eyeing her bowl of soup from the bed hungrily.

"Actually, we haven't eaten yet," May replied nervously. "We were thinking about getting something from a restaurant on the block."

"You should just order in like me and Ash!"

"Well, alright, but we'll pay."

"It's okay, May," Ash intervened. "It's really no trouble. What would you like?"

"Do they have noodles or something like that?" she asked eagerly.

Misty glanced at the menu. "Well, they have spaghetti and meatballs."

"Perfect!" She clapped happily. "We're gonna have so much fun tonight talking!"

Drew glanced uneasily at Ash, and the champion returned the look. "Um, I have cable in my room."

"Cool," Drew answered. Though he wasn't acting as spiteful as he used to towards the trainer, their relationship was still light years from May and Misty's. "I, uh, have some old Pokémon League battle footage in my backpack. We can watch that."

"Sounds good."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So that's what we're focusing on right now," Misty concluded as everyone enjoyed their meals, sitting together at the small dining table provided by the hotel. "We're just helping the gym leaders in Sinnoh like Lance did in Kanto."

"I bet it must be a relief to do something a little easier after all that stuff happened with Paul," May stated between large mouthfuls of spaghetti. She eerily reminded Misty of Ash in the way she ate. "I can't believe he was working for Team Rocket. He didn't seem like a nice guy on T.V., but I would never have imagined."

"I know," Ash agreed. "It kinda surprised me too. I guess some people just take winning too seriously."

"I hope it works out for you and the gym leaders," May continued. "My dad's been having a really hard time in Petalburg lately. Since Max left, he's been having to do all of the work by himself and pay for Max's journey. It's a shame you're not the Champion of Hoenn."

"Maybe we could talk to Steven about that," Misty suggested as Ash took another bite of his sundae. "He tried to change it a few years ago, but maybe he could get it passed now that it's been done in Johto and Kanto."

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt to call," Ash agreed. "It shouldn't be so hard for people to be gym leaders. They're one of the most important groups in the Pokémon League!"

"Please see what you can do, Ash," May requested. "It would be so nice if you could change things here too."

Ash nodded and gave her a confident thumbs-up. "I'm sure it'll be no problem." He scooped up the last bit of his dessert before leaning back in his chair relaxedly. "I think Steven would love to help out. He's a really nice guy when you get to know him."

"I just remember he was kinda serious when we met him."

"Yeah, I don't think that was because of us though. He was just busy doing some work for the Pokémon G-Men, I guess. They're always doing something."

Drew interrupted their conversation as he stretched and yawned.

"I think it's time we get ready for bed." Misty stood up and stretched as well. "It's been a long day for all of us."

May nodded in agreement. "I'll walk with Drew to Ash's room and then I'll be right back. Ash, do you think you could lead the way?"

"No problem." He got up with Drew and made his way to the door.

"Uh, Ash? Could you come over here for a minute?" Misty motioned for the champion to return to her side of the room as May and Drew waited quietly by the door. "You two can walk over to Ash's room without his help. It's the second one to the right of this one. He'll be there in one minute, but we needed to discuss something really quick."

Ash gave a confused shrug to his friends as they agreed to go on. "See ya in a minute, Ash."

"So what did you wanna talk about?" he asked as the door closed behind the coordinators.

"I just thought that maybe you wanted to, uh, you know," Misty puckered slightly, and Ash's heart raced at the implication. Every evening they'd kiss goodnight, and he couldn't believe he'd almost forgotten the ritual. He instantly swooped down and brought in his girlfriend, enjoying every moment of contact as they engaged in another, deeper kiss.

_We've gotten much better,_ he idly thought, moving his right hand to the small of her back as she inadvertently twirled her finger through his mangled hair.

After several more minutes, the two slowly and unwillingly pulled apart. They placed their foreheads together and breathed softly, still holding each other.

"I guess I'd better go," Ash whispered, his voice a little gruffer.

"Yeah. They'll get suspicious if you stay in here much longer." A smile suddenly appeared on her face. "I bet you're afraid they'd catch us, aren't you?"

Ash acted insulted. "I'm not afraid of anything. In fact…" He leaned down and kissed her again, and she giggled at his fake hubris.

Finally though, the two did separate completely, and said their goodnights. "Tomorrow we'll leave for Dewford and do some more research. You don't need any more Pokémon from here, right?" She stood in the doorway as he stepped into the hall.

"Right." He dreaded the thought of more library time, but remembered why they were doing it. Perking up, he promised they'd leave first thing in the morning. "See ya later, Mist."

"'Night, Ketchum."

Walking to his room, he was surprised to find the door closed. He pulled out his key and opened it, instantly regretting the decision as the two teenagers currently occupying it gasped. They were both sitting on his bed, with their arms completely around each other.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Ash covered his eyes, as if they were nude. "I promise I didn't see anything. I didn't know what you guys would be doing."

"It's alright, Ash," May chuckled, standing up and removing his hand from his eyes. "We were just surprised to hear you come in. That's all. Me and Drew were just…saying goodnight." She looked back and gave the crimson coordinator a small wink. "See ya in the morning, Honey-Lopunny."

Ash's embarrassment instantly transformed into sheer mirth as he heard the nickname. Stifling a laugh, he asked Drew what she'd called him after May had exited.

"Um, I-I dunno," he lied, looking at the ground.

Ash grinned wider. "It sounded like Honey-Lopunny." His voice cracked as he tried to remain somewhat respectful.

Drew shot the champion a dark look. "It was not that."

"Oh, alright then." He decided to simply drop the subject, still fighting back tears. He knew that it would require torture to convince the green-haired coordinator to admit the truth, and frankly, he didn't feel up to it. Instead he sat down on his chair while Drew remained on the bed, recovering from the humiliating episode.

After a moment of silence, Ash turned in his chair. "Did you say you have battle videos?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Thank you so much for letting me use your shower," May repeated, furiously drying her hair as the steam escaped from the bathroom behind her. "I've been using the Pokémon Center ones, but you know how gross those can be sometimes." She stuck her tongue out, and Misty laughed atop her bed.

"Yeah, I never really liked them either. And don't thank me again! We're friends, and this is what friends do."

"Well, I still appreciate it." She went back in and threw her towel on the curtain bar, letting it hang over the shower. She walked back into the room and got up on Misty's bed, folding her legs beneath her. "So do you wanna talk, or are you really too tired?"

Mist snickered. "I'm not tired at all, actually. I just said that to get the boys out of our room for a little while."

May feigned a shocked expression. "You mean you didn't want them listening to our conversation?"

"Of course not. It's nice just getting to talk with a girl for a while, and I didn't want Ash or Drew getting in the way with any dumb questions."

"I know. I mean, I really love Drew, but sometimes he's just not easy to talk to about stuff."

"It's never easy to talk with Ash," Misty agreed. "That might have something to do with his three point IQ, though." May whooped at the insult, and Misty smiled seeing her humor was appreciated. "But I really like him too, obviously."

"Have you said you love him yet?"

"Uh, no!" Misty blushed at the question. "I mean…not yet. I don't think we're ready for that kind of commitment."

May turned her head. "So you don't love him?"

"Well, no, that's not it either." She scratched her head, trying to understand and explain how she felt. "I-I do love him, but he hasn't said it yet, so I'm not gonna risk freaking him out. I'm sure we'll get around to it, but we've only been dating for a month, so there's plenty of time."

"I understand. Drew told me he loved me only a few weeks ago, but I think he'd been working on how to say it for months…you know how nervous love can make a guy." She rolled her eyes, inciting another laugh from the redhead. "So can I ask another question about you and Ash?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Why haven't you guys made it public that you're going out yet? I mean, I was really confused when I saw him and Dawn kiss on T.V., and none of the magazines I've read have any clue about what's really going on. I was starting to wonder if you really _were_ pregnant."

"So are a lot of people, apparently. This is like the fifth rumor those stupid gossip magazines have started about me or Ash."

"Why don't you tell them the truth, then?"

"Because Dawn had a huge crush on Ash, and now he thinks it would be really humiliating for her if we just said that kiss was a mistake."

"Why don't you ask her how she would feel?"

"We're trying, but I'm guessing that after Ash turned her down, she doesn't exactly feel like talking with him. Either way though, I already told him that we can't keep this a secret much longer. We're suffering because of all this gossip, and it'll only get worse if we let it."

"I agree…but I feel bad for Dawn at the same time." May's tone lowered in sympathy for her fellow coordinator. "I mean, it must have really hurt to have a crush on him and then get shot down like that after kissing. Did you know she had feelings for him before the kiss?"

"Definitely." Misty sighed as she recollected the memories of her days travelling with the blue-haired teen. "It's actually a pretty long story, but it also kinda explains how me and Ash wound up telling each other how we felt."

May glanced at the clock and then back to Misty. "We have all night. Go ahead!"

"Alright, well it all started when me and Ash had this huge fight at Christmas time…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Whoa! Did you see that Hyper Beam?" Ash and Drew were both staring wide-eyed at the television screen as they watched an old recording of a battle between two of the former Masters. "I wish I had a Tyranitar like that!"

"I can't imagine how many points I'd get for an attack that big!"

"That is so cool. I definitely need to catch one." Ash sat back in his chair, relaxing after sitting tensely in his seat for the past half-hour. The battle had concluded, and Master Rohan, the Master directly before the one currently in power, ran to the center of the field. He joyously allowed his dark and rock type creature to pick him up in celebration.

Drew looked over at Ash. "Pretty cool videos, huh?"

"They sure are."

"So you think you're gonna be like one of those guys soon?" He pointed at the screen as the camera shot in on Master Rohan's face. "You know, a Master?"

Ash nodded. "At least I hope so. It's a lot of work, but I have some pretty awesome Pokémon helping me along the way."

"That's true. I saw that battle on television with May. It was pretty cool how you beat him even though no one thought you would."

"Uh, thanks Drew."

He swished the hair from in front of his eyes, acting nonchalant. "No problem."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I guess."

"Why're you acting so different now?"

Drew leaned onto his left side to better face Ash. "What do you mean?"

"I don't mean anything, but it just seems like you're…nicer than before. When we were in Hoenn, I had the feeling you'd never talk to me or Brock if we weren't hanging out with May. And the way you and her acted, I started to think I was lucky."

Despite his cool demeanor, Drew looked down in hushed embarrassment. "Uh, I don't really know. I remember that I used to be pretty mean to your whole group, but to tell the truth, that was pretty much just because I knew it annoyed May. Before I realized how I felt, it just felt good to see her get angry for some reason, and I knew picking on her friends would work. Honestly, I never really had any problems with you or those other guys."

"Oh, okay."

"I suppose I _should _apologize, though, for how I used to act towards you. I shouldn't have been so stuck-up. I _am_ one of the greatest coordinators, and trainers, around, but that doesn't mean I can't get along with others."

"It's no problem." Ash accepted the slightly self-centered apology with a wave of his hand, dismissing their entire, albeit limited, history. "Let's watch another battle."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

May's expression seemed almost priceless to Misty. The mix of shock, anger, and sympathy seemed to have contorted her face into a hybrid emotion; one which the redhead had never seen before.

"Are you alright, May?" She put her hand in front of the coordinator's face, causing her to blink back to reality.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just can't believe all the drama that happened between you and Dawn. I never would've guessed that you two would have so many problems!"

"It kinda surprised me too," Misty agreed. "When we first met a long time ago, we got along really well. And when Ash would call and tell me about how Dawn was progressing in her contests, I never even felt the least bit threatened. But after I realized how I felt, it's like she immediately noticed and decided to try and win Ash over before I could."

"She's such a sweet girl, though! The Dawn you talked about didn't seem anything like the one I knew."

Misty felt perplexed by the same issue. "I don't think she's any less sweet or nice just because of what happened. I think that love sometimes leads us to just do stuff we normally wouldn't do…like kiss Ash Ketchum, for instance."

"That's true. Why would anyone kiss Ash unless they had to?"

"What?" Misty raised an eyebrow, feeling slightly threatened by the remark.

"I was just kidding, Misty," May explained, beginning to fear she'd mistakably untapped the gym leader's famous rage. "I didn't mean anything by it at all."

The redhead's expression softened instantly into more of a playful glare. "Oh yeah?" She grabbed a pillow from beside her and swiftly knocked her friend's head with the feathery instrument.

May squealed from surprise and began laughing. "I guess I deserved that."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What a cool video," Ash remarked as the last battle drew to an end. "Why do you even have it if you're a coordinator?"

"My grandfather bought it for me." Drew rolled his eyes. "He never liked the idea of me becoming a coordinator. He said it was too girly, so he would buy me tons of videos like this to motivate me to be a trainer instead. I keep them because sometimes they give me inspiration for new Pokémon I'd like to own, or new moves I'd like to try."

"Well, I don't know if being a coordinator's girly. I mean, you have to battle just like a trainer…you just have to do it while making your Pokémon look good at the same time."

"I always thought so," Drew remarked, pulling out the disk. He put it away and then laid upon his improvised "couch-bed".

As Ash pulled the covers over himself, he turned off the light.

"Hey Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for letting me and May hang out with you guys tonight. I know you were probably wanting to spend time alone."

"Are you kidding? This was a great night! I made a new friend, and Misty got to catch up with an old one."

"I guess. It's actually just nice having another guy around. We've been travelling alone for a while now, and even though I love her, sometimes _only_ being with a girl can get annoying."

"I know what you mean. A few days ago, we were over an hour late leaving the hotel because Misty's hair wouldn't stay down. She spent forever working on it, but you know what?"

"What?"

"I couldn't tell the difference when she said it was finally perfect."

Drew laughed out loud. "The _exact_ same thing happens to me too! May constantly holds us back by checking her clothes and make-up and whatever else she's wearing like a thousand times before we walk out the door. One time we missed an entire contest because she said her dress wasn't ruffled enough!"

_Wow. I thought Misty was nuts._

"I guess it's just how they are."

"Why can't they be more mature. Like us?"

Ash stared at the dark ceiling. "I have no idea."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next morning, both parties met in the lobby for breakfast. Over a sizable meal, they all discussed future plans and gave bone-bare details of the night before.

"We watched a video of Pokémon battles. What did you girls do?"

"Just talked and slept."

Both sides eyed the other suspiciously before continuing their feast. "Where are you and Ash going next?" May asked after inhaling a muffin.

"We're probably going to Dewford Town. Ash needs to catch an Aron and Sableye."

"Really? We're going to Slateport in a few weeks for a doubles contest. The theme is water, so we were actually planning to go to Dewford to see if we could find any rare water Pokémon to add for the routine."

Misty gave Ash a sideways glance. Unfortunately, he was too enthralled in breakfast to notice.

"Ash, isn't that a coincidence that they're going to Dewford too?" She gave him a knowing look, but he remained oblvious.

"Yeah, that's pretty weird."

She proceeded with a not-so-subtle hint by kicking him in the shin.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You just kicked me!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," the redhead dismissed. "But did you hear what we were talking about?"

"Something about a water contest in Dewford?"

"No, Ash. May was saying that she and Drew were thinking about going to Dewford to look for some rare water Pokémon before going to a contest in Slateport City."

"Wait…we're going to Dewford too!" Misty could almost see the light bulb appear above the champion's head. "Why don't you guys come with us? We could have a ton of fun!"

May looked over at Drew. "Do you wanna?"

The green-haired coordinator smiled over at Ash. "Yeah. It sounds like fun. Do you?"

"Are you kidding? I'd love to!"

Misty's face lit up, glad to see her boyfriend wasn't a _complete_ loss in the art of subtlety. "That sounds like a great idea! Ash and I are leaving in just a few minutes. Do you wanna come get packed with me?"

"Yeah," May answered, swallowing the last bite from her plate. She stood up and quickly followed Misty to the elevators; the two girls happily discussing a trip to the Dewford beaches.

"It looks like we'll be hanging out together a little longer," Ash mentioned, more calm, but still excited at the prospect of having friends join him and Misty once again. "We can definitely help you find a rare water Pokémon in Dewford."

Drew smiled. "Sounds like fun."

* * *

Author's Notes: Like I said, this opens up a new sub-plot for the story which will hopefully clarify a lot of things I have, as of now, left purposely ambiguous. As the four travel together, you can expect to learn a lot more about the League, while at the same time see Ash catch more Pokémon, and of course watch the development of Ash and Misty's relationship.

Before I let you go, I'd just like to point out that I have been working on another story of mine recently, "Pokémon Love", which is a parody fic based on several shippings I've found on the Bulbapedia shipping list. Please, if you have the chance, I'd love for you to read and review any of the installments (my personal favorite is chapter four).

Until September fifth, later days!


	35. Day at the Beach

**Hey Everybody!** I'm sure many of you thought I was dead, so I'll go ahead and put that rumor to rest right now…no. Okay, now that that's out of the way, I have to apologize. I updated twice in a row on time, and then fell off the wagon big time (this update took four weeks!). I'm really sorry to all of my fans. I've never taken a hiatus, but this should probably count as an unofficial one. To tell the truth, well, college is hard! Ha,ha. I've been making tons of friends and doing tons (almost literally) of work, so this fic was admittedly on the backburner. However, I'm proud to announce TL IS BACK! I'm not messing around anymore, and I'm serious about bringing this fic back to its rightful posterity. If you want to know how I plan to do this, read the author's notes at the bottom.

Anyway, after almost a month, please read and REVIEW!

P.S. Fun fact: Not including author's notes, this chapter is exactly 10,000 words!

* * *

"See you girls later!" Ash declared as he, Pikachu, and Drew headed out the front door of the hotel.

The two girls turned from their self-appointed "office" and gave the three boys suspicious glares. "You guys seriously still haven't found some rare water Pokémon yet?"

"You have to be patient, Mist. Fishing's really difficult and it takes a long time to catch the perfect Pokémon."

"I know how fishing works, Ash. I caught you, remember?" Misty traded a knowing look to her companion before continuing. "Me and May are starting to wonder if you guys are actually trying though. Every day this week, you guys have run out the door while we just sit here in the cold lobby gathering information."

Ash shrugged. "I don't like this any more than you do. Every day I have to go out with these heavy fishing rods-" he lifted the three rods and grunted to accentuate his point "-and go into the ocean. You never know when someone will challenge you to a battle, or a wild Gyarados will appear. It's scary."

Drew forced a solemn look and nodded. "It's true May. Each time I go out there, I worry I'll never see your beautiful face again."

"Really? Oh that is _so_ sweet."

"May!"

"What?" the brunette asked, frightened by the bark.

"You're just falling for their tricks again. Remember what we talked about earlier? We're not letting them get away this easily." Misty turned back to Ash. "If you guys don't bring back two great water Pokémon by the end of today, then tomorrow May and I get to go out and you two can sit and stare at a screen all day."

"Fine," Ash agreed. Truth be told, the three hadn't _exactly_ been trying their hardest to find the water Pokémon Drew and May needed. He was sure it would be a cinch as long as they focused today, though. "But if we _do_ catch those Pokémon, then you guys have to go catch the Aron and Sableye I need from the cave."

_That'll give us more time to hang out at the beach._

"Deal. You better hurry and leave though. You've only got twelve hours of sunlight left."

"Ha, ha, Mist."

With the final remark made, the three turned to leave.

"Hey Ash?"

"What now?" The champion rolled his eyes and turned back again. Pikachu and Drew sighed as well.

"Why's Pikachu carrying a Frisbee?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What's taking so long?" Ash asked as the three sat atop Gyarados waiting for a tug of their lines.

"It's only been three or four minutes, Ash. You have to be patient. Remember what you told Misty?"

"I was kinda just making that up. I've never been very patient fishing."

"Well, it is kind of boring just sitting out here in the sun. And now that May took our Frisbee, we don't even have something to pass the time with."

Ash's expression darkened. "Why did you let her see the Frisbee, Pikachu?"

"Pika, pikachu." The electric rodent shook his head, disappointed in his own failure. He was just as upset as the other guys, because now he had to fish alongside them with an impromptu fishing rod made of a twig and some string, instead of playing with his friends on the shore.

"It's alright. You couldn't have known."

"Hey, you guys!"

The three turned and were surprised to find two young women trolling the water behind them. "Are you Ash Ketchum?"

"Uh, yeah," he responded, trying to not gawk as a blush streaked across his cheeks. "That's me."

"Would you like to battle with us?"

"Of course!" Drew replied charismatically. "We'd be happy to."

The blond girl focused on the coordinator for a moment. "Who are you? Are you that Paul guy?"

"What? No! I'm Drew and I'm one of the best coordinators in the world!" He tried to stand stoically, but accidentally slipped on one of Gyarados' slick scales and fell backward into the water. Ash and Pikachu proceeded to help him back up while laughing uncontrollably.

"Whatever. I guess we could have a double battle with you too…though we were really just wanting to battle Ash."

Pulling Drew back onto the water and flying type, Ash blushed again. "Um, thanks, I guess. Drew's a really good battler too, though."

"Really good?" Drew sounded incredulous. "I'm one of the best!" He flicked his hair from his eyes and gave the girls the best uncaring gaze he could muster, but they didn't appear impressed.

"If you're so good then why haven't I seen you on T.V. in the leagues?" the brunette challenged.

"I'm on T.V. all the time for contests! I don't waste my time with silly league battling."

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Ash."

"Anyway, if it means that we can battle with Ash Ketchum, then you can battle with us. Just don't get in the way or anything."

Drew narrowed his eyes.

"Do you guys wanna battle out here or on the shore?" Ash questioned. Squinting, he could make out the coast about a mile away. "It might be easier for you to call out your Pokémon."

"Sounds good," the girls agreed, giggling. The blond one took a pokéball from beneath the water and opened it, unleashing a large Wailmer. The whale Pokémon's presence instantly interrupted the calm waters, and Ash, Drew, and Pikachu held onto Gyarados tightly as the women climbed aboard the massive water Pokémon.

"How about we make this fun too? First one to the shore gets to send out their Pokémon after the loser."

"Alright," Ash complied, Drew nodding too. The Wailmer was really large and wide, giving his thin, snakelike Gyarados the advantage. "Just say when you're ready."

"Go!" cried out the girls simultaneously.

"What?" They were already well on their way to the shoreline. "How is it going that fast?"

"I dunno, but I think they tricked us."

"Oh man!" Ash slapped himself on the forehead. "I shoulda known there was a catch. Gyarados, follow them!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So it looks like in Sinnoh they spend even more money to keep up their gyms than we do in Kanto," Misty concluded, putting down the calculator. "Did you write down all the numbers I gave you May?"

The brunette looked down at the sheets she'd been hurriedly scribbling numbers upon for the past couple of hours. "Yep, it looks like we've pretty much covered every gym. I didn't know there were so many different things gym leaders had to take care of. No wonder Dad's always tired!"

"It's pretty stressful. Of course, it's even more stressful when you have to pay for it all by yourself."

"I bet." May sighed. "I wish I'd known how hard Dad's had it the past few years. When I started my journey, I just thought the money they sent me was nothing. Everyone always treats gym leaders like they're important, so I always thought we had a lot of money. I didn't know he was always working so hard for so little."

"Don't blame yourself for that," Misty consoled. "Your dad wouldn't have wanted you to know. He wouldn't want Max to know either, I'm sure."

"Why wouldn't he?" May's voice was quieter, and Misty could feel true regret emanate from her tone.

"Because he wanted you to go live your dream. If you knew about how much money it cost him to run the gym, would you have left?"

May shook her head. "I couldn't have done that to him."

"Then that's why he wouldn't have told you. He didn't like the idea of making you choose between what you wanted and the gym. I'm sure it's the same reason that Max doesn't know about any of this."

"How do you know all this though?"

"Well…I guess I don't know exactly. I lost my mom and dad when I was really young, and I don't really have any memories of them except for pictures."

May's eyes widened. "Oh Misty! I didn't know that! I'm so sorry."

The redhead gave a weak smile. "There's nothing to be sorry about. It's not like you said anything mean. The reason I even brought it up though is because sometimes…I dunno. Sometimes I just imagine what my parents would have been like if they were still alive, and whenever I'm busy working at the gym and doing tons of stuff that usually adults only do, I like to think that they would be doing it instead of me; that they would've sent me off to have my own journey with my own friends, and taken care of the gym like they did when they were alive. In my mind, at least, that's what parents are supposed to do. They're supposed to work hard so their kids can have a nice childhood. That's what I think your parents were doing too."

"That makes sense. But I promise I didn't know that about you. I can't imagine not…well, you know."

"Really, it's no problem. It's actually a little nice to talk with someone about it."

"You could always talk with Ash."

Misty shrugged. "That's true. Maybe I will someday." Her expression suddenly brightened. "But we shouldn't be talking about all of this anyway. It's a beautiful day outside! I think we've worked hard enough, don't you?"

"Yeah, if you don't wanna talk anymore." The coordinator felt hesitant to end the discussion so soon. It felt as if Misty were holding back.

"I already said I'm done May. Now come on! We can meet up with the boys and see if they've actually caught anything."

May closed several of the small ledger books in front of her. "Alright! I'll go get on my swim suit. I just bought one and wanted to see what Drew thought of it anyway."

"I'm sure he'll like it," Misty giggled.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"This is it, Mr. Sinnoh Champion," mocked Lucy, the blond, from across the beach. "You're down to your last Pokémon."

"Sorry about that, Ash."

"Why'd you attack _my _Pokémon?"

"Roserade was just having trouble aiming because he got in the way. Why were you using a Pidgey anyway?"

"I don't wanna use my strongest Pokémon against a couple of regular trainers."

"Well, they're not exactly regular. Use a good Pokémon now!"

"Are you two gonna keep talking or can we get this battle over with?" Rachel questioned, gently tossing her pokéball to a steady rhythm. "For a champion, you sure aren't much of a challenge."

A general series of "ooh"s and "ah"s came from the crowd on the beach who awaited the raven-haired teen's next move.

"You're not as nice as you were before," Ash noted.

"Would you have battled a couple of mean trainers who knew they were better than you?"

"Probably not."

"Then you know why we acted like we did. Now call out your last Pokémon so we can crush it!"

Ash tightened his fist. Despite their naïveté, he couldn't take a challenge lying down. Instantly he felt the fire of competition surge through his body and he snapped his head to the right. "Pikachu, are you ready to take them down?"

The small Pokémon jumped from his shoulder, cheeks already sending off warning sparks. "Pikachu!"

"Then let's go!" He pointed forward and his loyal Pokémon ran onto the improvised field, alongside the taller grass and poison type.

"Oh look. It's the little electric mouse. I dunno why it's done so well in the past, but it's not going to have it so easy against my Pokémon. Isn't that right Houndoom?"

The fire type snarled and bared his teeth at Pikachu in response.

"It looks like Pikachu will be a fun chew toy. Don't you think, Ursaring?"

The bear Pokémon eyed the electric type with a look of pure disinterest as the crowd took sides. Though the vast majority seemed to be rooting for Ash and Drew, there was a vocal minority, probably friends of the women, Ash assumed, who seemed quite intent on seeing the champion's demise there on the beach.

"Start things off with a Thunderbolt!"

A torrent of sand whirled into the air as the attack surged across and towards the formidable normal type. The Ursaring yelped in pain and tried to raise his arms in self-defense as the will to fight left him.

"No you don't! Houndoom, flame that little rat!"

Opening his jaw, the fire and dark type created a sphere of fiery power, from which a jet of flames suddenly emitted.

"Agility!"

Pikachu ended his attack and tried to move, but the sand caused him to instead tumble and fall as the fire engulfed his small body.

"Chu!"

"Roserade, Stun Spore!"

"Rose!" The Pokémon put forth her red petals and instantly shrouded the fire type in thousands of paralysis-inducing specks, causing immediate alarm for the fire type as he stopped the attack.

"Don't give in to a weak Stun Spore! Just shoot some more fire at the Roserade!"

He turned his attention to the grass and poison type, but before he could make another move, a moan of pain came in place of the anticipated fire attack.

"Good, he's paralyzed," Drew informed Ash. However, the champion was much too concerned about the state of his friend to hear the good news. The Ursaring was clumsily lumbering towards his still-facedown electric type, and he wasn't sure if the match should continue.

"Pikachu! Can you get up?"

The Pokémon remained silent for another moment, and Ash prepared to call the end of his involvement. Before he did, though, Pikachu lifted his head slightly and looked up at the bear-like creature before him. Without a command, the singed electric mouse flipped onto his back and electrical shocks emerged from beneath his body, protecting him and injuring the normal type at the same time.

"What's going on?"

"It's Pikachu's Counter Shield we learned in Sinnoh," Ash explained. He had to admire the little Pokémon's ingenuity...it was as if he could be his own Pokémon trainer during battle.

Given adequate space, Pikachu ended the defensive move and flipped back onto his four paws.

_The sand won't let us use speed, so we'll have to stick with power instead. _Ash assumed that wouldn't be too difficult for his Pokémon to manage considering how worked up he appeared after taking the hit from Houndoom. _In fact, he looks more determined now than before._

"Drew, you take care of Ursaring! Pikachu, hit Houndoom with another Thunderbolt!"

"Pika-chuuuu!" Another blast of energy shot across the sand, and before Ursaring could intervene, Drew commanded a powerful Solarbeam attack which shot off almost immediately under the withering midday heat. In a matter of seconds, both of the opponents' Pokémon were down, and Pikachu and Roserade ended their coordinated attacks.

"I think your Pokémon are finished," Drew remarked coolly, not even waiting for the girls to answer before returning his grass and poison type. "Told you I'd win."

"Great job Pikachu!" Ash congratulated, running onto the battlefield and petting his Pokémon on the head as the audience clapped and cheered at the exciting, though rather obvious, turnout of the battle. Looking up, Ash saw the two women embarrassedly return their own creatures, blushes prominent on their faces. Out of respect, he stood up and walked over to them, hand out. "You two fought a good battle. That was pretty fun!"

Rachel shakily held out her hand as she listened to taunts from many of the audience members. Whoever had been rooting for the two before were obviously no longer interested in showing their support. "Th-thanks."

"Just don't be so overconfident. It's great to be sure of yourself, but that doesn't mean you should think you're better than everyone else."

"I guess you're right. Sorry."

"Yeah, sorry," intruded Lucy. "We're normally not like this, but I guess our competitive natures got the better of us battling a champion and all."

"No problem. Keep training your Pokémon and maybe we'll battle again someday!"

"Uh, Ash. Who are they?" A tap on the shoulder followed the inquiry, and Ash immediately recognized the redhead's voice.

"Hey Mist! This is Lucy and Rachel. Me and Drew were just battling them for fun. You should have seen it!"

"So are you guys done catching the Pokémon then?"

"What?"

"Well, if you guys are playing around on the beach, then I guess you've already found the water Pokémon for Drew and May, right?"

"Yeah, Drew. Where's our Pokémon?"

Ash glanced nervously back at Drew, who was, at present, holding his arms out in defense from May.

"For your information, we actually did find some good Pokémon. Right Ash?"

Silently, Ash was just thanking the heavens that the crowd seemed to have mostly dispersed by this point as the girls appeared ready to pounce. However, he resolutely nodded, praying that Drew had actually caught something when he wasn't paying attention. "Of course we did. We didn't just start playing around and forget what we were doing." The nervous laughter accompanying the statement didn't seem to help change his girlfriend's mind, though.

"Fine then. Let's see what you caught."

"What's that?" Drew screamed pointing behind Misty's head. Everyone, including Pikachu, turned around to see what he mentioned, and the second they did, the sound of a pokéball opening pierced the relative quiet.

"There's nothing there," May noted, as she turned and found Drew wading into the shallow waves. "Drew, what are you doing?"

"Oh, I just dropped the pokéball with your new Pokémon by accident." Bending over, he grabbed the spherical object and slowly made his way back over to the brunette. "See? Didn't I tell you that I'd get you a water Pokémon?"

May gave the coordinator a skeptic look, along with her redheaded companion. "Is that what the sound was a second ago when we were looking away?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Never mind. Let me see what you caught." She held out her hand and Drew hesitated.

"Are you sure you don't wanna wait and make it a surprise? I mean, maybe it'd be more fun if I gave it to you over a candlelit dinner, right?"

"That _does_ sound nice," May cooed. She almost appeared dazed as he brushed some of his hair from in front of his eyes and gave the girl a small wink.

Misty rolled her eyes. "She's fooled too easily. Did you catch any Pokémon?"

Ash appeared worried for a moment before suddenly changing his expression to one of surprise. "Whoa! What's that over there!" He pointed in the same general direction as Drew, but this time the redhead wasn't fooled. She gave the boy a slap in the back of his head.

"Ouch!"

"Did you really think I was dumb enough to fall for that trick again?"

"I dunno…maybe?" He shrugged and then ducked as she took another swing. "Calm down, Misty! I was just joking. No, I didn't catch anything."

"Then it looks like I win our bet."

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"No!"

"Yeah!"

"No you didn't! The bet was that me and Drew wouldn't find any rare water Pokémon for the contest, and he did, so we win!" The sulking look which overtook Misty's features made Ash grin widely. "Have fun looking for a Sableye in that dark cave. Be careful too. I remember there were a lot of Zubat last time I went there."

Misty narrowed her eyes. "You haven't won yet, Ketchum." She walked over to May and Drew, who appeared to be avoiding the other two altogether as they held their squabble. "Drew, I'd really like to see that Pokémon now, please."

"Sorry, but we already decided I'd show May when we went to supper this evening." He gave her a smug grin and winked at Ash. "You can find out what we caught when we-"

He was interrupted as Misty quickly snatched the pokéball from his loose grasp. "Wait! No!"

She threw the pokéball forward, and after the light from the release died down all that remained was a Tentacool, wobbling on the sandy ground as he tried using his small tentacles as legs.

"Rare Pokémon, huh?" She shot Ash her own victorious smirk. "I think this means that we win the bet."

"You lied to me!" May shouted, ignoring the victory gained. She turned to Drew and began to berate her boyfriend for his sin.

"I guess I'm lucky I didn't lie," Ash mentioned as May's screaming garnered the attention of many a passerby.

"Yeah, but you still didn't do what I wanted, so it looks like _you're_ going in the cave and doing research tomorrow."

Turning to her, Ash stopped himself before retaliation could force its way through his lips. He hadn't noticed when he thought Misty was going to murder him, but his brain seemed to finally register the blue bikini which his girlfriend had adorned for her trip to the beach. Gulping, he strained his neck looking directly at the sky, afraid she'd caught him staring.

"What's the matter with you?" She tapped him on the shoulder, but he still kept his head high.

"Nothing, I just thought I saw an airplane or something."

Misty squinted her eyes. "What are you? Two years old?"

The question helped Ash refocus. Returning her challenge this time, he glared down at her. "Just because I wanna see a plane doesn't make me a two year old, Mist."

"Well it does when you just stop paying attention in the middle of conversation! I said something to you, and then you looked at me, and then you…oh." A small blush creeped upon Misty's cheeks as she replayed the small scene in her head.

_No wonder he started acting so weird._

She forced the blush away and smiled instead. Though he still drove her crazy in his own way, she'd slowly begun to master the art of attraction, and was starting to enjoy abusing this newfound power on her boyfriend. "Ash, why did you stop looking at me?" She gave him a small dose of innocence with the inquiry, instantly making the trainer uncomfortable.

Looking down at his feet, he stumbled over a small apology.

"What are you sorry for?" She almost couldn't stop the laughter which rose in her as she saw him continue to stare at his own bare feet guiltily.

_He looks like a kid who got caught stealing candy._

"Oh, um, nothing," he muttered.

"Well then why aren't you looking at me now? Do you not like looking at me?"

"What?" His head shot up and he locked eyes with her. "Are you crazy? Look at you!"

Now Misty couldn't fight the laughter back any longer, which instantly alarmed Ash.

"Did I say something wrong? What's so funny?"

"You are!" She pointed at him as she tried to catch her breath. "You-you should have seen the look on your face when I asked you that. It was like I'd told you Pikachu was drowning or something."

"Wait…so you're _not_ angry that I was looking?" This was new. Though he'd admired women from afar for many years already, he'd never been caught, and he'd never imagined they'd be fine with his gawking.

"Of course not Ash," she moved closer to him, giving him a small smile. "You're my boyfriend." She began to lean in towards him, but was unexpectedly interrupted as he shoved her backward.

"What was that for?"

"Look over there." He gave a slight jerk to the right, where several spectators were watching the two closely, as well as one man with a camera. "I think they're with the press."

Misty wanted to go kill the awkward stalkers for ruining the couple's moment, but she instead redirected her anger at its usual target. "Why don't we just kiss and get it over with, then? I'm sick of keeping this a secret. You keep telling me we're gonna go ahead and tell everybody, but you never do! I'm sick of it Ketchum!" She kept her voice low enough so that she wouldn't be heard too far off, but still managed to light the fear within her boyfriend's eyes with her low growling.

"A little more time, Mist. That's all I'm asking for."

She huffed. "Fine, but if it's really that important that no one knows what's going on between us, then I won't be talking to you for the rest of the day."

"Why?"

"If they see us talking, they might start to get suspicious, and I can't afford another stupid rumor getting started about me."

"I'm really sorry, Misty. I-"

"Don't talk to me again until after you finally decide to tell the truth." She marched off into the shallow water, and May tagged along moments later.

Drew walked up beside Ash, both young men looking dazed.

"I see Misty wasn't that happy with you either, huh?"

"Nope. How was May?"

"Well, I'm not sure. After she informed everyone within a three mile radius of why I'm a terrible boyfriend and a big liar, she told me not to talk to her again until I apologize."

"Misty's not talking to me either." Ash sat down in the sand and sighed. Pikachu came and nuzzled into his master's chest reassuringly. "Why don't you just apologize to her then? At least it's easy to fix your problem."

"Are you kidding?" Drew asked, taking a seat next to the dark-haired champion. "After all that work I did catching her a nice Pokémon? I'm gonna apologize? No way!"

Ash raised his eyebrows. "You do remember that you caught a Tentacool, right? And also you didn't even catch it at sea."

"Still, she can't prove that," Drew retorted. "As far as she knows, I spent all day out in the blistering sun and humongous, crashing waves trying to find her the perfect Pokémon."

"…and that Pokémon was a Tentacool?"

"Shut up."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"See you boys later," May informed as she and Misty walked out of the hotel, large t-shirts covering their swimsuits. The two girls were also wearing sunhats and sandals, and appeared ready for a day of fun. "Hope your wrists don't cramp."

Drew grit his teeth at his girlfriend's voice. Ash simply waited to see if Misty would recognize his presence.

"Hey Mist. Hope you have a fun day today."

"Did you hear something May?"

"I don't think so Misty."

"I dunno. It kinda sounded like a guy who's too afraid to tell everyone he has a beautiful, wonderful girlfriend."

May shot her eyebrows up in mock surprise. "Who wouldn't want to tell everybody that?"

"Some moron, probably. Oh well." The redhead shrugged and the two completed their exit.

Drew stared at Ash for a minute, considering what he should say to the embarrassed teenage boy. "That was hard to watch."

Ash resisted the urge to punch the coordinator in the nose. "It's not like May was any nicer."

"Yeah, but at least she knows that I exist."

"Can we just work on this list?" Ash flapped the small piece of paper, upon which was written all the information the two needed to collect, in front of the green-haired teen's face. "After this we still have to go to the caves."

"Fine by me," he answered.

Ash turned on the computer and the two soon got to work. After an hour, they were already through most of the list, and the tension had died down.

"I don't know why they were complaining about this," Ash bragged, clicking on another link. "This is so easy. You just click a button and all the information you need pops up on the screen!"

Drew agreed. "I think they're just lazy."

"Well, we're not. I think we got everything Misty wrote down."

"Great! Let's get to the caves!" Drew stood up and appeared ready to sprint out the door, but Ash shook his head.

"We can't go yet, I still have something I need to do before we leave."

"What is it?"

"I have to make a phone call real quick. Why're you in such a hurry to leave anyway? I would've thought you'd be afraid of a Zubat flying in your hair or something."

The slightly mortified expression which temporarily made itself known on the coordinator's face helped Ash to realize he'd never considered this possibility. However, he quickly regained his composure. "I just wanna hurry because maybe we'll have time to get to the beach before the girls get back."

"Why? You want to watch May not talk to you some more."

"Ha, ha, Ash. Maybe you could have fun while Misty pretends that you're not there." Ash scowled, and Drew continued. "Did you _see_ May yesterday?"

Ash shook his head. In all honesty, his attention had been all on his own girlfriend.

"She got a new bikini…so, yeah."

"Oh…" Though it took him a moment, he finally understood what the coordinator meant. "I wouldn't mind seeing Misty again either, now that you mention it."

"Why? Was she wearing something, um, nice?"

Ash gave a goofy smirk in return. He almost felt like Brock, and the thought helped him regain his senses. "Uh, yeah. It was pretty…nice."

Drew grinned. "Well then hurry up with this phone call. We might be invisible to them, but at least they're not to us!"

Ash laughed and walked over to the phones on the other side of the lobby. He was grateful that the hotel was relatively empty this late in the spring, because he would have hated for someone to hear how the conversation turned out if Dawn did indeed answer. Picking up the receiver, he dialed the number from memory after doing it so often the last few weeks.

_Come on, Dawn. Pick up!_

Despite his commands though, the blue-haired girl remained infuriatingly absent as the call went to her voicemail.

"Hi! This is Dawn! You've missed me, but no need to worry! I'll call you back as soon as I can. Bye!"

The beep followed, and Ash cleared his throat. "Dawn, this is Ash…again. Listen, Dawn, I can't keep this a secret much longer, alright? Misty's really upset, and I can't blame her. I've called you every day because I don't wanna have to hurt your feelings. I still really wanna be best friends, like we were before all of this, but everyone's gonna find out soon. I want you to tell them, so it looks like this is your choice, but if you don't, then I won't have an option. Well, bye." He hung up and sighed.

_I can't believe I lost a friend because of all this._

"I guess you kinda miss her, huh?"

Ash looked up. "Yeah. I just wish things could go back to how they were before she told, or uh, _showed_ me how she felt. We were great friends!"

"That stinks." Drew shook his head. "Still, it's not fair to Misty if you keep this a secret. You know that, right?"

"Uh-huh. I promised her we wouldn't wait much longer, and I'm gonna keep that promise."

"Good. Now let's go catch some cave Pokémon and then see my hot girlfriend!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I can't believe the boys had trouble finding nice water Pokémon out here," Misty mentioned atop Starmie. "This is too easy!"

"I know. I don't think they were really trying, though," May explained, mounted on her Glaceon, who's subzero body temperature kept her cool in the baking sun. "I think they were just lazy."

"Probably. So are you happy with what we caught, or do you still wanna keep trying?"

"I think these will definitely do," May replied, holding up two pokéballs. "I can't wait for Drew to see."

"You're gonna start talking to him again?"

"I guess so. After all, he and Ash _are_ doing their end of the deal. It's pretty hard to stay mad at Drew for too long if he doesn't want you to anyway. You're forgiving Ash, right?"

Misty shook her head. "Not until he finally tells everyone about us."

"I'm sure he will soon," May consoled. "He can't have you mad at him forever!"

"I hope not. I don't like not talking to him…it's much more fun yelling at him."

May laughed and the two made their ways back to the shore.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ah! A Zubat!" Drew jumped behind Ash, and the champion rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, Drew? You're still freaking out about what I said earlier? That was just a joke. Zubat won't fly in your hair!"

Drew stepped away and tried to regain his cool demeanor. "I know _that_ Ash. I'm not worried about them flying in my hair…I just don't wanna become a vampire."

Ash just gave the coordinator a pathetic look before moving on. He'd seen his green-haired companion face off against much scarier Pokémon than a Zubat, so it amazed him such petty Pokémon could worry him so.

"Hey Ash! Look over here!" Drew waved frantically. "I think I found what we're looking for!"

_This better not be another weird-shaped rock._

Catching up to Drew's location, though, helped Ash to realize that this time the coordinator was correct. There, in the corner of the cave, was a Sableye; its white eyes glowing in the darkness as it skulked along the rocky wall. Ash resisted the urge to scream at first. Though he'd met many ghost Pokémon throughout his journeys, Sableye were by far the creepiest of the lot.

"Pikachu! Let's give it an Iron Tail!"

The electric Pokémon jumped off of his shoulder and flipped through the air, his tail beginning to glow. At the last second though, as it appeared the battle was already complete, the ghost and dark type suddenly disappeared from view.

"What? Where'd it go?" Ash flung his flashlight in every direction as Pikachu made contact with, and consequently broke through, the rough walls.

After a quiet instant, the silent ghost type sprung down from the ceiling and landed directly behind Pikachu.

"Sable!" With a flourish of his arms, the dark Pokémon created a Shadow Ball attack and shot it into Pikachu's back, sending the electric mouse hurtling several feet. Falling onto his stomach, Pikachu gave a low moan.

"Get up and use Double Team!"

Ever-energetic, Pikachu sprung back to his feet and whipped around, facing his grinning opponent as the flashlight gave him the slightest image of the Sableye's silhouette. The dark type began to create another Shadow Ball, but before he could launch it, Pikachu began running circles around the creature. Soon, it appeared as if there were twenty of the electric type.

"Now give 'im a Thunderbolt!" Ash clinched his fist, confident in the eminent victory.

However, as Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, the ghost made a surprising move. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from sight once again, prompting Pikachu to slow to a stop.

Ash scratched the back of his head after a minute of frantic search with the flashlight once more. "Maybe he really gave up this time."

"Uh, Ash," Drew tugged on the champion's sleeve, and the trainer turned just in time to watch as Sableye came out of the ground beneath his Pokémon's feet. Flying in the air, Pikachu squealed and his opponent began to laugh.

"Are you alright?"

Once again, though, Pikachu easily came back to his feet. Despite his high level of skill, Ash could never help but be amazed at the Pokémon's resilience.

"Alright, then. If he wants to fight like that, then we'll just have to play along. Pikachu, use Thundershock!"

A weak electrical surge left the Pokémon's body, and the Sableye vanished once more. This time, though, Ash wasn't surprised by the action. Instead, he smirked and ordered Pikachu to wait. "We'll see what he does next."

After a small lull, Ash could hear some of the rocks beneath Pikachu's feet began to rattle.

"Agility, now!"

In a literal flash, the Pokémon was on the other side of the cave as Sableye sprung up. For a moment, he held the grin on his face from earlier, but that quickly disappeared after he looked around and didn't find his enemy flying through the air.

"Now use Thunderbolt!"

"Chu!" Releasing the attack as quickly as possible, before the ghost and dark Pokémon could perform another disappearing act, Pikachu was rewarded with the sight of his assault making contact.

"Saaaaaable!" cried the Pokémon in pain as the voltage flowed through his body. Ending the attack, Ash quickly grabbed an empty pokéball and aimed it at his opponent. The ball shook for a couple of seconds, forcing Ash to consider another strategy in case the darkness Pokémon reemerged, but it fortunately ceased its rattling before Pikachu started on another attack.

Punching the air, Ash rejoiced with Pikachu as the pokéball disappeared from sight.

Grabbing the champion by the shoulder, Drew reminded him of the business the two had at hand. "Can we get out of here now? If we hurry, we can still make it to the beach before three."

"Sure Drew." Ash began to make his way towards the exit with the green-haired coordinator when a devilish smirk crossed his face. "Oh my gosh, Drew! Is that a Zubat?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It's actually too bad the boys aren't here," Misty stated, lying beneath the shade of her beach umbrella as her and May's Pokémon frolicked along the shore.

"Really?" May was surprised to hear anything remorseful come from Misty after how much she'd bad-mouthed the two over the last few hours. "Why'd you change your mind?"

"I didn't really change my mind, but I'm pretty thirsty, and I'm sure Ash could get me a drink without screwing it up."

May gave a small laugh, but she was starting to grow weary of all the jabs Misty had been taking at her boyfriend. "Can you really stay mad at him for long Misty? I know you wanna go public and everything, but shouldn't you be kind of proud of him for not wanting to embarrass a friend?"

Before the redhead could answer, her umbrella suddenly fell over and the sun temporarily blinded her.

"Hey!" she cried, shielding her eyes. "What happened?"

"Why're you hiding under an umbrella?" a tall, muscular, blond teenager asked as the gym leader blinked rapidly to regain her sight. "You're pretty pale. You need to get some sun."

"Who are you and why'd you knock over our umbrella?" May asked haughtily as another boy, a redhead with hair to his shoulder, arrived. "We were trying to stay cool."

"I bet you were, considering how hot you are," commented the redheaded boy.

Misty and May both groaned at the lame line. "Just put back up our umbrella and leave us alone."

"We _could_ do that, but I don't think so. Like I said, you're too pale…though I find that attractive in some girls." The blond eyed Misty seductively, and the girl clinched the towel beneath her palm as she fought the urge to smack him. "My name's Chip, and this is my friend Guy."

"'Sup?" Guy inquired, giving May a small nod of approval. "You wanna go hang out?"

"Hang out with you guys?" May asked incredulously.

"Yeah. We were thinking about maybe grabbing some drinks, and we couldn't help but overhear your small conversation."

Misty rolled her eyes. "No thanks, _Chip_. We already have boyfriends."

"Yeah, and it sounds like they're in the Growlithe house for something. If you were my girl, I'd never do anything to make you mad."

"Really? Because you're doing a good job of it right now," shot back the teenage girl.

"You need to relax. I'm just saying that maybe this guy doesn't know how good he's got it. You deserve someone who appreciates you." He gave her a wink.

"My boyfriend appreciates me." Misty remarked curtly. "Don't worry about that. Now just put back up our umbrella."

Instead of heeding her command, however, Chip instead took a seat next to the redhead. Guy followed suit and sat next to May.

"How about we just talk for a little while, then? I don't even know your lovely name." He held out his hand, but Misty ignored it. "Oh, I see. Playing hard to get, huh?"

"Look, I'm not gonna tell you again. Get away from me _now_." Misty balled her fist, ready to take her threat to the next level when a voice from behind caught her attention.

"Hey Misty!"

Turning, she was relieved to find Ash and Drew running towards the two.

"Who're your new friends?"

Misty shook her head. "These aren't our friends. They were just leaving, actually."

"That's right," May agreed, eyeing Guy with all the ferocity she could muster.

_Too bad I can't be as scary as Misty_.

"Actually, I'm not done sitting yet. Me and this girl, Misty, were just getting to know each other a little better."

"So were me and this little cutie."

Ash and Drew eyed each other with indecipherable expressions. Drew was the first to react.

"What'd you say you were doing with _my_ girlfriend." He took a few steps closer and looked down at Guy. "I didn't catch it the first time."

For an instant, the redhead appeared nervous, but he quickly recovered and shot Drew an easy smirk. "Well if what I heard was right, you won't hold that position much longer. She says you're a bad boyfriend."

"I never told you that!"

"You were talking about it when you and Marcie were fishing in the ocean earlier," Chip explained. "That's how we found out how unhappy you two girls are with your boyfriends."

"What are you? Stalkers?" Misty inquired. "And my name's not Marcie!"

"Whatever." Chip stood up, once again with Guy following his lead. "Besides, these two boyfriends of yours sure don't look very tough. You deserve someone who can look out for you."

Ash gave a slight gulp. Though he was no wimp, both of the teenage boys stood a head above he and Drew. However, the image of Misty sitting with another man reentered his mind's eye, and instantly any hesitance was forgotten as he approached the almost-gigantic blond.

"I'm a lot tougher than you think," he informed, looking up.

Chip simply began to laugh. "You're alright, but not that tough. Me and Guy are pretty big basketball stars around here. You can't compete with that. Ladies love the athletes, you know? It's nothing personal, but we're just really popular and handsome."

"Don't try starting something you can't finish," Guy warned. "They're our girlfriends now."

"We can't compete with you?" Drew spat, beginning to laugh. "Don't you guys watch Pokémon battles like everyone else in the world?"

Chip shook his head. "Pokémon training's stupid."

"You don't watch contests either, then?"

"What am I? Gay?"

"That's it!" Drew lunged forward, surprising everyone as his fist made contact with the right side of the redhead's jaw. The teen was forced into a slight spin before he could regain his sense of direction. Turning back to the green-haired coordinator, he rubbed the side of his face thoughtfully for a moment.

"Drew! What are you doing?" May asked, standing up and getting in front of her boyfriend.

"Don't you hurt him!" she warned the brutish opponent.

Guy put his hand down. "Too late for that." Sidestepping May, he gave Drew a direct blow to the gut, instantly knocking the wind out of May's boyfriend, and forcing Ash to action.

"Hang on!" he called, reaching out to stop Guy before he could deliver another blow. However, before he could make it, Chip grabbed him by the shoulder.

"I can't let you hurt my friend," he informed. Ash turned, but before he could realize what was happening, he felt himself fall to the ground. Chip sneered from what appeared to be miles above, and the champion's blood began to boil.

Getting back onto his feet, he rushed the surprised basketball player and tackled him into the sand.

"Ash!" Misty called worriedly. She'd never seen Ash actually lose his temper and hit someone before.

The trainer lifted his gloved fist, ready to bring it down, but before he could, Guy made a surprise appearance from behind and held back his arm before folding it backwards.

"Ahhhh!" Ash cried as his elbow felt ready to snap. His cry was followed by a moan as Chip took the opportunity to punch him upside the jaw.

"I'll help you, Ash!" cried Drew, bleeding from the mouth and nose slightly. He ran over, but Guy was too quick for him once again, half-turning and backhanding the green-haired teen in the face. He was given a shock, though, when he turned back to Ash and suddenly felt himself being pushed down. Looking up, he found Misty helping her boyfriend back to his feet.

"Misty, quit helping! I was just about to get a hit!"

Unfortunately, it was too late as Chip had already gotten back to his feet. He put his fists in front of his body and bounced around a little, imitating a boxer. "You gonna give up?"

"No way!" Ash declared, shaking himself loose from Misty's grip. He put up his own fists, feeling slightly ridiculous since he'd rarely ever been involved in fist-fights before. However, his pride quickly converted that embarrassment into determination as he gave the blond a right hook.

"Whoa!" Chip backed away slightly as the fist went rushing by. "Nice try, little man."

Ash narrowed his eyes and went in for another hit, this time making partial contact with the blond's chin.

"That's it," Chip muttered, retaliating with a lightning-quick jab to Ash's mouth.

The trainer fought back the urge to cry in pain as he tasted a tinge of blood roll down his tongue. Instead, he refocused the anger on another blow; this time to the stomach.

Doubling over slightly, Chip got ready to fight back, but before he could make another move, a passerby interjected and broke up the tussle.

"What's going on here?" cried an elderly woman as she walked over to the fighting teenagers. Ash and Chip looked over at the lady, and Drew and Guy temporarily ended their roll around the sand to glance up at the old woman.

"Why are you boys behaving in such a way?" she bellowed, slowly walking over to them. She picked Drew up and off of his opponent, and then stood in between Ash and Chip. The bloodied fighters eyed each other skeptically. "What would your mothers think if they saw you acting like this?"

Soon, her small sermon garnered the attention of many a passerby on the beach.

"Young people these days don't know how to respect each other. That's their problem. Why, back in my day young men such as yourselves would settle a tussle in a much more civil manner, like a Pokémon battle, or a nice game of chess."

"Really Grandma?" Chip asked, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, and don't call me Grandma. We're not related."

"Wait a minute. That's Ash Ketchum!" cried a young boy from the growing crowd. Perhaps it had taken longer to recognize the trainer without his trademark cap and with small traces of blood covering his face, but the inevitable recognition finally occurred.

A young woman squinted at the trainer before covering her mouth. "Oh my gosh, it is!" She reached into her purse and pulled out a cell phone, instantly texting at a thousand words per minute to any number of friends.

"You're the young man from the television, aren't you?" the old woman asked peering up at Ash, apparently unimpressed by his fame.

"Yes ma'am." He began to blush as several people in the crowd realized that the old woman was not only chewing out men twice her size, but was actually putting a Pokémon champion on his heels. "I'm the Sinnoh Champion."

She put her hands on her hips and gave Ash a stern look. "Then you of all people should know better! You're a role model for young children." She pointed to a group of young giggling kids to prove her point. "How do you think they feel finding out their hero is some kind of gangster getting in fights on the beach?"

"I'm not a gangster!"

"Well what kind of hooligan are you to be fist-fighting in public?"

"A hooligan?" He heard Misty snort in laughter behind him. Turning around he gave her a sharp glare. "Yeah, Mist, laugh away." Giving his attention back to the older woman he indignantly folded his arms. "I was actually fighting him about her, believe it or not."

"Oh, so this was about a woman."

"Misty Waterflower!" someone declared from within the growing crowd. Some lights began to flash as well as several people took out their cameras. "I can't believe it. I guess the rumors are true."

Misty and Ash both began to blush as even more people started taking pictures and yelling questions. It seemed that the only thing keeping them from mauling the teenagers was the old woman, who seemed to possess an odd air of respectability despite her outward appearance.

"I can't say I'm surprised. Back in my day, I used to have boys fight over me all the time too." She gave Misty a sly wink. "And a beauty like her certainly doesn't come along very often. But still, you two are role models and should act as such." She poked both men in the chest with her index finger. "Now shake hands and leave each other alone. You too over there!" she shouted to Drew and Guy, who begrudgingly held out their hands.

"Fine. It isn't worth this kind of trouble anyway," Chip mentioned, firmly taking Ash's hand. "I didn't know I was messing with a celebrity. I don't need a bunch of death threats in the mail." He skulked away, with the redhead following close behind.

"So Mr. Ketchum, why did you say you were fighting that young man?" asked a middle-aged woman in a pantsuit, emerging from the crowd with a recorder in her hand. Ash instantly recognized her as a local news anchor.

_What do I say?_

As he prepared to explain the platonic feelings between himself and Misty, the gym leader appeared and answered for him.

"That guy was bugging me and my friend May and wouldn't leave us alone. When Drew and Ash got here, they asked the guys to leave, and they still wouldn't, and then things just got out of hand. That's all."

"I see…" the reporter answered, obviously disappointed. "So then is there anything to this rumor that you two are in a relationship?"

Ash's muscles tensed at the question as the onlookers quieted to hear his response. However, once again Misty intervened.

"Not at all, we're just-"

"Misty, stop." Ash couldn't stand to hear his own girlfriend utter those words. Suddenly, hearing her say them made them seem almost scarily…real. In an instant, he understood why she hated keeping their feelings a secret from everyone.

"What?" She gazed at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.

_Isn't this what you want?_

Ash gently reached over and grabbed his girlfriend's hand. Giving it a gentle squeeze, he smiled at the reporter. "I have the best girlfriend anyone could want right here."

A few members of the crowd began to declare that they "knew it", and several more flashes came from the group as the two continued to hold hands. The reporter's eyes grew wide, along with Misty's, and she started rattling off several more inquiries, which Ash quickly answered.

"No, of course she's not pregnant."

"We're not married."

"Dawn is not my girlfriend. That was just a mistake."

After that, he, Drew, Misty, and May quickly grabbed the girls' things and headed back to the hotel, dodging autograph-hungry fans and question-loaded reporters.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Finally making it back to her room, Ash and Misty bid the other two a temporary farewell before closing and locking the door behind them.

"I can't believe all the people looking for us!" Ash went over to the window and partially cracked the blinds. Sure enough, dozens of people with pencils and paper were being refused entrance by the owner of the hotel. "It's like they're a mob."

"Why'd you finally decide to tell, Ash?"

"Huh?" He turned back and found the redhead sitting on the edge of her bed. "What?"

"Why'd you tell that reporter the truth all of a sudden? I mean, I'm glad, but it surprised me after all this time."

Ash sighed. Why did she always need to know why he did things? Couldn't he just do something without having to explain the feelings which led him to doing it? Nevertheless, the expression on her face assured him she wouldn't let this go, so he took a seat beside her and grabbed her hand.

"I didn't like hearing you say that."

"Say what?"

"That we were just friends. When you were explaining what happened to the reporter, and you almost said that, I…felt scared."

Misty looked worried. "You know that I was just lying for you, right?"

"Of course, but it didn't help. It was like hearing you say it was still too real for me, and then it hit me that that's why you haven't liked keeping it a secret either. This whole time I've been the one doing the denying, and I couldn't understand why it was so hard on you, but when you were answering, it was like I finally got it."

Misty gave a small smile. "I think I know what you mean. May actually stuck up for you and said that you were just being a good friend to Dawn, and that made me think. When I saw that reporter asking you, and saw how torn you were, I just couldn't make you choose between being a boyfriend or a loyal friend."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I guess the same thing did happen to you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to figure it out, though."

"Well, to be fair, it took both of us a while this time." Misty laughed. "You're usually wrong, like ninety percent of the time, but I guess this time I was kinda not right either."

Ash laughed too. "I need to get a recording of you saying that."

After a moment, Misty asked another question bugging her. "Why did you and Drew even come to the beach anyway? I thought you guys had a lot of work to do."

"Well, we finished your computer stuff really quick. It wasn't hard for us like it was for you guys."

Misty's temper flared a little at the insinuation. "Of course it wasn't for you. All the stuff I asked you to look up was stuff I can't because I'm only a gym leader. Do you know how many times me and May had to call and ask for special permission just for stupid information?"

"Oh, alright. That explains it. Drew thought we were just smarter than you, but I told him we weren't."

"He's such a moron," Misty muttered.

"Anyway, we did that and then we caught the two Pokémon pretty quickly and then we went to the beach."

"But why would you go to the beach if you knew we were mad at you guys still?"

Ash blushed. "Oh, um. Well, you see, Drew said that we were invisible to you, but at least you weren't invisible to, uh, us. You know?"

Misty scratched her head, trying to understand. "Why would you-? Oh…" A blush streaked across her face too, but Ash mistook its meaning.

"I'm so sorry Misty! I promise I won't ever look again, really! I was just listening to stupid Drew, and like you said, he's a moron, and-"

"Ash, Ash, calm down," Misty tightened her grip on his hand as she laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not mad. It's just a little embarrassing to think that someone wants to…see me, I guess. I'm still getting used to the idea of someone thinking I'm pretty."

"Pretty? You're beautiful!" Ash almost sounded agitated.

Her blush deepened.

"I already told you I liked how you looked yesterday, remember? Why are you still acting like it's news. Everyone knows you look awesome!"

"Thanks Ash," she replied simply, pushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear. Looking down at the large t-shirt which now covered her swim suit, she felt a little silly. "I guess this isn't the view you were looking for then, huh?"

This time Ash laughed a little.

"What is it?"

"I dunno. It's weird, but it's like I think you're just pretty no matter what. Even in just that."

Misty resisted the urge to jump the young man. It was as if he could say no wrong. However, her attention as she faced him turned to the small cuts and bruises lining his face and arms.

"I wish you hadn't gotten in that fight." She lightly ran a finger along his jaw, which was already turning a dark shade.

"I'm sorry, but it was just too much. I saw him flirting with you, and then he knocked me down, and things just got out of control. I hate fighting like that, but it was like I couldn't control it, you know?"

She gently cupped his cheek. "I know. Let's go get you fixed up." Leading him by the hand, the two headed to the bathroom for bandages and ice.

"Maybe when we're done you can admire my beauty for a while."

"Don't get too full of yourself Mist."

* * *

Author's Notes: Rough chapter to get out, but I'm hoping all of my effort (no joke, at least a dozen hours) paid off. I fixed and re-wrote entire parts of this installment in editing (would have been out last week originally), but I think this was pretty good.

Anyway, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed with myself. Believe it or not, I think this small (unintentional) break was good. It gave me some perspective on where the fic is going. I've finally written back my reviewers, but that's not going to garner more readers. My views have fallen by a bit the last few updates, and reviews are significantly lower (average of 24, while three chapters ago the average was about 40). So I've decided to do a few things. First of all, I'm going to ask that all of my loyal readers continue to give reviews. As we all know, the more reviews a fic has, the more likely a passerby on the site is to click on it (more reviews = more respect). Also, I've been promoting this fic on a few websites I'm a member of, and I would greatly appreciate any of my fans' help in spreading the word of this fic on any fansites they might be a part of if they enjoy this story (of course, haha). Of course, I also plan to keep my updates going at a regular pace from now on as well.

The entire reason I write this is because I see pokeshipping as a viable ship, and I want to propel this story's trajectory in the right direction so that we can show others the same idea. I've "converted" dozens already into accepting, or at least respecting, this matching, but we can only continue to do this if the story continues to gain new fans. While this is just a hobby, I also see it as a small business (Econ major, haha), and I really want it to grow and flourish under the AAML philosophy. Please help this small enterprise continue to thrive as you have in the past.

Also, before I let you go, I have one last request from my readers. If ANY of you draws fanart, could you please let me know? I had an artist for a couple of months, but lost them and their work, and I really have a couple of ideas (at least one) that I'd love to have drawn up. I could care less if you're really good…I just need it to be recognizable.

Thank you so much if you've read all this. Expect a new update in two weeks!


	36. Old Friend, or Old Enemy?

**Hey Everybody!** Well, a week late, but here is the next chapter! I am actually very happy with how this one came out. Sometimes you just feel good when writing an installment (the plot and dialogue come easily) and this was one of those chapters. I've already started groundwork for the next chapter and fully intend for it to be out on time in two weeks (barring any school shootings, of course).

A couple of things. First, for obvious reasons, I have not written my last reviewers individually (or at least, not all of them). However, I will do so for this chapter, so if I did not respond to your review, please don't give up. I always appreciate your support, but I was just a little too busy getting this chapter ready to find the spare time to write all of you. However, this time I will MAKE time.

Also, I want to remind everyone that if you're a member of any Pokémon-related websites, please bring this fic up to other members if you get the chance. The mission of this fic is to spread the love of AAML to as many people as possible, but that can only happen with your help. Of course, reviews are always helpful too. After asking for a little more review help a few weeks ago, I got a recent record of over thirty reviews in less than 48 hours, so I appreciate y'all's support and love for this fic. Let's see if we can get even more for this chapter! The more reviews a fic has, the more respectability it generally has. Also, the more input you give, the better I can tailor to your wants and needs as readers!

Last of all, I want to give a huge shout-out to my reader **Hikaru-Pichu **for drawing the first scene of my story (where Ash receives the Champion cup in chapter one). Unfortunately, she doesn't have a website, so she e-mailed me the pic directly. I will create a Photobucket account soon so I can upload all fanart for everyone's enjoyment, but for now I've temporarily made her awesome pic into my profile picture so everyone can enjoy. She's agreed to draw several more scenes from the story for me (to help in visualizing the story), as have my other loyal readers **Sapphire Addict **(who is currently drawing my new PERMANENT profile pic), and** iluvpokemon101 **(who's working on a scene from chapter 16). So basically, thank you guys so much! Not many authors are fortunate enough to have people who sacrifice their own leisure time to draw pictures for their story, and I truly count myself fortunate because of them!

Anyway, as always, read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

May awoke from her deep slumber to the sound of a clacking keyboard. Lazily stretching in her sleeping bag, she rolled over and found Misty immersed in Ash's laptop, typing at what appeared to be light speed.

"You sure are dedicated Misty," the tired teen commented, yawning and rubbing her eyes. She reached over for her pokénav and flipped it open. "Already hard at work at six A.M.?"

Misty shook her head, still not taking her eyes away from the screen as she continued clicking away. "Actually this isn't research for the gym leader thing. I'm working on something else right now."

"Really? What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Misty suddenly stopped typing and tilted the screen downwards as May tried to look over.

The brunette blushed in response. "Whoops. Sorry for being so nosy. I shouldn't have just asked like that."

Misty blushed. "Oh, it's not that! You weren't being nosy. It's just that…well, it's a little weird."

May's curiosity piqued, she insisted the redhead tell her. "I promise I'm not gonna laugh at you or anything."

"Well…"

"C'mon, Misty. We're good friends! How can you _not_ tell me?" Despite having just woken up, the brunette's sunny demeanor made the gym leader smile. How could she refuse?

Sighing, Misty opened back up the laptop. "Alright, but remember that you promised not to laugh." After May drew a little "x" across her heart, she continued. "I'm trying to apply for college."

May's excited expression instantly evaporated and was replaced by what appeared to Misty as almost a sulky expression. "That's the secret? I thought you said it was embarrassing. Why would that be embarrassing at all?"

"Why do you sound disappointed?"

May shrugged. "I woke up early to find that out. It's not exactly the most exciting thing, you know?"

Misty laughed at the girl's frustration.

"Why are you keeping this a secret anyway? It's not anything to be humiliated about…it's college!"

Misty shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I just feel a little weird being out here in the forest writing an essay on why someone should let me go to their school. It feels like I'm eleven all over again doing homework on the road with Ash. Also, and you can't let Ash know this, it's kind of hard. I've always thought of myself as pretty smart, but some of the topics for these essays are kind of odd."

"Like what?"

"Well, this one asks me to write about which plant I would be if I could choose and why. _And_ it has to be at least two-thousand words long."

May laughed. "That _is_ kind of a strange question. What did you say?"

"A waterflower, of course." Misty laughed along with May, and Drew began to shuffle in his sleeping bag on the other side of the burned out campfire. The redhead quieted down and motioned for her friend to do the same.

May lowered her voice. "Well, I think it's cool you're thinking about going. Where do you want to go?"

"I'm trying for Vermilion University in Kanto."

"I've never heard of it, but I've been to Vermilion before. It's beautiful there with the beach and everything! Good choice."

"Yeah. Also, Ash said that's where he's going, so it seemed like the first place to try. If they accept me, I wanna try and get on their Pokémon battling team for a scholarship."

May looked slightly puzzled. "A scholarship?"

"Yeah. It's basically when a school pays you to attend their place because of a skill you have. If I can prove that I'm good enough, then they might pay for me to come so I can afford it, you know?"

May grinned. "That's awesome! You're one of the best trainers I know. I'm sure they'll beg you to come."

"Let's see if they even accept me first," Misty remarked with a smile. "Of course, I'd really appreciate it if you kept this quiet for now."

"You really shouldn't be embarrassed just because you're having trouble. I bet Ash'd be proud of you!"

"It's not that, to tell the truth. I just don't want everyone knowing I'm trying to get into college and then let everyone down if it doesn't work out. I'd like to wait until I'm guaranteed getting in before spreading the news."

May nodded. "I get it. I'll keep my mouth sealed."

Misty thanked the coordinator before closing the laptop. "I think I'm done for now." Eyeing the boys, who were, all three, still sleeping peacefully in the brisk morning air, she gave May an impish grin. "Don't you think it's about time that the boys wake up?" She reached over to her sleeping bag and pulled out her pillow.

"I dunno Misty. They might be pretty mad if-oh!" She caught on and quickly grabbed her pillow from beneath her head, unzipping from the plush pink bag. Slowly, she and Misty inched their way towards the trio tip-toeing carefully so as not to accidentally step on a twig or crunchy leaf.

"On the count of three." Misty held up one finger. Then two. And finally, after what felt like years to May, three.

"Ah!" cried the boys in unison as Misty and May beat their respective counterparts down.

"Time to wake up, lazy," Misty announced as several feathers came fluttering from her sleeping accessory. "You wanna spend the whole day snoozing, or do you wanna get back to civilization finally?"

"You too, Drew," May mentioned, mimicking Misty. Though she was normally much more timid and gentle with her boyfriend, it seemed that being with her old friend brought out the devilish girlfriend in her. "We have to get back to the city so I can have a nice, hot bath finally. I'm tired of nature!"

"Guys, stop it!" Ash cried holding his hands up in defense.

"Pika-pikachu!" cried the electric Pokémon, jumping up on all fours as electricity surged from his small pouches.

"Ahhhhh!"

The relatively low wattage sizzled the four and instantly ended the barrage of pillow fury.

"Th-thanks Pikachu," Ash mumbled as his Pokémon ended the assault and grumpily laid back down. "But next time, can you j-just aim for the girls?"

"What?" Misty asked, standing high above the trainer and threatening another semi-deadly blow.

Ash was sincerely frightened after seeing the adverse effect of Pikachu's electricity upon her fiery locks, and he instantly backed down. "Uh, nothing. It was just a joke!"

"I'm sure…"

Drew spoke up, trying his best to mat down his hair from the small fry at the same time. "Believe it or not, I'm glad we did wake up earlier. I'm ready to get out of this stupid forest and back to reality, like May said. Why're we staying in sleeping bags like peasants when we're with a Pokémon Champion?"

"Drew, remember all of the reporters who kept knocking on our doors? We couldn't get a single minute of sleep with all of that going on. Personally, I'm glad we came out here just so I could rest…though I _am_ ready for a room now." She blushed a little as her stomach rumbled at the thought of the meager rations they'd lived on the past few days. "…and some food, I guess."

"That's true. I'm sure the hype has died down by now though, don't you think Mist?" Ash propped himself up on his elbow.

"I don't think so. I mean, we _have_ to get back to the city since we've caught everything on your list, and we're actually completely out of food, but I don't think the press is done with us yet. They're pretty persistent."

"Why don't they just get a life?" Drew moaned, folding his hands behind his head and staring at the foliage above. Two Furret were fighting over a pecan above. "Seriously, I've never had this kind of problem, and I'm the best coordinator around."

"_One_ of the best coordinators around," May interjected.

Drew scoffed. "Behind who? Solidad? I beat her in Goldenrod, remember?"

"I'm talking about me, Drew. I beat you before we met Ash and Misty!"

"That was a fluke," he replied with a shrug. He closed his eyes and pretended to doze off once more, supposedly ending the conversation. However, May angrily huffed and tapped him on the shoulder.

"That was a fluke, huh? Then how about we have a contest right here? Misty can judge."

"No problem!" Drew retorted. He opened his eyes and reached for a pokéball beside his pillow. "Roserade could use a Blaziken-shaped punching bag to knock around before breakfast. Also, Ash should judge."

"Why Ash?"

"Because I don't want Misty judging. Then it'll be some stupid girl-power thing, and I won't get any points."

"You will _too_. Besides, who says Ash won't give you extra points just because of your male ego or whatever."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not an ego if you know you're the best, May."

"Misty, wouldn't you be a more fair judge?"

Drew looked up at his male comrade. "No she wouldn't, and you know it. Tell her, Ash!"

However, both teens gave each other a confused look before glancing back at their friends. The last thing they wanted or needed was a fight between themselves and the bickering couple.

"Uh, I don't know if right now's the best time for a contest, May," Misty started. "I mean, it's early and we wanna get outta here."

"That's true," Ash agreed. "And with all of the trees around here, you wouldn't be able to have a fair contest anyway. We should wait until we get to a regular battlefield."

"Definitely."

After a moment of tense quiet, May reluctantly took a deep breath and muttered a "Fine."

"We can pick this up later. You're just lucky Misty was here to bail you out for now."

"Yeah right, May." Drew stood up to face his rival-turned-girlfriend. "You'll always lose to me."

Unfortunately for the green-haired teen, May never heard his reply because she was too busy cracking up. After a moment, Ash and Misty joined in after following the direction of her pointed finger. Looking down, Drew was more than slightly mortified to realize he'd slept in his boxers all night and was currently displaying the checkered underwear to the three teens and Pikachu.

"Uh-um." Embarrassedly, he covered himself and slowly went behind a tree with his pair of jeans.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Finally back in Slateport, the trainers all left their Pokémon at the Center, excluding Pikachu.

"I think he's hungry guys." Ash pet the small electric type on his shoulder as they walked down the busy marketplace. "We should stop and get him something to eat."

"Ash, we fed him in the Pokémon Center twenty minutes ago," Misty reminded the trainer.

Ash glared at the redhead. "So he's not allowed to be hungry again? He deserves all the meals he can eat after how many battles we fought in that forest."

"Pikachu," Misty lifted the mouse off of his master's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, "I need you to be honest with me. Are you hungry?"

Though a little shaky on her full context, the Pokémon quickly picked up on the word "hungry" and shook his head, remembering the full meal he'd had earlier. "Pika-pikachupi."

"I thought so. And is Ash a big stinky liar?"

This time Pikachu simply stared at the redhead, unsure of what she desired, but certain she hadn't commanded an attack or was talking about food.

"I think his silence is loud enough. Thanks Pikachu." She gave him a wink before he jumped back onto his friend's shoulder.

"Fine then. _I'm _hungry, alright? I just didn't wanna say anything because I knew you'd say something like 'but we just ate!'"

"But we did just eat. And if I remember correctly, you had a bigger lunch than any of us."

"You did eat a lot Ash," Drew commented from behind the pair, holding hands with his girlfriend after having reconciled hours earlier. "You need to watch your weight if you wanna be in top battling condition."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Thanks, but I think I know what I need to eat. I_ am_ a champion, in case you forgot."

"How can we forget? You mention it like every ten seconds." Drew rolled his eyes. "Maybe I'll start talking about how I'm the Sinnoh Grand Festival Champion constantly from now on."

"It's not my fault I'm a great battler Drew. Maybe if you were as dedicated to contests-"

"I'm a thousand times more dedicated to contests. Contests just aren't as popular because they take more intelligence and sophistication to appreciate than battles do."

"Hey!" Ash and Misty cried in unison, stopping their stroll and turning on their heels. The redhead was the first to react.

"Are you saying we don't work just as hard as you for our titles?"

Drew shrugged. "I'm not saying _that_ exactly. I'm just saying that in contests, we work a lot harder for the win, but we don't get all the fame and glory you guys do sometimes. When you're in a contest, it requires a lot more skill because you have to battle and look nice doing it. You said so yourself Ash, remember?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't saying I have it easier than you! Battling is tougher because it's all about the fight."

"That's right! We don't get to play dress-up with our Pokémon like you do. We're too busy trying to win the battles."

"Misty! You never told me you thought that way about contests!" May appeared shocked at what her friend had said. "I'm with Drew. Contests are way harder to win than some Pokémon battle."

"Well, it doesn't really matter since I've won both," Ash mentioned, earning even sterner glares from the other couple, but a little admiration from his girlfriend for the quick response. "Remember May? We tied for a ribbon."

"I was younger back then. If we went at it now, I'd definitely win!" May declared confidently. Having her boyfriend beside her gave the extra determination needed in the declaration.

Feeling his ego take over, Ash smirked."Maybe you could beat me at dressing up your Pokémon, but I'd win when it came to the battle."

"You need more than just strength to win battles in contests," Drew reminded with a smirk. "I've seen your Pokémon battle, and the one thing they're not is graceful."

Pikachu gave a low growl at the slightly-understood insult. The reaction on his master's face helped him realize that anger was, indeed, the correct response to Drew's words.

"Are you kidding? My Pokémon are smoother than any of yours."

"Well then why don't you prove it? The contest here _is_ a doubles contest. Just sign up with a partner and see how long it takes before you're thrown out." Drew smirked. "Of course, if you're worried about losing in front of everyone, then I understand."

Ash tightened his fist and glared in growing determination at the coordinator. "I never worry about losing. You wanna do a contest, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

"And I'll be your partner!" Misty added. "I've never been in one before, but it shouldn't be too hard."

"It's a lot harder than it looks." May gave the redhead a heated glance.

Misty frowned. Though they had many differences, the one thing she and Ash shared was a slightly over-the-top confidence. "Still, I'm pretty sure we'll win."

"We'll see."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Can I have your autograph?"

"Yeah, me too!"

"Please kiss my baby!"

Ash continued to grunt and shake his head as he fought his way through the contest hall to the front desk. Misty was holding onto his hand for dear life as the two tried to sign themselves up for the contest. Though while in the open market the teenagers were able to somewhat blend in, the second the glass doors shifted open for their arrival to the hall, everyone seemed to instantly recognize the fame in their presence.

When he reached the front desk, the older woman seemed just as surprised as the dozens of fans crowding the pair. "You're Ash Ketchum!"

"Yes I am." He stumbled slightly as the crowd pressed in around him. Pikachu clung tightly to his cap as he swerved.

Looking behind the raven-haired teen, her eyes grew wider at the sight of Misty. "I can't believe it! You're both here! I was just reading about you guys!" She held up a gossip magazine with a picture of the two when they were still kids high-fiving.

_How'd they get that?_

"I think you guys are the perfect power couple. That's what the author was saying too. She said that there probably hasn't been a better couple in the Pokémon League since Sabrina and Koga! But you guys are definitely the stronger couple. They have some pictures in here from some of your gym battles, Ms. Waterflower, and you look really tough."

The redhead blushed. "They do? Well, thank-" She was interrupted as someone held a magazine with her on the cover directly in front of her face. Shoving the magazine out of the way, she tried to hear what the woman asked Ash.

"So you guys are really gonna compete in this doubles contest? That is so cool! I don't think we've ever had so many important people compete." By now, the middle-aged woman had completely lost her professional demeanor, but her statement had not gone unnoticed by Ash.

"Who else is competing?"

"Well, apparently there's this really strong couple from Hoenn – Drew and May, I think – who've been travelling in Johto and Sinnoh. They're making their latest debut in Hoenn at this contest. Everyone's been talking about them around here. Of course, now that you guys are competing, I'm not sure they've got a shot anymore."

Misty and Ash didn't heed the compliment however, as both shot each other a nervous look at the news.

"Well, anyway, do you need a pass Ms. Waterflower?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, please."

Fighting through the crowd, Misty eventually found herself in a room behind the front desk where her picture was taken and her due paid. As she sat and enjoyed the momentary silence, knowing that Ash was suffering out there as his many fans harassed him for a strand of hair, the receptionist interrupted her thoughts.

"So have you guys been planning to enter this contest for a while?"

Misty shook her head. "Actually, it was kind of a last minute idea. I've never even competed in a contest before, to tell the truth."

"Oh, okay." The woman continued to work on cropping Misty's picture as she spoke. "Like I said out there, though I don't know if you could even hear me with all the noise, you guys came at a perfect time. May and Drew are some of the best coordinators around. I'm sure it will come down to you two couples in the final round."

"So they're pretty well-known, huh?"

"Of course! Drew won the Grand Festival in Sinnoh earlier this year, and May has apparently come in second at Johto's and Sinnoh's. She even beat Drew recently, I heard, so the two of them as a team is pretty powerful. We actually had quite a few people cancel their spots in this month's contest just because they knew they'd have to compete for a ribbon against those two. To tell the truth, we wouldn't normally be able to squeeze you and Champion Ketchum in this late, except for all the empty spots we have now."

Misty gulped a little. Though contests weren't as popular as battles, they still had a large following, and she was beginning to wonder why she'd never paid attention to the latest contest rankings when watching the news.

_If I had, maybe I wouldn't have been so arrogant._

"Anyway, here's your pass." The woman gave Misty the laminated I.D. card, identifying herself as a certified Hoenn contest participant.

Thanking the woman, Misty braced herself before opening the door and facing the onslaught of obsessed fans.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I think we might really be in trouble here, Ash. I'm not kidding about this!" She gave the teenager a stern glare as he continued to smirk.

"Just because one lady at the contest hall knows who they are doesn't mean we're gonna lose. I know that May's a great coordinator. I travelled with her for two years, remember? But I also tied with her in a contest, and Dawn beat her in the Wallace Cup!"

Misty sighed. "Ash, people get better as time goes on. You beat her when she was twelve...three years ago. And even then it wasn't a victory. You said you guys just tied. Also, Dawn's a really good coordinator, which explains how she beat May, but I don't think even she'd stand much of a chance anymore. That woman said May came in second in both the Johto and Sinnoh Grand Festivals, and Drew won the Sinnoh one."

"But you're a gym leader and I'm the Champion."

"That doesn't mean a whole lot when you're battling in a contest. Like Drew said, your Pokémon aren't exactly graceful."

Ash gave a sarcastic snort. "And you're saying that yours are? Gyarados can barely stay in the battlefield most of the time!"

"Don't make fun of Gyarados!"

"I'm just saying that some of my strongest Pokémon are my smallest ones, but yours is a gigantic dragon that loses its temper constantly…which I guess kinda makes sense." He gave the redhead a goofy grin at his own wittiness.

"What are you saying?"

"Sometimes Pokémon take after their owners, is all."

Misty looked almost ready to lunge off her bed and pounce the trainer. However, a sly smirk suddenly crossed her face. "Well, that _would_ explain Snorlax, I guess."

Ash gripped the arm of the chair he was sitting on, desperately trying to think of some comeback. Unfortunately, Misty was too quick.

"Don't hurt yourself there, Ash. Besides, we need to think about how we're going to beat May and Drew if they really are this good."

Now sulking after she changed subjects before he could get in another jab, Ash crossed his arms. "We'll just beat 'em like we'd beat anyone else. I'll go with Pikachu, and you go with Starmie or whatever, and then we'll pretty much be guaranteed the victory."

"Do your Pokémon know any fancy appeal moves?"

Ash shrugged. "It won't be that hard to make one."

"Well, according to this," Misty held the flyer for the contest in the trainer's face, "the theme of the contest is the color blue...which pretty much guarantees you can't use Pikachu."

"Let me see that." Ash reached out, and Misty, who was now facing him upside down while laying on her back, handed him the flyer. Reading it carefully, he realized she was right. "What kind of a theme is blue? That's not even a real thing. It's just a color! Can you imagine if a trainer went to a gym and the leader said they could only use blue Pokémon?"

Misty scratched her head. "Well, it would be pretty easy for me, actually."

"Anyway," Ash continued, annoyed that she seemed to ignore his point altogether, "I've caught tons of other Pokémon now, so it shouldn't be too hard. And I guess this theme is just perfect for you to use Gyarados, right?"

"Actually, I think I've just had a change in plans." Misty gave the champion a mischivious smirk. "There's one blue Pokémon I own that I haven't used since we've hung out with May and Drew. With this theme, they'll be expecting Gyarados, so maybe it'd be better to go with him instead."

Ash squinted his eyes, relaying the known Pokémon Misty owned. She'd certainly caught many water types since she began travelling with him, but most had been sent back to the Cerulean Gym for her sisters' use.

_Except…_ Ash suddenly understood who Misty was talking about and gave her a smile. "Do you really think he'd be ready? I haven't seen you guys train in a while."

Misty nodded. "I just need a few days. I actually sent him back to my sisters so they could practice with him, but I'll give them a call tonight and they can transport his pokéball by tomorrow morning."

Ash grinned again. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about the Pokémon _he'd_ given to her as a present so many months ago. "You know who I have that would go perfectly with him? My Gabite."

Misty's expression instantly became brighter too. "You're right! He'd be the perfect match, and I don't think May or Drew know about him either!" Rolling back onto her stomach, she gave the trainer a confident look. "Maybe we really can win this thing with all of these 'surprises'."

"You're kidding, right? Of course we'll win!"

Admiring his child-like overconfidence, Misty slowly leaned over the bed to give her boyfriend a small kiss, but was rudely interrupted by a strong rapping on the door.

"Ah!" She quickly regained her balance on the mattress before sending the door a hateful glance. _That better not be more stupid tabloid fans._

"Who is it?" Ash asked, getting up and approaching the door.

"It's May! Let me in! It's important!"

Noting the urgency in her voice, Ash quickly unlocked the door and allowed the brunette inside. Running in, she accidentally tripped on one of Ash's shoes which he'd kicked off, and hit the carpeted floor with a small thud.

"May! Are you alright?" Misty hopped up and grabbed May by the arm, wondering what could have possessed the young woman to start running around like a maniac. She noticed that the girl's eyes were wide with excitement, and she was flushed and breathing heavily, as if she'd been running for miles. "Is something wrong? Is it Team Rocket?"

"I'm on it!" Ash declared. "Pikachu, let's go buddy!"

Though normally irritated after being awoken from a nap, Pikachu quickly identified the anxiety in his friend and master's voice, and hopped from the bed in a single leap onto his shoulders. "Pikachu, pika-pika!" Sparks began to eject from his cheeks at the thought of Giovanni and Mallory.

"Where are they, May?" He appeared ready to run out the door without her assistance if necessary.

For a moment, May just stared blankly at everyone in the room. Her gaze shifted from Ash, to Misty, to Pikachu, and then back to Ash. "What are you guys talking about? Team Rocket isn't here! Even if they were, it'd take like two seconds to get rid of them."

Taking a second to comprehend what she said, Ash breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm not talking about Jessie and James. I'm talking about Giovanni and his stronger goons."

"Oh, right. I forgot about them. Whenever I hear Team Rocket, Jessie and James still just pop in my head first. But anyway, it has nothing to do with Team Rocket."

"Then what was the big hurry?" Feeling the adrenaline leave his system, Ash couldn't help the slight irritation he felt knowing May had interrupted what promised to be a fun little kissing session.

"Dawn's waiting for you outside of your room!"

And there went the adrenaline. "W-what?"

"I met her in the lobby. She was nice, but I could tell she really couldn't care less about talking to me. She just asked where you were and I gave her your room number. I decided to follow her up there in case, you know, she killed you or something, but when she knocked on your door, you didn't answer. Now she's just sitting outside your door. It looks like she's waiting to beat you up. Drew said he'd keep her company when he found out what was going on."

Misty sighed before grabbing Ash's hand. "C'mon, Ash. We'll go talk to her together. No one's gonna beat up my boyfriend."

Though the thought of two girls fighting gave him the smallest urge to put a stupid grin upon his face, he quickly quelled the desire and instead shook his head. "Actually, I think it might be better if I just go by myself this time. I don't think she'd be too happy to see…well, _this._" He motioned to their entwined fingers.

"But what if she really does wanna beat you up?"

"Misty, I can take care of myself." He flexed his bicep mockingly, though there was a noticeable amount of muscle on display. "She's just a fourteen year old girl, after all."

"I saw that fight on the beach, remember?"

"Hey! I almost had that guy! And besides, they were taller than me and Drew."

"I'm just saying…" Misty gave him a small smirk, insuring to him that she was just kidding. "But seriously, what if she tries to steal you back or something?"

"What do you think I would do? I'd tell her no."

Misty nodded. Now that she thought about it, it didn't make much sense for her to be worried. Nothing Dawn said could change how he felt about her, she was sure. "Alright, but just in case, me and May and Drew will be waiting outside your door in case you need help."

Ash rolled his eyes. "I don't need a bodyguard Mist."

_I hope._

"Still, I'll wait outside your door just in case." The redhead appeared determined and he decided that she wasn't going to back down.

"Fine, but don't let her catch you."

After she agreed, Ash put on his shoes, and left Pikachu with Misty. Going up in the elevator, he felt his palms begin to sweat. Instantly, he regretted leaving Pikachu with his girlfriend considering the comfort the electric Pokémon normally provided during tense situations.

Stepping out, he walked down the hallway and made his turn. Sure enough, as May had warned, there sat Dawn directly in front of his door. Oddly though, Drew was nowhere to be seen. She was wearing short shorts and a white blouse. She was no longer wearing her hat, but otherwise appeared normal. Approaching slowly, he wondered how he should greet the young woman. She seemed entranced by the complicated pattern on the hallway's carpet.

"Uh, hey Dawn."

_That wasn't too hard._

The blue-haired coordinator looked up in surprise at the voice. For a moment, to his surprise, Ash could see the slightest glimmer of happiness in her dark blue eyes. It was as if, for only a second, they were still old friends, reuniting after being apart for quite a while. In fact, in that second, he almost expected her to jump up happily and greet him with a hug as did so many of his past travelling companions when they were reintroduced.

To his disappointment, though, that look was quickly replaced by a sour face as the coordinator pulled a folded magazine from her back pocket silently.

"How do you explain this?" She stood up and shoved the picture of Ash and Misty holding hands on the beach in his face. "I woke up almost a week ago and instantly became the laughing stock of the world!"

"People are making fun of you because I'm dating Misty?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "No, not because you're dating Misty. It's because I'm the loser whose kiss was called a 'mistake' by the champion! Why'd you guys tell everyone?"

"Why did we tell everyone? Did you read everything they were saying about us? Some people even thought Misty was pregnant! It wasn't fair to keep telling people I didn't like her when I really did." Ash suddenly turned his attention away from the conversation as he heard a door down the hall open. "Let's go inside, alright? I don't want everyone hearing us."

Walking in, Dawn didn't relent. "It doesn't mean you had to call our kiss a mistake, though."

"What could I have said, then?"

"You could have said it was just a friendly gesture or something!"

Ash raised his eyebrows. "That wasn't what friends normally do, Dawn. But if you'd really wanted me to say something else, then you should've answered my calls. I left a ton of messages for you, and you never called me back!"

"How do you call back someone who's broken your heart?" Tears began to swell in her eyes. "I couldn't even stand to listen to your voice on those messages. I liked you before her, but you just completely threw me away!"

Ash's throat constricted as he watched the coordinator stifle a small sob. He couldn't help but feel bad. After all, Dawn was like a younger sister to him. However, remembering all the tumultuous conflicts she had with Misty, and reminding himself of how she'd refused to answer even one of his calls, he steeled his determination to not let her crying effect how he handled the situation.

"Dawn, listen." He sat down on the bed, and motioned for her to join him. Sitting down, she stared at her lap as tears continued to cascade down her cheeks and fall onto her denim shorts. "I thought we already discussed this after the battle. You seemed like you were feeling better."

"Better? It's impossible to feel better from this. I…I loved you, Ash."

Ash sighed. She wasn't making this easy at all, and it almost physically pained him to see her in so much agony.

"Dawn, you know that I love you too, right? You're one of my best friends, and even this hasn't changed that."

Her fist tightened around her knee cap as another tear fell. "That's not the same."

"I know it's not, but it's all I can say. I promise that I'd do anything to be friends with you again. We've been through so much together, you know? People could make movies about some of our adventures!"

She didn't look up, but she wiped her eyes with the back of her palm. "No, we can't ever be friends again. I've just destroyed everything. Misty hates me, you hate me, and I'm sure May hates me too after all she's heard about me. I was stupid to ever fall in love, and now that I did, I lost all of my friends." She gave a low growl of frustration, and began sobbing once more.

Raising his eyebrow at the sudden shift in conversation, he put a reassuring arm around her shoulder. "That's a little dramatic, don't you think?" He pulled her closer so that she could lean against him. "Nobody hates you. In fact, Misty wants to be friends again too. We all just want things to go back to normal. And it's not your fault for falling in love just like it's not my fault for liking Misty. You…well, you just can't help it, I guess."

"But you don't understand. I'm the fool in all of this! Even if I did want things to go back to how they used to be, I couldn't. Everyone will always just think of me as the stupid little girl who had a crush on you one time…and now the whole world thinks of me like that too."

Ash tapped his chin in thought. It was true that perhaps he could have thought of a better phrase than "mistake" to describe the two's kiss, but at the time he hadn't been thinking about anything except sparing Misty's feelings. "Well, what if we fixed it?"

Sniffing, Dawn looked up at him. "What do you mean? There's no way to fix it."

"Sure there is," he assured. "All of these big magazines and T.V. shows keep asking me for interviews, but I haven't done any yet. Maybe me, you, and Misty could all go on T.V. and explain how things happened a little…differently."

Dawn snorted. "I'm sure Misty would _love_ to see me again, much less be on television with me."

"Don't be so sure. I promise that everyone would just like to be friends again, including Misty."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What do you think they're talking about?"

"I dunno," May answered honestly. She was standing beside the redhead as the three stared at Ash's door, waiting for the slightest cry for help. "I wonder if she's still angry at you."

Misty sighed. "I hope not."

"Hey guys!" Drew suddenly greeted, coming around the corner.

May put her hands on her hips. "Drew, where have you been? I told Ash that you were keeping Dawn company out here."

"Calm down, May. I tried to hang out with her, but she was pretty rude. She said she just wanted to be with Ash alone when he got here and asked me to leave. It's like the little kid didn't even realize she was practically talking to royalty."

May rolled her eyes. "We've gotta work on that ego."

"What are you guys doing out here anyway?" He followed their lead and leaned against the wall, next to Pikachu. "Door-staring contest or something?"

"We're waiting for Ash and Dawn to come out," Misty explained.

"Wait, Dawn is in there with Ash right now?"

Misty nodded.

"I hope she doesn't kill him or something. She looked pretty mad when I was with her."

"That's why we're waiting out here."

"Oh."

The four stood there a moment longer, and then May suddenly faced the redhead. "Misty, are we fighting?"

"Huh?"

"You know, about the whole contest and battling thing? I don't know if that was a fight or if we were just caught up in the moment, you know?"

"Oh yeah…that." Misty remembered the small spat from earlier and blushed. Now knowing how skilled Drew and May apparently were, she regretted acting so flippantly about their passion. "Well, I'm willing to apologize for making fun of contests. I'm sure they're not as easy as I said they were."

May smiled. She hoped that Misty hadn't taken to heart what she'd said about battling, since she was pretty sure the redhead would destroy her in a true Pokémon match. "I'm sorry too. You know, for saying that battling's easy. I've done it many times, and I know it's not."

"It's alright." Misty smirked. "Besides, it's all the boys' stupid fault, now that I think about it."

"What?" Drew gave Misty an alarmed look. How could she pin this on him and Ash? "How?"

"You were the ones who started that stupid argument about who had it tougher, then we joined in after you started. Me and May were perfectly happy before you guys had to go and have that stupid fight."

May nodded, remembering how she'd been dragged into the conflict. "You're right. I can't believe we fought because of them."

"Boys are stupid."

Drew huffed, and May felt a pang of sadness for him. "But very romantic," she added with a wink to her counterpart.

"Mine's just stupid, usually."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After a half hour passed, it seemed as though the ice was beginning to melt between the two old friends. Ash had even managed to get a couple of laughs from his comrade as they began reminiscing about past adventures.

"So we can do this. We can schedule an interview in a couple of days, and then everything will be fine, right?"

Dawn, her eyes still a little red, gave him a smile. "I think so."

Ash grinned. "Of course it will!" He was glad to be making progress in recovering their relationship, and he decided now was the perfect time to invite the blue-haired teenager back into their group. "So do you think you'd wanna travel with us again? We're always happy to have more people!"

Dawn was surprised by how quickly the champion gave the offer, but instead of accepting she returned it with a sad smile. "I don't think Misty would like that idea at all."

"I already told you, she'll be fine with it. She'll just be glad to know that things are back to normal." He was beginning to grow irritated with how worried Dawn appeared to be about Misty. If he knew the redhead, and he did, she'd just be happy to have a friend back.

"Well, at least they're getting back to normal, but no, I don't think I wanna stay. I mean, I'm glad I came, even though it was originally so I could yell at you. If I hadn't, we probably wouldn't have been able to catch up and start becoming friends again."

"Then why don't you stay?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "It's still a little awkward, Ash. I mean, I obviously am feeling more comfortable around you again, but I'm still not ready to spend all my time around a guy I loved and a girl who I fought over the guy with."

"Oh…" Ash nodded solemnly. He had rarely found himself feeling awkward in social situations, but that was because, as Misty put it, he was "dense". After spending so much time with them, he understood that women were wired differently, and he could at least partially comprehend her point. "Well, you at least have to stay to watch the contest, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Her mood brightened at the change of subjects. "I heard that May and Drew will be competing in it. It seems like really big news!"

_Wow, they really are popular._

"Well, me and Misty are competing too."

"Really?" She appeared confused. "I didn't know you were challenging contest halls."

Ash scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "Well, we weren't going to originally, but then stupid Drew started talking about how hard he has it as a coordinator and how me and Misty didn't know what we were doing, so I decided to sign us up."

"Well then, I guess I'll definitely have to come to cheer on both teams." Dawn gave a thumbs-up. "With all of you competing, I'm sure someone I'm cheering for will win."

"Awesome! You can stay with us for the night."

Dawn grimaced. "Actually, I have a room at the Center, so I'm good. But I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Oh, alright then."

_I guess she's still too uncomfortable for that too. _Everything had been forgiven, so he couldn't understand why the blue-haired teenager would still feel uneasy around the group, but he decided not to insist.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So then I crushed his Abomasnow with Hammer Arm!" Drew reenacted the attack as best he could with sound effects. "Splat! Then I ordered Flygon to take out his Kangaskhan with Flamethrower. But suddenly his Kangaskhan used a Hyper Beam! So I had to think quick."

"Wait a minute." May held her hand up, interrupting the green-haired coordinator, much to Misty's relief. Drew had been reliving some of his greatest battles, and she wasn't sure how much more she could handle. "I was there for this and there wasn't an Abomasnow or Kangaskhan, remember? It was a Butterfree and Aipom."

Drew squinted, as if trying hard to remember the specifics. "Well, it was a year ago, so the details are a little foggy, but it's basically true."

Before May could reply, the doorknob began to turn and all of their attention was instantly diverted. Misty was the first to react, snapping her head towards the door as it slowly opened. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, but she half-anticipated Dawn to come out in a flying rage and maul her. To be on the safe side, she balled her fists.

"Hey guys," Ash greeted, waving in friendly fashion to the four as he stepped out. Carefully he closed the door behind him. "I didn't expect all of you to be out here."

"We decided to keep Misty company…in case she needed backup," May explained.

Ash smiled as he examined all of their faces, including Pikachu's, and the rapt interest they displayed. They were obviously hungry for details, and something inside forced him to take advantage of the situation. "Well, I've decided that I like Dawn now."

For a second, all was quiet in the hallway. If the scene had been in an old western film, Ash could've sworn a tumbleweed would have blown between himself and the others. However, no tumbleweed permeated the atmosphere; just tension.

Again, Misty was the first to react.

Grabbing the teenage boy by the collar, she threw him against the door. Despite seemingly being physically incapable, she somehow managed to lift his feet off the ground as she shoved him further into the door. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and before he could react she began the longest and scariest tirade he'd ever heard escape her lips.

"Are you kidding me? After all we've been through together? I knew I shouldn't have let you go in there by yourself! You have to be the stupidest person alive! I swear I can't believe I ever liked you in the first place! I'm glad you went in there by yourself, now that I think about it, since now I know what a huge backstabber and flake you really are! I am going to beat you into such a pulp, your own mom won't-"

"Misty! Misty!" Ash cried repeatedly, holding up his hands. From behind, Drew, May, and Pikachu were all calling out to her as well, and she finally appeared to hear their screams.

"What is it?" She turned her head back and gave a deranged glare which struck fear into everyone. "Can't you see I have to beat the crap out of my ex-boyfriend here?"

"It was just a joke, Misty!"

For a second, Misty didn't turn around. She continued to stare at Drew, May, and Pikachu as the words spoken behind her sank in.

Ever so slowly, to Ash's relief, she began to turn back to face her boyfriend. However, once her eyes met his, he wished she hadn't. "What…_did you say_?"

Gulping, he repeated himself. "I was just messing around Mist. I didn't think you'd take it serious – Ow!"

The slap she gave him across the cheeks seemed to echo in the long hallway. Putting him back on the ground, she put her finger directly in front of his face. "If you _ever_ joke like that during a serious situation like this again, I'll kill you. Do you understand?"

Nodding eagerly, he apologized. Normally he would have been insulted by the way she was talking down to him, but for the moment he was simply happy to still be alive.

"Didn't mean to make you so upset."

"Well you don't joke around like that when you just finished talking to a girl that's in love with you," Misty explained in a matter-of-fact tone. She seemed to have calmed after seeing he was truly repentant. "Not everything has to be a joke."

"So then…" May interjected. Both teens turned to her. "Is she still in there?"

Ash's eyes grew wide as he remembered why he'd stepped out in the first place. "I almost forgot! I came out here to explain what happened." Again, he regained the attention of his audience, all of them excited to hear the outcome of the small rendezvous. "Basically, she wants to be friends again."

"That's it? That's why she came here?" Misty seemed puzzled, as did May.

"I thought she seemed mad, didn't you Drew?"

"Yeah Ash. She didn't seem to be in a real 'wanna be friends again' mood when I tried telling her about my Sinnoh Grand Festival."

Ash rolled his eyes. "No one likes that story, Drew, but you're right that she wasn't here to do that at first. Before, she was mad because I said that our kiss was a mistake, and apparently a lot of people think that means…well, that I thought it was a mistake."

"Which it was," Misty interjected.

Sighing, Ash agreed. "Yeah, but I probably could have put it better, you know?"

"Maybe you could have…if she'd ever returned your calls." Misty appeared predisposed to disliking Dawn, and Ash was beginning to hope she wouldn't prove him a liar in refusing to befriend the blue-haired coordinator again.

"I know, and we already talked about that. We know that she was heartbroken, and she said that she just didn't wanna talk to me because it would have been, you know, awkward for her."

"So now she wants to be friends why?"

"Um, well I explained that we can fix what I said so it doesn't sound like I don't like her at all, and she told me that she's not just upset about that. She's sad because she feels like she's lost all of her friends because of this mess. I mean, she lost Misty and me, and she thinks May won't like her anymore after hanging around Misty."

May nodded. "Actually, I really don't like her that much after hearing what happened."

"See though? That's why she's so upset. She's willing to get over me, but she really wants to be friends with everyone again. So I told her that we'd go in there and prove that everything's fine."

"How do we do that?"

Ash shrugged. "I dunno. I guess just say hi to her or something."

Misty huffed angrily. "Well you should have asked her. What do I do? Go in there and say, 'Oh, I don't mind that you tried to steal Ash away from me and that we fought over him for a month'?"

"Well, kinda like that, but maybe less mean."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why I have to do this."

"Because I told her that you just wanna be friends with her again, like me. She didn't believe me, but I told her it was the truth."

"Why would you tell her that? We were archenemies!"

"But you're not supposed to be anymore! I would have thought you'd be glad to have the chance to get an old friend back!"

"I would be, but it's just so awkward! And how do we know she won't try to steal you away from me? She's already kissed you before."

Ash sighed. "I travelled with her for two years, Misty. I know her well enough to tell when she's lying or faking, and she's not. I really wanna save our friendship, but I can only do that if you go in there and at least smile at her. She's not mad at you anymore, so why can't you be okay with her? You did win, after all."

"Some prize I won," she remarked sarcastically. However, she knew he was right. If Dawn was willing to forgive and forget, then Misty had no excuse…especially since she _did_ win.

After a brief moment, she relented. "Fine! We can go in there, I'm not mad at her anymore."

Ash's mood instantly brightened. "Perfect! Let's go!" Grabbing her by the hand, he opened the door and in the blink of an eye, she found herself standing before her former rival.

Though she'd already expected it to be awkward, it seemed even weirder than she'd anticipated as she stared the coordinator down.

For a moment, all seemed quiet and tense. Ash watched nervously as the two seemed to walk a fine line between greeting and screaming. Deciding to be proactive, he cleared his throat. "So…Dawn, Misty wanted to come in here to say she wants to be friends."

"I-I would really like to be your friend again too." And with that, any doubt Misty had of her intentions evaporated. She'd remained suspicious of the coordinator's true motivation, but hearing her say those words, and looking her directly in the eye as she spoke them, gave her instant confidence that Ash was indeed correct. There was nothing but sincerity.

Smiling, and without conscious effort, Misty replied. "I want to be your friend too. Ash really loves you as one of his best friends, and I never want to be in the way of him and his friends. I know we didn't know each other well before, but he's always had a good taste in who he travels with, and I would have hated to never gotten to know you just because of this…stuff."

Dawn smiled. "You mean it? You're not still angry?"

"Nope. Ash was, for the first time, right. It would be stupid to lose a friend when you don't have to. He said that you guys have some plan so that we can make it look like it wasn't a mistake that you kissed him, and I was wanting to hear what it is. I'd be happy to help however I can."

Ash smiled. Though he couldn't say so aloud, Misty was actually a lot like him. She'd do anything for a friend.

_Now if only she was a little less violent._

_

* * *

_

Author's Notes: Welp, what did you think? I thought it was pretty good. I know the ending seemed a bit short, but that was because I don't wanna give away the big plan for how they deal with the media or anything. As always though, if you didn't like it (or any other part of the story), then please let me know in a REVIEW!

I'm gonna go now (it's almost four in the morning), but before I do, I have to say something about a very special author. This woman actually inspired me to write this story in the first place, and without her help, I would never have been as popular and as good a writer as I am (though I'm not that great, haha). **Spruceton Spook **is her pen name. She wrote what was, hands down, the best AAML story (a trilogy, actually) ever. I remember reading her story way late into several nights, and at the end of it, I decided to start an account and my own story on this site about 18 months ago now. She was such a huge inspiration to me that to this day I consider her to be my sole reason for starting this fic, and if you look on my profile page you'll see that she's one of only two favorite authors I have. Anyway, I bring her up because, after a six year hiatus, she's continuing her trilogy! I seriously almost had a heart attack when I saw it! I am SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED ABOUT THIS! I know I sound like a crazed fan…because I am, but she is seriously the best author on this site ever, and so now I have to ask that you guys read her story. If you haven't already, then start with her original trilogy series (it starts a little rough but gets good quickly). The first part of the series is entitled "Stars Fell on Pallet Town". Just please read those, and then read and review her newest installment. I've written her now, but unfortunately she's never written me back (sob), but that's cool. She's such a great author, I figure she's too good to pay attention to a dinky wannabe like me anyway, but that's how AWESOME she is. Even my massive ego is squashed by her abilities, so please give her fic a look and see what REAL writing looks like.

Ahem. Alright, that's all I've got. Have a great couple of weeks y'all!

P.S. Also read **EchidnaPower**'s awesome fic entitled "AAML: Diamond and Pearl Version". It's a great read, and the author puts so much effort into capturing the shows essence (while including Misty), that you'd think they actually worked for the show's writing staff themselves.

Okay, now I'm really done, but that was just too good a story to not include in these notes. Haha!


	37. Just Another Contest

**Hey Everybody**! Another late week installment, I know, but again I'm trying my best to acclimate to this fairly hectic new lifestyle, and I greatly appreciate all of your guys' patience as I struggle (in every sense of the word) to get back to normal update times. I'm currently sending thank you messages to everyone who reviewed last chapter, so if you have yet to receive one, please don't be discouraged because I haven't made it completely through the list yet, and I would, as always, love to hear what you thought about this chapter! Seriously, you guys and your awesome comments (be they good or bad) continue to motivate me to do better and work harder. Every time I think about putting off work on this fic, I read your motivational messages, and I am reminded of why I do all of this.

I hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Believe me when I say it took forever to work on (considering mid-terms, a terrible bout of writer's block, and all of the studying on Bulbapedia and YouTube I had to do to learn about contests). This entire chapter is basically about the huge contest May and Drew have been preparing for (their first one in Hoenn for the season). However, if you don't like it, please let me know!

Also, before I let you read this, I need to send a huge shout-out to **Sapphire addict**, my loyal reader who drew my newest (and permanent) profile pic of Ash with Pikachu on his shoulder. However, the actual focal point of this picture isn't him or Pikachu, but rather the hat. As you can clearly see, SA was awesome enough to draw me a profile pic with Ash wearing a Texas Longhorns baseball cap, and for that I am eternally in her debt! Thank you so much SA!

It should also be noted that she's currently working on drawing the battle scene between Ash and Mallory on Charizard and Fearow from chapter five right now, and **Hikaru-pichu** is drawing Misty and the Pikachu cake from chapter three (they already drew the scene from chapter one where Ash receives the Champion Trophy), and **iluvpokemon101** has volunteered to draw a scene from chapter sixteen…so yeah, I have some pretty awesome fans all around helping me out in drawing out the story. I haven't yet, but I will soon create a Photobucket account so I can post all fan art from these great artists up on one place so all my readers can enjoy their work, but until then please take a moment to appreciate the hours of effort put into my great profile picture.

Now please, read and REVIEW!

* * *

"Ash, hurry up already!"

"Will you give me a second? I look ridiculous in this thing!"

"I bet you won't, but either way you have to hurry! The opening ceremony's in fifteen minutes and we're twenty minutes away!"

Misty heard a low grumble through the door.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing," a tired voice replied. Sighing, Ash looked down at his attire and rolled his eyes. He looked like a beach bum with the straw hat, blue sleeveless "Party Hard" t-shirt, ocean blue swim trunks, and navy flip-flops.

"You ready to go Pikachu?"

"Pika!" The electric mouse gave an excited thumbs-up. Despite his master's woes, he actually enjoyed wearing his new tiny swim trunks and blue water wings. Misty had decided on both of their costumes, and the yellow Pokémon believed he'd gotten the better end of the bargain.

Ash frowned. "You shouldn't look so happy about this. We're gonna be laughed at by pretty much everyone."

Though he didn't understand, Pikachu gave a sympathetic squeal before rushing to the door.

"Ash!"

"Coming, I'm coming…" Slowly, the champion made his way to the door and opened it.

For a brief moment, the fear he had of walking in public disappeared as he examined his girlfriend. She too, in accordance with the contest theme, was wearing an all-cerulean blue bikini along with a short skirt, and, unlike Ash, seemed to pull the ensemble off quite nicely.

However, that awe quickly turned to indignation.

"So you're allowed to look really pretty, but I have to dress up like some hobo?"

Misty eyed her boyfriend incredulously. "I'll have you know that it took me half a day to make the perfect costume for you! You should be thankful I did all that work for you instead of complaining."

"Gee, thanks."

"And besides," she continued, ignoring his sarcasm, "you never care about what you look like. Why are you acting like some teenage girl all of a sudden?"

Ash's face streaked crimson at the insult. "I'm not acting like a girl! I just think that it'll hurt my appearance if people see me dressed up like this!"

She rolled her eyes. "Well get over it. We've gotta go!"

He sulked as he turned away and locked his room door.

For a moment, Misty fought the urge nurtured into her demeanor to simply stomp off and leave the champion alone. After years of doing so, the instinct seemed to now kick in naturally. However, she quelled that desire and instead went with another tactic which she'd begun employing regularly when the raven-haired teen seemed put out.

"You know," she whispered seductively, near his ear. That alone gave him a small chill, as she watched him squirm slightly in place. "I think you look really nice like that."

"Y-you do?"

She placed her hands on his shoulders from behind and gave him a quick kiss on the back of the neck. She swore she could feel his heart racing through the thin fabric of the t-shirt…although she herself couldn't deny a slight jump in her pulse from the action. It was fun, and beneficial, to tease him, but sometimes it felt as if she were teasing herself.

"Um, you l-look nice too, Mist." He never understood it, but somehow Misty had a way of diffusing a number of their heated arguments with this method. Though he knew in the back of his mind she was just trying to win their fight, he couldn't resist the urge to be played.

"Uh-huh. Now can we go to the contest?" Her breath was warm on his ear, and suddenly he had to see her face. Turning around, he gave her a small smile.

"For a price."

She arched her eyebrows in surprise.

_He's starting to catch on._

"Uh, what?"

"I think you know," he mumbled leaning closer to her.

Next to his feet, Pikachu gave a groan. Though he was happy for his two best human friends, he couldn't help but feel slightly sickened by their romantic displays. In public they were normally their old selves, arguing and teasing, and sometimes relying on him to shock them from a heated debate. In private though, he noticed they seemed less likely to need his help in terminating a dispute.

"Hey guys!" Dawn suddenly turned the corner, and then turned red.

"Ah!" Both teens jumped apart from each other, looking extremely guilty. Their lips were mere seconds away from sweet satisfaction, and the feeling of frustration momentarily boiled in Ash's stomach.

"I'm so sorry you guys!" She covered her eyes and tried walking away. Unfortunately, she instead walked directly into a wall.

"Ow!"

"Dawn, you can open your eyes," Misty advised, unable to resist a small giggle at the younger girl's behavior. "We're not doing anything, I promise."

"Oh, okay. I mean, I knew that, but you know, I just, um-well I didn't mean to interrupt a, well a, um…"

For a second all three teens stared at each other in awkward silence.

"Anyway," Dawn stated, clearing her throat, "May and Drew are about to lose their minds waiting. They said if you don't come down, they're leaving without you."

"We're coming," Ash assured. "We'll be right there."

"Okay," Dawn replied tentatively, standing in place a moment longer before realizing this was her chance to escape. "Um, see you guys downstairs!" In a flash she was out of sight, and Misty and Ash gave each other worried looks.

"We shouldn't be doing that when we know we could be caught."

"Well, I mean, we _are _going out. It's not like we're not allowed to kiss."

Ash nodded. "You're right, but even I know that was an awkward moment."

"Yeah, it was. We have to make sure we limit our, um, fun to inside the rooms until she's gone, I guess."

"Pika-pikachu!" The small mouse was calling to the two trainers from the end of the hallway.

"Oh man, we really do have to go!" Ash remarked looking at the time on his pokénav.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Would everyone please take their seat as we prepare to begin the Slateport Pokémon Contest?" Nurse Joy's voice echoed throughout the hall. Thousands rushed to their seats, all ready for what was sure to be an impressive spectacle. Though contests were rarely sold out, the fact that Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower were competing against their friends and current travelling partners spiked interest immensely.

"Are you ready Ash?" Misty asked above the bellow of noise. Ash looked a little nervous, as did Pikachu, as they prepared for the appeal round.

"Yep!" he insisted, giving her a thumbs-up. "You feeling good?"

She nodded. They were fortunate that they were given top priority in the appellate round, since she hoped going early would diminish any fears they had of competing together.

"Ladies and gentleman," another female judge's voice began, "would you please put your hands together for the first couple of this afternoon: Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City, Kanto, and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

A thunderous uproar erupted from the crowd and through the small tunnel Ash, Pikachu, and Misty were all huddled in.

Misty gave Ash one last confident glance. "Let's go!"

Stepping out, the reverberating noise amplified. Many held up banners proclaiming themselves to be Ash's "number one fan", or Misty's "future boyfriend". Some even held up magazines with the couple on the cover, and several more held up Pikachu plush dolls from the local markets.

"It's not as bad as I thought," Misty remarked sarcastically.

Ash laughed and nodded. "I can barely hear them screaming for our autographs."

As they stepped into the trainer's square, the voice overhead boomed once again and asked that the audience remain relatively quiet for the start of the performance.

After a few moments, to Ash's amazement, the audience heeded the woman's words and began to quiet themselves. As the lights in the audience dimmed, and the spotlights focused their attention on the battlefield, he looked to Pikachu confidently.

"Just like we've practiced. Wait for Misty."

"Pika," the Pokémon responded in a hushed voice.

Misty closed her eyes for a second, hoping she'd trained Gyarados enough to handle this situation. Her sisters said they'd used him in a few water shows, but the Gyarados she knew over the last two weeks in practice still seemed fairly clumsy and clunky in his movements.

Taking a deep breath, and hoping he could hold his act together, she enlarged the capsule and threw it into the field's center.

"Now Pikachu!"

The electric type ran into the middle of the field, small surfboard in tow between his small teeth.

"For their appeal, Ms. Waterflower and Mr. Ketchum will be enacting a day at the beach, with our blue theme in mind," Nurse Joy informed the audience, whose rapt attention had quieted all noise within the hall.

Despite the urge to do so, Gyarados did not let out a mighty roar as he escaped the pokéball. Instead, he quickly coiled himself around the center of the field.

"_Party on the beach is where I wanna be…" _began the song overhead as Pikachu jumped over the flying and water type's girth and into the direct center of the field.

With his head turned inward, the blue Pokémon used a weak Surf attack which filled the area within his body with a rush of liquid. Standing atop the small surfboard, Pikachu managed to hold his balance on his hind legs as the water swayed to and fro beneath his small paws.

"Well this is certainly unique," Nurse Joy commented as Misty, Ash, and they rest of the audience watched on with bated breath. "It seems that Gyarados is using his own body as a makeshift pool for Pikachu and his surfboard!"

Ash had to wait a moment for the waters to calm before ordering his next move.

_At least we got through the first part. _This part alone had taken the entire first week of their last-minute two-week training session to get down correctly. Normally Gyarados would squirm and let water out, or Pikachu would lose his balance, but it appeared that both Pokémon, used to working under high-pressure battles, had solidified their performance for show time.

After a couple more seconds, Misty decided it was time for phase two.

"Now use Hydro Pump!"

Nodding, the water Pokémon poked his head underneath the self-created pool. For a moment, Pikachu remained alone in front of the audience, doing a very careful dance on the unstable piece of surfboard, much to the general admiration and squeals of younger girls.

However, the small jig was interrupted as suddenly a jet of water pushed through the surface and underneath Pikachu's board.

"_Celebration where the fun is free…"_

Clinging onto the board for dear life, Pikachu waited for the force of the attack to stop propelling him upwards.

"Oh no." Misty clenched her fist in anticipation as she watched Pikachu sail higher and higher. This was another rocky point in their training, since Gyarados seemed to have a difficult time controlling his strength. More than once he'd accidentally sent Pikachu flying through the air during practice, and Misty knew if that happened here, they'd lose immediately.

Fortunately, though he was a little off, Gyarados _was_ able to reign in his power, and kept Pikachu at a steady twenty or so feet in the air.

"Impressive," Nurse Joy commented as they awaited the next move.

"Now Pikachu, use Thundershock!"

Carefully standing back up, Pikachu wobbled momentarily, inciting a few gasps from the audience and the judges. However, he quickly got his footing down, and obeyed the command.

"Protect, Gyarados!"

As Pikachu ignited a series of weak blues sparks down the upwards-reaming waterfall, Gyarados protected himself in a transparent blue shield. The sparks rippling down the water, along with Gyarados' protect, sent a general wave of "ooh"s and "ah"s throughout the crowd.

The song began to taper down after a few more seconds and Pikachu and Gyarados both ended their attacks. After slowly bringing Pikachu back down, both he and the electric type took a small bow while the audience applauded the effort.

The judges whispered amongst themselves for a few moments as the audience continued cheering. As the swell died down, an elderly woman to the right of the Nurse Joy shuffled some papers on the table before putting on her glasses and looking in the teens' general direction.

"I thought it was certainly a fun appeal. It definitely could have been better prepared, and there were some choreographic mistakes I could decipher, but I didn't see anything major, and that's good. I would like to see more from you two, so I say you should move onto the battle round."

The crowd cheered, though Ash was beginning to suspect their loyalty came more from admiration for his being a champion than from being good at contests. Misty held the same suspicion about her fans.

"Your Pokémon were wonderful, and they really did work within the theme," Joy added. "I especially think Pikachu's a little cutie in those swimming trunks, so I might be biased, but I want you two to move onto the battle round as well."

Another wave of applause rained down as the two breathed a sigh of relief and gave each other small smiles.

At least they hadn't been kicked out in the first round.

Despite their success though, the last judge still wanted to voice his opinion. Clearing his throat, he quickly quieted the crowd once more.

"I know that you two are already in, so it doesn't matter what I have to say." The middle-aged balding man spoke with the slightest hint of a country accent, and his tone caused dread to creep into both teenagers' stomachs. "But I still think I need to say it, because this has been weighing on my mind ever since I first heard that the Pokémon League's newest _power couple_ would be joining us for today's contest."

Ash eyed Misty worriedly, but she seemed too intent upon hearing the man's words to exchange glances.

"Frankly, I don't think your performance was any good." He took a minute as several boos erupted from various sections of the hall. "Yes, I know that today this contest hall is filled with both of your many fans. But the truth is, your Pikachu, though indeed cute, was shaky throughout. And the only reason I can imagine you would let that monstrosity of a Gyarados out in this round was because it is blue. Having two such completely different Pokémon working together in an appeals round is never a smart move in reality. Of course, I'm not surprised by this considering you are both amateur coordinators."

More heckling came down from above, and the man waited it out before going on. "The truth is I don't think either of you two, if you were normal coordinators, would have even passed through this round. The only reason you are is because of your status. I don't mean to offend y'all, but I can't sit idly by and act as if just because you two are great battlers, you're somehow great at everything. Thank you."

Ash looked to Misty once again. Despite her cool demeanor before the monologue, now she appeared ready to launch across the field and slap the judge.

"You alright Mist?" He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and she seemed to snap back into reality.

"O-oh yeah, I'm fine." Her cheeks were ablaze, and he could tell she was trying her best not to retaliate.

Ash nodded. "Good. Don't worry. We're in, right?"

She swallowed and shook her head. "You're right. There's no reason to get mad at him even if he did just call us amateurs and bad coordinators." Her face was slightly flushed, and Ash sympathized with her. Misty was very…passionate, and he knew it was killing her not to express that passion right now.

_Just hold it in a little longer. _The last thing he needed was tomorrow's magazines' covers stating that the Sinnoh Champion's girlfriend was a psycho who couldn't take criticism.

Fortunately, she heeded his unspoken pleading as she reached for her pokéball and retracted Gyarados. Unfortunately, she'd forgotten about the pool of water and Pikachu, so the second he disappeared into the ball the hundreds of gallons splashed out, and Pikachu, along with the board, hit the ground.

As the water flooded the stadium floor, the man sighed into the microphone.

"Can we get a small intermission to clean this up?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Can you believe that jerk?" Misty screamed from within the locker room. Since she and Ash were first, and the contest had taken a brief break to clean the floors, they had the room to themselves until the next pair did their appeal. "He's calling _us_ amateurs? I bet he's never even been in a contest before!"

"I bet you're right. Though, to be fair," Misty cringed at these words, "he had a point. We're not exactly experienced or anything. I mean, I haven't been in a contest in years, and you've never done one!"

Misty shrugged. "So what? He doesn't know that. And besides, I've been in plenty of stupid water shows now. Those are ten times harder than what we were doing out there!"

"We shouldn't get so mad, though."

_By "we" I mean "you"._

"At least we made it to the battle round! It's obvious we'll wipe the floor during that. We knew this was gonna be our hardest event, and it was, but now it's over."

Misty's face was still ablaze, and she didn't seem too happy at Ash's logic. "I don't get why you're not more mad about this. We just got humiliated in front of everyone by some guy who sounds like a farmer just because we're good trainers!"

Ash had a slight mental panic. The last thing he needed was Misty angry with him before they went out and held a doubles battle.

"Listen, I'm with ya. I don't think that guy was being fair either and I think he was being extra mean just because we're well known too. But I don't think we should get so worked up over it since we're already done with that part. All that matters now is that we battle well with the new contests moves we've made. I don't know why this is such a big deal to you. We've met plenty of jerks before, right?"

She huffed and stomped her foot. "Yeah, but usually I could get back at them."

The movement suddenly brought back a wave of memories. Ash smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "You know, you kinda looked like your eleven year old self for a minute there."

Looking up at him dangerously, she asked what he meant.

"I don't mean anything bad by it!" he quickly explained, appearing amused that she'd take the comment as an insult. "I just remembered how you used to get all mad when anybody'd say something mean to you when we were younger. Don't you remember that guy who you almost beat up for saying you looked ugly? And then you destroyed him in a Pokémon battle in like five seconds?" Ash started laughing as he remembered Brock holding Misty back as she threw punches in the boy's direction.

She narrowed her eyes in recollection. "Oh yeah…I remember who you're talking about." She smiled too, remembering the satisfaction she felt when Staryu blasted his stupid Chikorita out of sight. "That was a little funny, I guess."

"You still have that fight in you…but you probably shouldn't show it to the judges who are going to grade our battle."

Giving him a look of forced acceptance, she slowly nodded. "You're right. I just don't like criticism…especially _mean_ criticism."

"I know. And he really wasn't being very nice."

"So what do we do now?"

"I guess just wait for the rest of the appeals to be over. Then the battling starts."

Misty sighed. "This is why I could never be a professional coordinator. It takes too long. At least in battles you're constantly in action."

Ash agreed, taking a seat on a small bench between a row of lockers. A few moments later, the battlefield was clean and the contest began once again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Come on May! I know you can do it!"

"Let's see that skill you're always talking about Drew!"

Ash and Misty cheered on the couple as they slowly walked out together, hand in hand, to a roar of applause.

"Do you think it's smart of us to be cheering on our rivals in this contest?"

Misty gave her boyfriend a shrug. "They're still our friends. Besides, what's the fun of being in a contest if we can't even beat them? That's the whole reason we signed up to begin with."

"I guess you're right." He turned back and continued to chide Drew on as the two entered the battler's box. Though tensions between the two boys were still slightly high after what had been said, he didn't want Drew losing before he had a chance to kick him out of the competition personally.

"We once again ask for complete silence as the next double team prepares to begin their routine."

A hush fell over the crowd, and the lights once again focused on the battlefield. However, unlike in the previous appeals, this time the lights began to dim, making the field almost completely unnoticeable. A soft piano medley began to play over the speakers as Nurse Joy explained the duo would be presenting an act entitled "Sunny Days".

"Come on out Altaria!"

"Take the stage, Wartortle!"

As the two jumped onto the field, they immediately took action. Altaria landed on the floor in the center and waited patiently as Wartortle jumped onto its back. The second the water Pokémon had its place, the dragon and flying type took off, hovering high above the field as the soft melody continued.

"Make it rain!"

Without a sound, the Wartortle lifted his head and released a powerful Rain Dance, which instantly had the entire field pouring.

"Do your part Altaria!"

The dragon type responded by releasing several low growls, which could have easily been mistaken for thunder. As they did this, the lights would temporarily flash, giving the appearance of lightning, and allowing the crowd a momentary glimpse of the partners mid-air.

"Wow! What an impressive sight by these Pokémon!"

"They must have practiced hard to perfect the sound of thunder," noted the man from earlier. Admiration seeped through his tone as the field continued to drizzle heavily and the music built up to a crescendo.

This continued for another minute as the music slowly increased pace from a cheerful tune to a hurried melody with a high level of energy. During one brief flash of "lightning" Ash could see May and Drew yell something to their partners, though he couldn't hear it over the noise. However, a moment later, he began to notice the rain was dying down, and the growls of Altaria diminished in size and frequency quickly as the music seemed to come off of its high and return to its cheerful, slow pace. Slowly, but surely the lights began to reemerge, albeit in a light blue hue.

"Now give us a Sunny Day!"

Beaming, the Altaria opened its mouth and shot a burst of light through the haze and small drizzle onto the middle of the field. With the light blue lighting effects, and Altaria's mouth open, the scene on the field did indeed seem to portray a sunny day.

After another moment, the silence of the crowd broke as the fans of the couple displayed their approval. May and Drew both took courteous bows before returning their Pokémon and looking to the judges to hear the final decisions.

"Well, to start," began the older man, "you could have made better use of the theme. Even though both your Pokémon were blue, and I suppose, the lights were too, you could have done more with the color. But I do think y'all put in a great effort, and the efficiency of your Pokémon has been unmatched today. The way they worked in harmony with the music was great, and I think yours was truly one of the best of the day."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Nurse Joy agreed.

"Same here," noted the elderly woman. "It makes me glad to know that young people such as yourselves still show such great enthusiasm for the sport we all love. Keep up the great work in the battle round!"

Another round of applause sounded for the pair as they quickly retreated for the tunnel.

"I knew you could do it May!" Misty cheered as she hugged the younger woman. "You two looked awesome out there!"

"Thanks Misty! I thought you guys looked great earlier too! Sorry we weren't around to cheer you on like you were for us, though."

As the girls continued to talk in the cramped hallway, Ash and Drew averted their eyes from ever meeting each other. Though the women had managed to put aside all feelings of rivalry, the two boys were hard-pressed to actually forgive the other for what had been said weeks earlier.

"Um, it wasn't that bad," Ash remarked finally, realizing that Mist and May could continue their conversation for another twenty minutes knowing their stamina. He scratched Pikachu behind the ears idly as a distraction to avoid looking at the green-haired coordinator.

Drew smirked. "Yeah, it wasn't, huh? I thought we were pretty much the best act out there."

Ash gave him a stern glare. "I didn't say you were the best. I just said it wasn't that bad."

"Gee, thanks for telling me what I already know," Drew remarked smartly. He rolled his eyes, and Ash narrowed his own.

"You know what? It wasn't that great! Your Altaria wasn't even that graceful, and the only reason anyone thought it was any good was because it was dark half the time!"

"Oh yeah?" Drew balled his fists and leaned towards his new rival. "Well you guys had the clumsiest performance I'd ever seen! I thought Pikachu was gonna go flying off of that stupid surfboard you made him stand on!"

"It wasn't stupid! It took me forever to find a surfboard that small!"

"It was too! We don't have to use props to make our appeals interesting, but I guess fake coordinators need-"

"What are you guys yelling about now?" Misty interrupted, coming between the two and shoving them backward. "I swear that you two haven't gone a single day without fighting!"

"And after you became such good friends!" May added in a sorrowful tone. "Why don't you just forget this stupid fake rivalry and make-up?"

"This isn't fake!" Drew protested. "He's my archenemy here!"

"Same here!" Ash insisted.

Misty gave her boyfriend a look of disbelief. "Ash, we're competing in a contest against them one time. That doesn't exactly qualify as heated rivals. You two are just mad still because of what you said about each other's sport."

"Well who can blame me at being mad at some guy who thinks contests aren't difficult?"

"And some jerk who says that contests are harder than battles?"

The two stared at each other once again as Misty kept them apart.

"Drew, I want you to apologize to Ash right now."

"You too Ash. Drew's a good friend, and you need to stop acting like he's not."

However, rather than heed their respective counterparts' advice, the two instead turned away from each other with a unison of "humph"s.

"I'm not apologizing for anything. If _he_ wants to, then he can."

"Same here…uh, I mean, except he has to apologize to _me_."

Misty looked back to May, who simply shrugged. "They're too stubborn right now. After this is over, I'm sure all will be forgiven."

"Yeah right," the two responded, once again in unison.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

In the second round, May and Drew used the Pokémon caught by Misty and May weeks earlier, and while the pair of Tentacruel were indeed powerful, they'd taken severe damage during the round, causing Misty alarm.

"If they already used the Tentacruel up, I don't know what they plan on battling with," she mentioned to Ash as the watched the pair on the television in the locker room. Now the room was filled with plenty of other couples, but they were all so immersed in their own discussions and strategies that no one heeded the two celebrities in their midst.

"Well, they don't know what we'll be using either," Ash mentioned with a wink. The last two battles he and Misty had stuck with his recently acquired Marshtomp and her Gyarados. Unfortunately, both Pokémon were now too weak to continue, so they were going to have to switch teams for the next round.

Misty looked to the board in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Of the original hundred coordinators, only twelve teams remained. "It's coming close. We have to face them eventually."

"Are you nervous?"

Misty tried to look incredulous at the inquiry. "Me? Of course not! Battling's my job. What about you?"

"What do you think?" He gave her a confident smirk which he hoped would hide his true worries. Though they'd easily _defeated_ the previous coordinators they'd faced, they'd actually come quite close both times to losing the rounds. Despite the strength of their Pokémon, the grace of their attacks left much to be desired by the judges and resulted in serious losses of style points.

"And now let's see who will be competing in the first battle of the third round!" Announced Nurse Joy, now standing by a small lottery machine which slowly spun around the small numbered balls of each team. "The first team to compete in this round is number fourteen; May and Drew!"

Despite the fact that they were well removed from the crowd in the locker room, all of the coordinators could hear the uproar from the crowd as their favorite pair was announce.

"This is great!"

"Really?" Misty was perplexed by Ash's joy. "Why?"

"They just competed! Their Pokémon are tired, so maybe now we'll get to see what they're gonna use against us."

Misty looked slightly surprised by her boyfriend's thinking. "You're right, Ash. Huh, maybe you're smarter than I thought."

He narrowed his eyes.

"And competing against May and Drew in this round will be…number eighteen, Ash and Misty!"

Again, the raucous from the crowd drove through the walls and assured all inside of the excitement building up.

Suddenly, all eyes were on the pair.

"Did they just call us?"

"Yeah."

Misty let out a slow breath. She couldn't believe that from all the numbers, hers and Ash's had to be called at this moment. "Well then, I guess we better go." She stood up and reached for her new partners pokéball.

Ash nodded, gritting his teeth in determination. It was odd for him to feel nervous about _this_ after all he had done, but he was honestly beginning to worry about their chances. Despite his feelings for Drew, he couldn't help but admit that the young man indeed possessed some flare for his sport; and May was not far behind, if behind at all, in skill.

Standing up, he grabbed Misty's hand as they headed for the doors.

"Let's see them try and beat us."

"Pikachu!"

"Yeah!" Misty declared excitedly, gripping Ash's hand tighter.

Together, the pair walked out of the room and down the small hallway once again. Seeing the light at the end, along with the roar of the crowd, reminded Ash a lot of when he was younger and first competed in the Indigo League. He'd been so nervous then, much like now, and the walk to the end of the hallway seemed like a voyage all its own.

However, once they stepped out, everything was different. At the other end, he could see Drew and May, also hand-in-hand, waving to the crowd as everyone voiced their opinion on who they preferred for the match.

"Ladies and gentlemen," spoke the referee, standing on a small stool in the middle and just outside of the battlefield. "The rules are the same as before. Both team are only allowed one Pokémon per person, and the team which loses its style points first loses. If a Pokémon faints before the match is over then whichever team possessed the most points before the Pokémon fainted is the winning group."

As Ash and Misty stepped into their box, May and Drew followed suit. Even from this distance, Ash glared intently over at Drew, who reciprocated the action.

"I'm gonna beat him."

"Ash, don't be so mad at Drew. If I can forgive them, then you definitely should."

"Yeah, but he's acting like some overconfident jerk."

"Gee, I wonder what that's like to deal with."

Ash gave her a quick glare of her own before turning his attention back to Drew. "You don't get it."

"Yes I do. You boys started a fight about who has it harder and now neither of you wants to back down. At least me and May realized how stupid our fight was and forgave each other."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes, unsure of how Misty, of all people, could not see the obvious need to crush Drew and May and prove that Pokémon battling was the better sport. "Do you have Dratini ready?"

"Yep!" She enlarged the pokéball given to her months earlier.

"Then let's go!" He hurled Gabite's pokéball onto the field alongside Misty and the two immediately took shape.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Two dragon types?" May asked in disbelief. She hadn't been aware of either Pokémon. "How did they catch those?"

Drew was momentarily too stunned to speak. He and May had focused their entire strategy on battling Pikachu and Gyarados. Still, the strategist within him forced his mind to immediately shift gears and prepare for the battle.

"They still don't know what we're gonna use, though. You focus your attention on that Dratini and I'll take care of Gabite."

"Right," she nodded, enlarging her own pokéball. "Take the stage Metang!"

"Come out Salamance!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Do you see what I see?"

Ash was too busy trying hard not to stare in amazement to understand Misty's question. In all of the studies he'd done of the pair online, in not a single contest had he seen them use either of these borderline-legendary Pokémon.

"Um…"

"How do you guys like our new Pokémon?" Drew asked from across the field. "We caught Metang as a Beldum, and Salamance was actually from Johto originally."

Ash shook his head, determined to not allow the green-haired coordinator to see him impressed by his fighting creature. "You think that's impressive? Wait until you see our Pokémon in action!"

"If both sides are ready," interjected the referee from his side, "we can now begin the battle."

"We're ready!" Misty called determinedly to the official.

"So are we!"

"Then let the battle begin!"

The battle began in the blink of an eye. The second the flags were lowered, Metang and Salamance jumped into action.

"Sal!" cried the Pokémon as he shot out a flurry of flames in the form of a Flamethrower attack.

Metang followed suit and, his eyes aglow, shot forth a huge burst of purple psychic energy at the Dratini.

"Ah! Watch out!" Ash commanded, caught off guard by their precision.

It was too late for their partners, however, as the moves quickly made impact with their intended targets, resulting in a rather large explosion on Ash and Misty's side of the field. With smoke obstructing their view, Ash only had the words coming in from above for comprehension of the battle so far.

"And with a huge Flamethrower and powerful Psybeam, this battle gets off to a rough start for team Ash and Misty. Their points won't stop falling until they somehow retaliate."

Through the choking heat, Misty decided to take action. "Dratini, put out the Flamethrower with a Surf!"

"Dratini!" Opening his small mouth, the dragon type released a huge volume of water upon the field, instantly forcing Salamance to fly high and quit his attack. Metang, though trying to lift itself higher with sheer psychic willpower, found itself unable to avoid the attack and was ultimately drenched by the attack.

_We need to clear up this smoke._

"Give us a Twister Gabite!"

Taking a deep breath, Gabite obeyed the command as a huge, spiraling burst of energy emitted from his jaw. The swirling cloud of wind quickly tore through the smoke and identified the other side of the field to the two trainers.

"Perfect! Now Dragon Rush Salamance!" He pointed upwards, and Gabite nodded with understanding.

"Dratini, Thunder Wave Metang!"

As Gabite prepared to launch himself, Dratini's body became covered in blue sparks as he unleashed a weak electrical frenzy to paralyze his opponent.

"Salamance, Dragon Rush Twist!"

As soon as Gabite shot off from the ground, Salamance took action. Doing a small somersault mid-air, he charged Gabite while rapidly twisting his body.

"What a beautiful move!" chimed the elderly woman, and Ash nervously realized that he'd once again forgotten that he was fighting for points in this battle.

Bang!

_Too late to change that._

The two dragon types, who'd turned completely silver from the power they were bringing out, had just collided halfway across the field.

"Gabite!"

"Salamance!"

Neither responded as their skulls popped against one another and then forced them both to fall backward from their heights. Despite his ability to fly, Salamance looked just as incapable as Gabite of fighting his impending fall to the earth.

Meanwhile, below, Metang and Dratini had been waging a small war of psychic and electrical energy. Both were sending off small jolts to one another blow-by-blow. However, seeing their partners' Pokémon in trouble, both young women ordered their fighting assistants to save their friends.

"Dratini, Safeguard!"

"Metang, Psychic!"

Using its powers, Metang caught Salamance before it hit the ground and quickly righted its position so that it would land slowly on its feet. At the same time, Misty's Dratini created a blue shield around itself and waited for impact from Gabite.

Bam!

Ash had to grimace slightly as he watched his Pokémon bounce off the shield and hit the ground hard.

"Oh man! Ash, I'm sorry! I forgot how strong Dratini's Safeguard is!"

Ignoring her for the moment, he called out to Gabite. "Are you okay buddy?" Though the Pokémon was certainly damaged by the collision, Ash was heartened by the slow movements he was making to stand back up. Any joy gleaned from his Pokémon's condition, though, instantly evaporated when he looked up at the board. More than half of his and Misty's points had disappeared from the board already, while May and Drew had barely lost a quarter of theirs.

Gulping, he decided it was time to change pace. He and Misty had both practiced several new moves with their Pokémon specifically for this contest, and he was sure that the stylish combinational attacks could win the judges over.

"Great job Gabite! You damaged him! Now use Dragon Pulse!"

Misty immediately caught on and nodded to her Pokémon. "Time for Dragon Rage Dratini!"

Both Pokémon reared their heads back and formed orbs of energy. Dratini's was red while Gabite's was blue.

"Now!" Ash and Misty ordered together, pointing to the other side of the field.

"I got this May!" Drew warned. "Salamance, Protect!"

As the two moves neared the opposite side of the field, though, it quickly became apparent that the Pokémon weren't actually aiming for their opponents. Instead, the two moves collided with each other in the air, causing a blast of purple energy to emanate. The bright light temporarily blinded May and Drew's Pokémon and gave Ash the opening he needed.

"Now go at 'em with a Dig Claw!"

Gabite instantly dug its way underground as May and Drew began to panic and waited to see what Ash was planning. The light had faded, but it was clear that the Salamance and Metang were still disoriented as their masters tried to force them into the air and away from the impending assault. Despite their wishes, though, Salamance seemed unable of achieving flight after the attack from earlier, and Metang was too busy rubbing its eyes to heed May's wishes.

"Bite!" Suddenly the Pokémon jumped through the ground, his claws a dark hue as he struck Salamance from below. He ejected from the hole with such force, and his attack was so powerful, that the heavy flying and dragon type was actually thrown quite high into the air and almost hit the ground on his back. Fortunately, Metang once again prevented his imminent plummet with a quick Psychic.

"Look at that!" Ash joyously pointed to the board and Misty momentarily divided her attention just in time to watch and Drew and May lost almost a quarter more of their points on the spot. Though she and Ash were still behind, the small planned assault had worked wonders in catching them back up.

"I'd say they both have a good chance of making it at this point," Nurse Joy commented excitedly. "What a great battle so far!"

"And it only gets better from here!" May announced. "Metang, show Dratini your Psychic Bullet Punch!"

Metang's right fist glowed with an inky darkness while the other turned a metallic-steel hue. Using its psychic energy, the Pokémon propelled itself with amazing speed to Dratini who, on the other side of the field, awaited his master's command.

"Ash, take care of Salamance. We've got this!"

Ash nodded. "Alright then! Use Dragon Pulse again!"

"Zen Headbutt!"

Salamance lowered his head and simply took the attack straight on. Slowly lifting himself back, up he gave a mighty roar and Ash's heart sunk as more points were taken away from him and Misty.

"Tang-tang-tang!" Screeched the metal and psychic type ferociously as he began pelting Dratini with blows.

"Keep dodging Dratini!" Misty cheered. For each missed attack, May and Drew lost points.

"Tini!" cried her Pokémon, ducking his head as the darkened fist swung overhead.

"Focus Metang!"

"Salamance, use a Flamethrower to finish it!"

Lifting its head, Salamance built a solid wall of flame within its jaw, and Ash tried to respond quickly. "Let's finish it with a Draco Meteor! Show him what you're made of!"

At his words, Gabite thrust his head high and shot off several large, fiery orbs into the air. Drew's head shot up with the attack and he commanded Salamance to stop his fire attack.

"Protect instead!"

As the comet-like balls all began to spiral towards the blue dragon type, Salamance closed its mouth and instead surrounded itself in a blue bubble. As the fireballs began crashing in on and around the dragon and flying type, his protection proved strong enough to hold, and Ash dreaded to even look at his points as the last of the Draco Meteor evaporated into the small forcefield.

"Dratini, no!"

Looking to his left, he was reminded that his girlfriend's Pokémon was not faring much better in the battle as Metang's metallic fist finally made contact on the upswing beneath her Dratini, forcing it several feet in the air with a cry.

"Now finish it with Psychic!"

"Flamethrower!"

In a swift move, Metang lifted Dratini back in the air and threw him towards the center of the field, by Ash's Gabite. As the flames neared the two Pokémon, Gabite gave a final push by using a small Twister attack, but it barely resisted the onslaught of heated power before it was completely overpowered.

"Dratini!"

"Gabite!"

The buzzer sounded overhead as the last of the couple's points dissipated from the board, along with Salamance's fairly short attack.

In the middle of the field, surprisingly to the audience, both Dratini and Gabite were still standing and in fact did not appear much fazed by the fire type attack.

"They're dragon types, so I guess they weren't really hurt," Ash reasoned, taking out his pokéball. "Too bad this isn't a regular battle, or they coulda kept going. Gabite return!"

As the dragon type came back to his pokéball, Ash congratulated him on his work. "That was a great job, Gabite. You deserve a long rest."

Misty, May, and Drew followed suit before walking across the fairly beaten up battlefield to shake hands. The crowd was going crazy, alongside the judges who were all voicing opinions at once, but none of the teenagers heeded their words as they prepared to meet.

"That was an awesome battle May!" Misty congratulated. "I'm so impressed. No wonder everyone calls you the Princess of Hoenn!"

May blushed a little. "Well I wasn't the only great one! You and Ash worked so well together, it looked like you've been doing this for a while. Look at how many points you took away from us!" She nodded to the scoreboard where, sure enough, almost three-quarters of her and Drew's points had disappeared from existence.

"Yeah, but we still won," Drew added, smiling at Ash.

"You're just lucky this wasn't a real battle or Gabite woulda finished your Salamance off."

Misty smacked her boyfriend on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"Pikachu!" screamed the small rodent as he almost toppled off of his trainer's shoulder.

"You don't need to act like such a spoiled sport! Just admit that Drew is a better coordinator than you!"

"And you," May looked sternly at her boyfriend, a look he wasn't too familiar with from his counterpart. "You need to be nice to Ash. We both know he would destroy us if this were a normal battle. Besides, wasn't battling them the most exciting thing we've gotten to do in a while?"

Both boys took a moment, staring each other down as the crowd continued their cheering and sobbing.

"Do it or I'll slap you again."

Sighing, Ash finally relented and stuck out his hand to Drew. The green-haired teen appeared to hesitate, so May took charge and gave him the same threat. "And I know how much time you spend on your hair."

Rolling his eyes, he accepted the hand and the two shook.

"I guess you were pretty good," Ash admitted.

Drew gave a small smirk. "And you were pretty good for a rookie. Besides, I need someone to talk to other than May. She's about to drive me insane."

"You too?" Ash quickly caught onto the joke as May gaped at her boyfriend. "Misty won't leave me alone. She's bugging me all that time, and I don't have anyone to complain to except her which…isn't a good idea." He rubbed the back of his head and Drew cracked up.

"Whaddya mean I'm bugging you?"

"Oh, nothing," Ash took a step away from her as she readied to slap him upside the head once more. "It's just a joke, Mist."

"Yeah May," Drew reassured, sensing a disturbance in his girlfriend. "You guys need to lighten up."

The two girls eyed each other before shrugging. "What did I tell you? They're fine now that the contest is over."

* * *

Author's Notes: Welp, there you go. It was an all-contest chapter, with a little bit of rivalry for flare, so I hope you were all at least entertained. However, now that we're through with the contest, you can expect for the plot to once again delve into more serious matters over the next few chapters as we deal with Dawn as well as some…unfinished business with Giovanni.

Before I go, I need to mention that last chapter I said that my favorite fanfiction author of all time, **Spruceton Spook**, never responded to my message where I basically (and unashamedly…mostly) went on and on about how much I loved her writing and how it inspired me to write, and etc. Well, believe it or not, despite how much of a girl I surely sounded like (again, mostly not ashamed of it), she actually wrote me back! And it was a long message at that! And then I wrote her back, and she wrote back, and I wrote back and…well, you get the picture. Anyway, long story short, she said that she would actually READ MY STORY! And then she said SHE'D REVIEW IT! So yeah, that's pretty awesome. I expect it'll take her a while to actually get through all of these chapters, but when she does, I can't wait to hear what she thinks (good or bad), and I want to remind everyone once again that if you haven't already, then you absolutely **MUST READ "STARS FELL ON PALLET TOWN" BY SPRUCETON SPOOK**. It's a great trilogy, and you're only hurting yourself by not reading the greatest thing ever written on this site.

Alrighty then, I better let you get back to your real lives now! See you in two weeks…for real this time!


	38. The Interview

**Hey Everybody!** Thank you so much for your awesome input last week! I really appreciate it and am doing my best to reply to all the reviews I got. If you haven't heard back from me, please still review this chapter, and I'll get to yours as soon as possible.

Before you read, I need to inform y'all that I still have some dedicated readers working on fanart, but I have put up some of the work they've done on a newly-created Photobucket account. Also, for those of you who've wondered just how handsome and awesome you're beloved author is, I have a picture of myself on the account! So check it out. The link can be found on my profile page.

One more thing. Last chapter was bloody. Seriously. I got so many angry letter both in the form of private messages and actually reviews that it was a little disheartening. The truth is, I'm sorry if the story's moving a little slow, but it kind of has to. We've had a decent amount of action in it thus far, and there's much more to come, but for now you kind of have to bear with me as we progress through the plot. I love writing action (much more than dialogue, haha), but the story won't work without an actual, you know, story. However, for those who said I didn't properly describe a contest, I understand that the traditional contests on the show were not as described in last chapter. Despite this, there's never been a doubles contest in the show either (I invented it), so I think that a few of the creative liberties I took were justified.

However, despite my defenses for last chapter, I have to admit that everyone was right to be upset. The chapter came a week late (unlike this one! Right on time!), and frankly I didn't give it 100% because of everything going on. I'm truly sorry to everyone who felt let down after the last installment, and I hope that this chapter, which is truly a great one in my opinion, will reinvigorate your confidence in me as your author.

That being said, read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

"Wow, Ash. I never thought I'd see you put on make-up," Misty teased from behind the champion as one of the show workers finished sprucing the young man up for television. "I guess you're more vain than I gave you credit for. I have some lipstick if you'd like to borrow it. Is cherry red your color?"

He turned around and gave her a scowl. "I told them I didn't wanna, but they said I was too pale for TV."

Misty laughed. "Well you _are_ a pretty pale guy, Ash."

"Are you kidding me? I spend all day out in the sun training and catching Pokémon. Look at you!" He picked up her hand. "I think all the time you spent inside the gym turned you into a ghost!"

"Hey!" Misty withdrew her hand defensively and momentarily looked like she was about to slap her friend. "I'm naturally pale, but that's attractive on women!"

"Says who?"

"Says you. You're the one who's told me I look beautiful like every day, so there!" She stuck out her tongue at him, and he angrily stomped his foot on the cement floor. He knew he'd regret being nice to her.

"Well anyway, I'm not really pale."

"Are you guys almost ready for your big daytime talk show debut?" May asked, entering the dressing room with her boyfriend, and diffusing yet another fight.

"Nice make-up, Ash." Drew teased, resisting the urge to crack up. Pikachu was on his shoulder, and it appeared to Ash as if he too wanted to laugh aloud.

_Whose side is he on?_

Normally, he wouldn't have been ready, but after catching Drew in their bathroom the other day, he'd perfected the ultimate comeback. "Ha, ha, Drew. That was a good one. Oh, by the way, nice hair. How often do you have to dye it to keep it so green?"

Narrowing his eyes, the coordinator silently conceded. Fortunately for him, though, Ash didn't rub it in, but rather opted to let it go. The two had instantly recovered from the bad blood they'd developed before the contest and had almost become a team against their girlfriends who, surprisingly, seemed to have become even closer over their travels the last month. A silent camaraderie had slowly bloomed, and Ash didn't wish to end it over hair and make-up…especially if he needed back-up in an argument against Misty.

As the two boys proceeded to talk, May turned her attention to Misty. "This is so cool that you're getting to talk with Lila Reese! She's one of the biggest T.V. stars of all time!" she exclaimed for what felt to Misty like the hundredth time that day. "You know that her show's broadcast in all four western regions, right? I hear they're even getting it to Orre soon! It was smart of you to pick her show."

"Thanks May, but actually I didn't pick her show." Misty informed. "Dawn did."

"Oh! Well then good for Dawn! Either way, it was a really smart move. Everyone watches her show."

"You just watch it for the gossip," Drew reminded pointedly. "All this woman ever does is try to create some big scandal with her guests. She twists their words all around."

May looked angrily at her boyfriend. "It's _not_ just gossip. A lot of her shows are very informative! Besides, if you don't like it, then why do you always sit there and watch it with me? Huh?"

The coordinator blushed slightly, but stood firm, insisting he only watched because there was nothing to do. "It's not like I make a habit of it or anything." He looked at Ash. "She's just excited because she's a fan, but I still think this is a bad idea. She seems like a real jerk."

"She is _not_."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, May."

"Don't patronize me!"

"What are you talking about? I just told you that you were right!"

"You only said it because you wanted me to be quiet. I don't want to hear you say I was right unless you believe it."

As they continued their small squabble, Misty looked at Ash.

"Speaking of Dawn, where is she?" she questioned, realizing she hadn't seen her since they'd entered the studio.

The question actually managed to quiet the feuding couple beside them.

"You know, that's a good question. I saw her go to her dressing room, but that was like two hours ago! Not even Dawn pays that much attention to her make-up."

"I don't think she's left her room yet. Maybe she's just getting ready for the interview."

Ash looked at the clock. "We've only got a few minutes. I'm gonna look for her."

"Don't be late!" Misty warned as he got up. "Knowing you, you'll get lost and miss the show!"

He smiled. "Lost? When have I ever been lost?"

However, before she could answer, he ran out the door and down the hallway, snickering. As he continued down the area backstage, he passed by a crew member whom he decided to ask about Dawn's whereabouts.

"She's just in the other dressing room," the man responded, pointing to a door with "guest" imprinted upon it. "I'd figure she's getting ready for the show."

_Still?_

Tentatively, Ash knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

"Dawn? It's Ash. I was just wondering if you wanted to come in my room and hang out with the rest of us? We're pretty much just arguing, but it would probably still be more fun than hanging out here by yourself."

"One sec." The door unlocked and Dawn appeared, smiling up at the trainer. "Hey Ash, come on in." She let the champion walk in before closing the door behind him.

"So are you ready for the interview?"

He looked down at his new suit and shrugged. "I guess. I think we've practiced all of our lines, so it shouldn't be that hard."

"Yeah. I hope it's quick."

Ash sat on a small couch in the room and looked up. "Yeah, I don't like having to sit and talk for too long. Especially with everyone listening. That's why I haven't done any T.V. interviews before now, actually. It just seems like too much trouble."

"Uh-huh." She plopped down next to him.

Ash raised his eyebrows. Something wasn't right with his friend, and he could tell by the way she was slouching next to him that she was upset about something.

"Are you feeling okay Dawn?"

"Huh? Why would you ask that?"

"Because you keep looking down, and your eyes are a little red." Though it was hard to tell, upon closer inspection he thought she appeared as if she'd been crying.

"I'm fine, Ash."

He squinted. "No you're not. What's the matter? Isn't this what you wanted?"

She took a moment before letting out a slow breath. "Well, the truth is that I don't know what's the matter. I've been having a great time with you guys the last few weeks, and even Misty and I have been getting along like we used to, but for some reason I just started crying earlier."

"And you don't know why?"

She shook her head.

"That's kinda weird," he noted quietly, more to himself.

"Gee, thanks."

"No, I didn't mean to sound mean or anything. I just never heard of someone crying and not knowing why."

Dawn shrugged. "I just felt like it, I guess." Seeing his still-questioning face, she forced herself to elaborate. "I feel kinda depressed about how everything is going, I guess. I mean, I think I'm still getting over my feelings for you, and now I have to go on T.V. and act like I never loved you at all while I still kinda do. It's just really emotional. You know how it is."

Ash nodded in false understanding. Truthfully, he had no idea what the young woman was going through, but he did know she didn't need to hear that. "You still want to do the interview though, right?"

"Yeah, definitely!" she earnestly responded. "It'll be hard, but at least people will stop looking at me like I'm the unlucky third wheel. That'll take care of at least one problem."

Ash put his arm around her, and for a brief second she wished he'd lean upon her as she'd seen him do with Misty so many times in the last few weeks. However, the thought of Misty dashed those hopes instantly, and a pang of guilt replaced them.

"I really am sorry for making you like me," he apologized awkwardly. He knew it sounded stupid, but there was no better phrasing he could create, and saying something was definitely preferable to nothing in this situation. The blue-haired coordinator looked up and smiled at him.

"You couldn't help it Ash. It's like you said, we can't resist who we end up liking."

He smiled back. "You're right. And if it makes you feel any better, I don't think you missed out on much. Don't tell Misty I said this…but I'm actually really bad with directions and maps."

Dawn laughed a little and agreed.

"Also, I'm pretty clueless about how people feel a lot of the time, and outside of Pokémon battling, I'm not really that smart. You'll end up finding someone much better who likes you just as much as you like them, and then you'll have exactly what me and Misty have…except maybe with a few less bruises since you're nicer."

Dawn laughed some more. "I really have had a great time with you guys. I almost wish I didn't have to leave."

"You could still travel with us, Dawn," Ash offered once again. "We'd love to have you with us. Like you said, everything's back to normal so you wouldn't need to worry about it being awkward."

Her smile disappeared as she shook her head. "I actually can't. I've already taken almost a month off from my contest challenges in Johto. The Grand Festival is only a few months away, and I really can't afford any more time off."

"How many more ribbons do you need?"

She blushed slightly and pushed a strand of lose hair behind her ear. "Um, actually, three."

"You've only gotten two so far?"

"Hehe, uh, yeah. Things have been kinda dramatic recently, so me and my team haven't been working as hard as we normally do."

"I guess you really do need to get back to Johto then."

"Yep! I actually have a plane leaving tomorrow to bring me to Olivine."

"Yeah, I remember you telling us about that yesterday," he recollected.

A knock on the door interrupted the small talk, and Dawn bid the visitor in. It was the same crew member Ash had talked to earlier. "Um, we're five minutes from show time. We need everyone in their seats and ready."

"Here we go." Ash stood up and waited for Dawn. "You remember all of your lines?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's not exactly a play, but yeah, I remember the story."

He shot her a grin which melted her heart a little even after all that had happened. "Perfect. Then let's do it!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So we're sitting down today for what absolutely _must_ be the biggest interview of the year," Lila began excitedly as the crowd clapped in agreement and the introductory music died down. "We have with us this evening not only the Pokémon Champion of Sinnoh, Ash Ketchum, but also his girlfriend and former flame up on the set as well!"

Several in the audience, which Ash noted was entirely populated by women, hollered with amazing gusto at the mention of Dawn and Misty.

"Um, well not exactly," Ash interjected from the black leather couch seated across from the talk show host. He, Misty, and Dawn had agreed to do this show to clear up speculation about his and Dawn's relationship, and the last thing he needed was to add fuel to the fire. "I mean, we're actually just friends."

The pale middle-aged woman gave the young man a wink. "Of course you are…_now_."

As if directed, the audience let out a series of "ooh"s and "ah"s. Ash gave them a slightly incredulous glance before turning back to the host.

"No, really. We were never anything more than that."

"Then how would you be able to explain this little scene?" She pointed to a large screen behind the set which suddenly flickered to life, showing the end of the battle and Dawn's kiss. The audience, without hesitation, reacted to the film as if they'd never seen it before. "I would say that that was a little more than just two 'friends' kissing, wouldn't you?"

Dawn answered for Ash, albeit with a little nervousness etched in her tone from being on camera. "W-well that wasn't what I meant to do. It was all just a big mistake."

"Really honey?" replied Lila, her voice the epitome of patronization. "Then why did you kiss him?"

Dawn blushed, but kept her composure. "Well, originally I was just going out there to give him a high-five like I normally would do after a big battle, but I guess I just got a little caught up in the whole moment, and ended up kissing him instead. It's not like it's never happened before."

"Let's take a look at what some of the magazines have said about your small encounter." The response seemed completely unrelated to Dawn's statements, but the teens did not object as she flipped through one of a number of tabloids she had sitting next to her on a small table. "In this one, they said you were a third wheel."

She opened another as Dawn blushed again. "And in this one, you actually tried to separate Ash and Misty after they got together. I remember hearing from somewhere that you'd actually challenged Misty to a battle for Ash's love, and that she ended up winning."

"What?" Misty responded this time. She'd been holding her boyfriend's hand, but at the host's words, her "holding" became more of a death grip which forced him to stifle a groan of pain. "We didn't have a battle for Ash! That's ridiculous."

"I'm sure most of it is just the tabloids making up stories," the woman answered sympathetically. "You know how those reporters can be sometimes…especially when it comes to celebrity gossip. However, can you actually say there isn't truth to anything they're saying? I mean, I think I could imagine Dawn as a third wheel if I were dating the famous Ash Ketchum."

"Dawn was never a third wheel," Misty defended. "She was great to have along, and we would have loved for her to stay with us."

_It's not a complete lie,_ she reasoned. _I wouldn't have absolutely _hated_ it._

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "She's a great friend of ours! We never would have kicked her out of our group."

"So what about some of these rumors swirling that you two didn't technically kick her out, but instead just abandoned her at one of the Pokémon Centers you were staying at in Johto? Is there any truth to that?"

"They would _never_ have done that," Dawn answered for her friends. "They're some of the best friends I have!"

"So what you guys are saying then is that there is absolutely no hard feelings between any of you?"

All three shook their heads. "We're just as good friends as we've ever been."

Lila looked down at Misty above the glasses placed at the tip of her nose. "So you had no problem with this image?" She pointed back to the screen, with the video paused on Dawn's lips pressing against Ash's. "I mean, if everything's fine, and the kiss really didn't mean anything, then I guess you're perfectly okay with Dawn having kissed Ash?"

"Well…" There was a pause which seemed to fill the void of several minutes as Misty tried to create a correct response. However, Lila interjected before she had an opportunity to reply.

"And we'll hear her response right after a small break!" At her words, the bright fluorescent lights suddenly dimmed on the set, and Lila stood up and walked over to her producer. The two began a hushed conversation as the three teens remained seated.

"Can you believe all of that junk the tabloids made up?"

Ash shook his head. "What I can't believe is how much it seems she wants it to be true." He nodded in the direction of the host. "Did you hear how she talked to Dawn? And then she basically called her a third wheel herself."

"And the way she talks to us it's like she doesn't believe a word we're saying!" Dawn added. "I picked this show because so many people watch it, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea."

Misty gave Dawn a sympathetic look. "Look, don't worry about this Dawn. We're just going to have to be more aggressive. We thought she'd just accept the story we gave her, but we're gonna have to prove that we're telling the truth."

"How?"

"I dunno, but we'll figure a way out."

Lila returned to her chair as the cameraman signaled ten seconds. Giving the teenagers a suspicious look, she asked if everything was okay. "It seems like you guys aren't really giving me the entire story."

"Oh, we'll give it to you," Misty retorted curtly, causing a small look of surprise to take hold of her features momentarily. However, the lights came back to life and her cheery demeanor shone through once again.

"And we're back. Now Misty Waterflower, you were saying whether or not this image-" she pointed to the screen once again, "-actually bothers you. Though you claim that nothing between Dawn and Ash happened, it would seem from this photograph that something was indeed going on like so many have speculated."

"I guess they just speculated wrong," Misty replied simply with a shrug. Ash was impressed with her ability to maintain an innocent tone despite the clear animosity which was beginning to develop between the two. "Like Dawn said a minute ago, they were just caught up in the moment. Besides, Ash and I weren't even together then, so it's not like I would have had any reason to be upset."

"Still, it must have been upsetting to see the man you had feelings for kiss another girl."

Now Ash interjected. "I didn't actually kiss her. You can see that in the picture." Indeed, on the screen Ash's hands were far away from Dawn as she leaned in, and even his expression was one of confusion, not passion. "It's like we said before. She was just caught up in the moment."

"Hmmm, that is an interesting way to put it."

Dawn gave the host a concerned look. "Whaddya mean?"

"It still strikes me as weird, as I'm sure it does to everyone watching at home, that you would have quit travelling with Ash so soon after this took place if it really was just a big mix-up. Why not continue following the two around?"

"I wasn't _following_ them around. I'm a coordinator, and I have contests in Johto that I have to compete in because I'm trying to get into the Grand Festival," Dawn explained, regretting her decision with even more ferocity. "I couldn't stay with Ash or Misty anymore. They needed to go one place and I had to go somewhere else. It's not like I had nothing else going on. I have my own life."

Lila pulled out another magazine, and Ash groaned.

_Does she have an article for everything?_

"According to Johto Weekly you've only obtained two ribbons. It sure doesn't seem like you're in too big of a rush to get ready for the Grand Festival which, for our viewers at home unfamiliar with contests, is only a few months away."

The audience once again responded enthusiastically to this news, and Ash felt them begin to grate on his nerves. This wasn't supposed to be a difficult process, but apparently everyone was determined to make their private business a public scandal.

"I've just had a little trouble in some of my latest contests." She blushed as she retorted. "I-it's hard to be out there by yourself and stay motivated to train and win sometimes."

The host nodded sympathetically once again, and Misty imagined herself smacking the false kindness off the woman's face. "I know it must be _very_ difficult. That's why it doesn't make any sense for you to have stopped travelling with these guys…unless something happened."

"Lila, Dawn just said a minute ago that she's trying to win ribbons, and Ash and I have our own jobs that we're doing right now. It just couldn't work out to have us all travelling together."

The host put her hands up in mock defense. "Okay, okay. There's no reason to be so defensive about it Misty." After a second, a mischievous smirk crossed her face. "Though you know what they say; the guilty always yell the loudest."

"Actually, Misty is pretty much always the loudest. It doesn't have anything to do with whether she's guilty or not."

The response from her boyfriend cause an eruption of laughter from the audience, and an even larger one when Misty smacked the back of his head for saying such a thing on international television. "Like I'm the one with the big mouth."

"Oh, trouble in Paradise I see?" Lila seemed excited almost to the point of passing out at the small spat onscreen. "Are you guys having trouble in your relationship? Have you thought about going to a counselor or splitting up?"

Ash gave the woman a bewildered look. "Why would I break up with Misty? She's always hit me on the head…I'm just glad she quit using that mallet."

"She used to hit you in the head with a mallet? Unbelievable!"

"It was just a toy!" Misty retorted, talking to her boyfriend more than the host. "Besides, if you hadn't gotten us lost so many times, and hadn't made fun of me so much, I wouldn't have had to use it! You think you would've learned by now not to do that."

Lila appeared baffled. "Wait, so is this a regular thing then? The fighting and whatnot?"

Ash and Misty looked at each other for a moment before shrugging. "Uh, yeah," Ash responded. "I mean, we've always fought like this."

"Then why are you two together? That doesn't make any sense."

"Why wouldn't we be? We really like each other and have been friends since we were kids."

"But all the fighting. Most teenage couples I know of are at the mall holding hands and making out, but you just told me that your girlfriend regularly assaults you, and you said that he makes fun of you." She gave them a questioning look. "Why would anyone want to be in a relationship like that?"

"Um."

"Uh…"

"You can have a few minutes to think on your response while we go to commercial break," Lila informed, turning to the camera. "We'll be back with the answer after these messages!" The red lights atop the cameras turned off and she once again picked up her conversation with the producer.

"What do you think we should say?"

Ash shrugged. "I guess we just tell her why we like each other."

"I _know_ that, but wasn't this supposed to be about why Dawn's kiss didn't mean anything? When did it suddenly become about why we fight so much?"

"Actually, this might work out perfectly for me," Dawn answered with a smile from Misty's left. "I think I just realized what I can say. Do you guys mind if I answer your question for you?"

"Go ahead," Misty granted, wondering what the coordinator had in mind.

A couple minutes later, Lila took her seat once again, and the audience began to clap as the lights shone down upon the set.

"And we're back with Ash, Misty, and Dawn. Now Misty, before we left for the break, you and Ash were talking about your constant arguments and fights."

"Well, I wouldn't say that they're constant."

"Anyway," the host punctuated, "I asked you why you two decided to pursue a relationship with all of the bad blood between you guys, and it seemed that you were having trouble giving me an answer. Is this something that you've wondered yourself at times?"

Dawn cleared her throat before Misty could reply. "If you don't mind, I think I have the answer for why these two like each other so much."

"Oh, the ex is going to weigh in. How exciting!"

The blue-haired teen frowned and gave the host a dark look. "I'm not the ex, because I was never Ash's girlfriend to begin with. Misty and Ash are perfect for each other, and I know it because of what they told me the day after this-" she pointed to the screen, "-happened. I asked them why they would like each other after fighting so much and seeming to never get along."

"What was their answer then?"

"Ash told me it was because Misty motivated him. He said that she always forced him to be his best, and that even though they fought and teased each other a lot, that was just the way they'd make each other do better the next time. He said if it wasn't for her fighting him all the time when he was growing up, he probably wouldn't be where he was today, and that he appreciated her for it. That's why I can prove that me and Ash were never together… because it's obvious from the way he talks that he's always been in love with Misty."

A series of "aw"s escaped from the listening crowd, and Lila gave the teen couple a small smile. "Well, I guess that _is_ pretty sweet."

"I like Misty a lot, and everything Dawn said is true. We fight, but that's just because that's how we've always gotten along. I can't imagine what me and Mist would do if we couldn't fight."

"Probably kill each other," Misty answered, eliciting more laughs from the viewers. "But he's right, that's just how we are. I guess we really aren't like a lot of other young couples…which is probably a good thing since most of those guys make me sick."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, when you're walking around and see couples just making out in front of everyone? That's kinda gross. Holding hands and sharing ice cream is cute, but people that just wanna slobber over each other-" she made a face "-are just annoying. You know?"

"So you and Ash never kiss?" Lila gave the teens a knowing glance. She seemed to have lost her edge for trying to pull a scandal out of the interview and was instead beginning to have fun.

Ash scratched the back of his head and blushed. "Well, I wouldn't say we _never_ kiss…"

"But at least we're not always doing it where everyone can watch," Misty defended, blushing too. For the first time in a long time, Dawn began to laugh at the young couple.

"You guys look like a couple of Tomato Berries."

The two gave the young woman a stern glare. "Gee, thanks a lot Dawn."

"So it seems that the tabloids really were wrong then, huh? There never was some big love triangle going on between the three of you?"

"Absolutely not," Misty affirmed with a shake of her head. "We've always been good friends, and we always will be."

"Well, then I guess I just need to say thank you for allowing me to have the first ever personal interview with the Sinnoh Pokémon Champion and his two friends. You three have been lovely guests, and I'd love to have you back whenever you have the chance."

"Really? Thanks!" Ash shook her extended hand and stood as the crowd clapped.

"Coming up next, I'm going to talk with Jerry Stevens of Silph Co. about their latest project. Stay tuned!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"That was a great interview guys!" May hugged Dawn and Misty as the three walked backstage. "I thought it was really going downhill at first. It seemed like she just wasn't going to believe that nothing had happened, but then Dawn pretty much saved the day!"

"She really did. Thanks Dawn," Ash said hugging the young woman. "If you hadn't given such a great answer, I don't think she ever would have believed us."

"You know what's funny?"

"What Misty?"

"We actually didn't have to lie at all during any of that interview. Pretty much everything we said was the truth. I mean, Dawn never did date Ash, and I never battled Dawn for his love or anything like that. There was never a love triangle…just kinda a weird mix-up."

"Except when I said that I was just caught up in the moment," Dawn admitted, her cheeks burning a little. "I actually had kinda thought that through before it happened."

Misty gave the girl a small smile. "Don't worry about it. That's all in the past now! Besides, I can already tell that you're gonna find a really great guy soon…probably a lot greater than Mr. Dense here, anyway." She snickered at her own joke and Ash crossed his arms.

"Just make sure that he doesn't have a big mouth or red hair," he warned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You keep talking about how smart you are. You figure it out." He stuck his tongue out and she began to rant.

"I don't know if I admire how they can still fight like kids, or am just annoyed that they still fight like kids," May wondered aloud.

"I can tell you which one I feel," Drew answered.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So there I was, all by myself on top of the mountain! Snow was falling everywhere, and I could barely see through the haze and fog!" Drew's hands flew everywhere as he tried to keep his audience entertained in the middle of his hour-long story of his capture of an Abomasnow. "There was no one with me, not even May."

"It was too cold outside to go looking for snowmen," she explained before taking in another mouthful of spaghetti. "However, I don't remember it snowing that day. I think it was actually pretty sunny."

Drew frowned. "You never remember my stories right. Besides, you weren't even there, so you wouldn't remember." He turned his attention back to the other side of the booth with the three teens. "Anyway, so there I was, all alone, when I hear a gigantic roar come from the mountain peak!"

"Was that the Abomasnow?"

He nodded, glad that he at least held Dawn's interest. He could tell by Ash and Misty's expressions that they were having a difficult time believing his tale of conquest. "I looked up, and through the fog I could barely make out the gigantic creature's frame! I was almost too scared to keep going, but when you're the Grand Champion, you have to be brave. I knew this was my one chance to capture the mighty beast, so I quickly climbed up to the peak. The wind was howling all around me, and snow mixed with hail and freezing rain was blowing into my scarred eyes!"

"Okay, I'm gonna have to stop this story," May interrupted, having finished off the last of her dish. "There was definitely no hail or freezing rain. And you're making Abomasnow out as if he were some kind of monster! You told me he came to you while you were eating lunch because he wanted some of your sandwich."

She looked over at the three teens. "He's actually one of the cutest and friendliest Pokémon Drew has, really."

"You're ruining my story, May!"

"Well, you're telling it all wrong. And besides, it's not like they actually believe all of this."

Dawn looked confused. "You mean that really didn't happen? But you made it sound so real!"

"That's because it was," he assured, nonchalantly whisking his hair from his eyes. "I think May's jealous, is all."

"Well, what I'd really like to know is how you got a Metang," Ash mentioned, hoping to steer the conversation away from another one of his friend's lengthy stories. Also, though the contest had taken place over a week earlier, he'd been so busy preparing for the interview that he'd never gotten to hear how May had captured the almost legendary creature. "Those Pokémon are so rare and powerful!"

"Pika!"

"No, not as powerful as you, Pikachu," he assured. The Pokémon happily returned his attention to his small bowl of ketchup.

May smiled. "Well, it actually isn't very exciting…at least not as thrilling as _Drew's_ story." She gave her boyfriend another skeptical look. "I was actually coming home for a few weeks, and when I got there Dad told me he had a surprise."

"The Metang?"

She nodded. "Yep, except then it was just a Beldum. I trained with it everyday because I wanted a Metagross really badly. I thought that you needed two Beldum to join together to make it evolve, so me and Drew looked everywhere for another one, but then one day during our training session it just did it on its own! I guess Pokémon can still surprise me after all of this time!"

"That's really cool, May," Dawn said. "I know what you mean about really wanting a rare Pokémon like Metagross. I have a Togekiss that's become one of my favorite all-time Pokémon to use!"

"Wow, a Togekiss? That's impressive!"

"Thanks. I really like her, and she was given to me as a gift, just like your Metang!"

"Does she do well in contests?"

"Well, at first we had trouble, but eventually I learned how to handle her style in contests and she's done well for me ever since. We barely lost to Zoey in the Grand Festival, and I hadn't even had her that long!"

"So are we ready to go back to the hotel now?" Drew asked, suddenly impatient now that the spotlight had been taken off of him. "I don't wanna sit in this booth forever."

"In a way, I kinda don't wanna go back to the hotel," May answered sadly. "I don't want to leave you guys again after it feels like we just got back together! Couldn't you come with me and Drew to Fortree?"

Drew shrugged and looked at Ash. "It might be fun…I mean, if you wanted to…whatever."

Misty smiled affectionately at her friends. "I wish we could, but there's so much going on right now. Thanks to your guys' help, we've got all the research we need to start changing things for the Sinnoh gyms, but we still have a lot more Pokémon to catch to stay on schedule. Also, I think Ash needs some time away from Drew…they're trouble together."

"That's true."

Dawn laughed as the two boys shouted at their respective girlfriends.

"What do you mean I'm trouble with Ash? We're not toddlers!"

"Yeah, what he said!"

"Actually, I think you two are more trouble together than me or Ash. We know that you girls, including Dawn, spend all night talking about us."

"Yeah!"

Misty gave the two a look of disbelief. "You guys honestly think we have nothing better to do with our time than talk about you? How boring do you think our lives are? We barely even mention you in our conversations unless someone's talking about the dumbest person they know."

"Oh yeah?" Ash glared at her. "Well we don't talk about you girls unless, uh, um…"

"Unless we wanna talk about people who annoy us a lot."

"Yeah!" Ash tried to reach across the long table for a high-five, but was still too far.

May turned and eyed her boyfriend with a hurt expression. "You think I annoy you?"

His angry face towards Misty instantly softened at the words. He turned to his flame and quickly shook his head. "No! Not at all! You're the best thing that's ever happened to me!"

"Way to stand your ground, Drew."

"Don't make fun of him for apologizing!" Misty scolded. "It wouldn't hurt you to say nice things like that more often…and admit that you're wrong a little more."

"I'll admit I'm wrong when I'm actually wrong…just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it never could."

She snorted. "You think you're so perfect? Well let me remind you of…"

As the couples went off in separate directions, Dawn watched both with curiosity. Ash and Misty did indeed fight a lot, while May and Drew seemed to be the very embodiment of the couple Misty announced despising earlier in the interview as Drew held May's hand and apologized repeatedly.

_I think I still like May's relationship better._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Are you guys all packed?" Misty asked tearfully as all the teens stood outside the hotel entryway. She knew it was a dumb question to ask, considering they had their backpacks on already, but she didn't want to say goodbye yet…even to Dawn.

"I'm all set," Dawn replied, slightly less emotional than her counterparts for obvious reasons. She was glad to make amends, but even happier to leave them alone for a while and sort out her own feelings. Also, now that she'd put all the rumors and controversy surrounding her to bed, she could finally return to Johto and focus on preparation for the Grand Festival.

"Us too, I guess," May replied, equally tearful. She'd spent over a month with her old friends, and seeing them leave was beginning to take its toll on her emotional state.

Drew kicked the dirt lightly with his shoe. "Um, I guess I'll see you around Ash." He held his hand out for the champion to shake.

"Yeah, I'm sure we'll see each other again really soon. If there's one thing I've learned after travelling so long, it's that you never go too long without running into old friends again." He gave the coordinator a big grin. "I'm glad we became friends."

"Me too," Drew answered with a smirk. "You're not half-bad a guy for a regular trainer."

"You're not that bad for a coordinator either."

"Thanks."

"I guess we should get going too," Misty reminded Ash. "We've got a long drive ahead of us. Dawn, are you sure that you wouldn't like a ride to the airport? It's on our way, I think."

She shook her head. "Thanks for the offer Misty, but I'm fine. I'm going to ride Togekiss there…she needs the exercise after being cooped up for so long."

Misty nodded and surprised the blue-haired coordinator by reaching to her for a hug. Though temporarily thrown off-guard, the young woman quickly reciprocated, and Ash couldn't help but smile.

"I'm glad I got to see you again, and I'm _really_ glad we were able to put all of this behind us."

Though it still felt a little forced, the coordinator agreed. "I'm just glad to have some of my best friends back. I felt so alone thinking that no one liked me anymore and that we were all just enemies."

"We'll always be friends, Dawn," Ash reminded. "Even when we're fighting."

With a deep sigh, Misty released her grip on the girl and turned to hug May one more time. "I really will see you soon, and I know that I'll be calling you all the time now that I have your phone number."

May grinned as a few tears fell down her cheek. "I can't wait to hear from you! I'll call you tons too, and I'll send you some Pokémon if me or Drew ever find any rare ones we think you or Ash could use."

"Thank you so much!"

After several more sorrowful goodbyes, everyone was finally ready to leave.

"See you soon!" Misty and Ash cried one last time from inside the car as the pulled out of their parking spot. As Misty honked the horn in a final farewell, Ash could see Dawn release Togekiss from the rearview mirror, and he saw the two young women hug once more.

"I'm gonna miss them."

"Me too. It was a lot of fun to see May again. She's just grown up so much since I last saw her."

He grabbed her hand and laughed. "I think we all have, really."

She laughed too. After a small pause as she merged onto the highway, she turned to Ash. "I hope you don't think I'm mean, or some big hypocrite for what I'm about to say."

"What is it?"

"I mean, I really am going to miss May and Drew and Dawn, but…"

"What?"

"W-well, I'm kinda glad we have a little time to ourselves again. It'll be nice just having each other for a little while after so much time living with friends."

Ash gave her a warm smile which cause her heart to pound. "I was thinking the same thing. It's nice having such great friends…but I'm ready to enjoy my best friend."

"Pikachu!" cried the small mouse from the backseat.

Ash laughed and looked back. "Yes, and my best non-human friend too! I haven't been giving you enough attention lately, have I?"

The small mouse shook his head and the two teens continued laughing as the sun began to set.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I think this is going to be a lot more difficult than first expected." The Rocket agent leaned against her boss's desk as he watched Ash and Misty leave the hotel from an infiltrated security camera. "We thought the popularity was dying down, and then they go and do this stupid interview. We won't have a clear shot at him for a while with the press all ruffled again."

The leader smiled. "I don't know about that. A little extra time may be just what we were needing."

"How do you think?"

"I think they're still a little worried that something will happen. Their defenses are still up. Let's give them a little more time in the sun…let them relax. Then, when they think it's all over, we can strike."

Mallory gave the older man an admiring glance. He was so powerful and such an efficient leader.

"And when we do strike, everyone will recognize and fear Team Rocket as they should…like they did in the days of my father." His eyes, for only a moment, seemed to drift away.

Returning his attention to his employee, he chuckled. "Perhaps it was best he didn't join our side after all."

* * *

Author's Notes: I really liked this chapter. I think it closed up another arc nicely, and it prepares us for the next segment (but if you disagree, you know what to do!). Next chapter will skip ahead a couple of months because, frankly, we need to get moving. Ash and Misty are meant to spend six months in Hoenn and five in Sinnoh, and I've only covered a little over two in Hoenn. Basically, next chapter is going to speed us along to the end of their journey in Hoenn, and you're going to see how their relationship has advanced after they've had a little more time alone with each other.

Anyway, there's not a whole lot to mention. I would like to again ask everyone to come out and review, even if I haven't gotten to your past review yet, please. I barely got this chapter out on time, so please know I haven't intentionally been blowing you off.

Also, before I go, I need to say something. I'm not a fan of anime, really. I know that's surprising because of, you know, the whole Pokémon thing, but truthfully Pokémon is about the only anime I enjoy. However, a few weeks ago I was watching Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, and I saw an anime that is unlike anything I've seen before. The show's name is "Cowboy Bebop", and it's one of the best shows I've seen. I don't have the time or energy now to describe everything that is awesome about it, but I have to recommend it to everyone. Even if you don't like much anime (like me), you can appreciate this, and if you love anime, then I'm sure you've already heard of it. Just look it up on YouTube, and prepare to be amazed. I would write a fanfic for it…but frankly, it's so perfectly written already that I can't imagine any way to improve it.

Alright, that's all I've got. See you in two weeks guys, and (for all you Americans out there) have a Happy Thanksgiving!


	39. Winds of Change

**Hey Everybody!** Five weeks…I'm sorry it took that long to finally get an update. Between my first (but unfortunately not last) round of college finals, getting report cards, and going back home, the last month has almost inexplicably flown by. Truth be told, I still feel like last week I started school, and already my first semester of college is over and I get a month off. However, that last part should make y'all happy, because I don't start classes again until the 18th of January, and I'm doing my best to insure that I get my next two updates out on their regularly scheduled time.

Anyway, there are a few good pieces of news. First off, I finally got back to my reviewers, so all of you should know personally how much I appreciate your feedback and thoughts. Also, after last chapter we, as a group, broke two major records for this story. First, this fic is now over 300,000 words long! While the length isn't nearly as important as the substance (a lot like hot dogs), I still feel so proud of myself for working so hard on this story, and I also feel so proud and thankful for you guys who continue to inspire me with your critiques and compliments. Y'all are the fuel that keeps this fic going. Also, we broke the 900 review mark! The most reviews I've ever seen for a Pokémon fic was 1,100 reviews, so I know I'm not the biggest author on this site…yet, haha, but I really, really, am happy to see that I have such a great and committed fanbase. I can only hope my small hiatus hasn't turned any of you away or let you down.

This is a long author's note, but it's been a while, so I also need to mention that **Mistyrious Charades** and **iluvpokemon101** both contributed more artwork to my fanart collection which can be accessed through the link on my profile page. Please visit and appreciate their great work! I am always flattered when people take time to draw scenes from my story, and for their devotion, I personally recommend this chapter to the two of them (sorry, but I can't pay you…I'm poor, haha).

Well, that's all I can say. Please enjoy this chapter. It's very…different, than the last few, and the story in general's taking a pretty dark turn, so I'm interested to gauge your reaction. Of course, I can only do this if you REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

"Ung."

"That's all you have to say?"

Slowly, Misty opened her eyes. The sunlight beaming in through her open window forced her to squint. "Ash? How'd you get in my room?" She squinted a little harder. "And why are you holding a calendar in front of my face?"

"Can't you see, sleepyhead?" he asked in a teasing voice. "We're three days ahead of schedule!"

"What are you talking about?" she yawned, rolling away from the champion in the hope that he would leave her be for a few more minutes. She had been having the nicest slumber she'd enjoyed in a while after several weeks of camping in search of new Pokémon.

"Pikachu!"

"He's right, Mist. This is the first day off we've had in over a month! We can do whatever we want!"

"I vote for sleeping," she mumbled, lazily lifting her sagging hand in the air before allowing it to plop back down upon the mattress.

"Sleeping? We can't waste a day off like this on sleeping Mist! We haven't gotten to do anything fun in forever together!"

She groaned a little as she turned back to face her boyfriend. Despite herself, she smiled a little at the tiny realization which seemed to make itself reappear every morning that she had this annoying, dense, yet unbelievably upbeat and excitable boyfriend to herself. His smiling face was enough to diminish any desire to sleep in and miss out on a day doing nothing together.

"So what did you have in mind?"

His smile grew even larger. "I was thinking a picnic!"

"Figures you would think of something like that." She rolled onto her side, supporting her head with her bent arm and glanced at the alarm clock. "Well, I guess you could go to the store while I get ready. I could make sandwiches...or maybe even soup!"

The smile instantly vanished from the raven-haired teen's face, as did his Pokémon's. "Uh, no, I think sandwiches'll be fine, actually."

"What's the matter?" She frowned as her gaze went back and forth between the Pokémon and his master. "Is this about that time I cooked for you?"

"Well…"

"We were kids! I didn't know how to cook then!"

"Oh I believe you!" He instinctively took a step backward in self-defense. "It's just that you're stuck in this little room with only a microwave." He pointed to the small appliance in the opposite corner of the room. "You couldn't make soup if you wanted to."

She gave him a suspicious look before sighing. "Fine…but when we go to your house for Christmas where there's a real kitchen, I'm cooking!"

"Sounds good to me."

_Let's hope she doesn't have a good memory._

"I guess I better get out of bed if we're gonna leave in time to have a lunch picnic, then," she stated, slowly slipping the covers off of her. However, she was stopped mid-pull down as a squeak emanated from her boyfriend's throat.

"What is-oh! Oops!" She quickly pulled back up the covers, realizing that she'd not worn any pajama bottoms before going to sleep the night before. "Uh, um, h-how did you even get in my room?" she suddenly demanded again, trying to refocus Ash's attention as his gaze remained glued to where the covers now laid.

"Uhhh," he croaked, the calendar slipping from his hand, and Pikachu appearing confused by the sudden awkwardness permeating the room. "I, um, you see…w-what?"

"I _said_ how did you get in here in the first place? The door was locked."

"Oh, uh, I just asked Nurse Joy for a key," he answered, a blush now coming to fruition, a little later than his girlfriend's. "Sorry, I didn't know, that, um."

"What? That I sleep in my underwear exactly like you? You think I stay fully-dressed twenty-four seven?"

"Uh, I'm _really_ sorry, then." He looked downright embarrassed to the young woman, and she suddenly felt a small twinge of guilt for going off on him like that. She was just as sheepish about this as he was, and she knew the only reason she was acting so mad was so he couldn't tell.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "Well, I don't see why it's really a big deal. You've seen me in bikini bottoms before."

"Oh, uh, yeah…except I wasn't staring at that."

She looked confused. "You weren't? What were you looking at then? The embroidery?"

He blushed even more as he shook his head. "Um, n-never mind. I'm just gonna go now." He began to head for the door before the sharp insistence of her tone pulled him back over.

"Ash, tell me what you were looking at!"

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he slowly walked back to her bed. "I was…_noticing_ that you're wearing the same shirt you used to wear when we were kids."

The perplexed expression on her face remained for a second before she finally understood. She was indeed wearing one of her older shirts from early adolescence.

"You, um, seem to have _really_ grown into it," he mentioned, chuckling slightly as the pink tint returned to her face.

Gripping the pillow behind her, she gave him a narrow gaze. "Get outta here!" With perfect aiming, the pillow knocked the champion directly in the head as he ran out with Pikachu clinging tightly to his shoulder.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Come on out Alakazam!" Ash released the psychic type next to the large tree, under which he and Misty planned to enjoy their meal.

Taking a knee beside the formidable Pokémon, Ash handed him a bologna sandwich before making his request. "Me and Misty really wanna have a private picnic with no one knowing we're here. Do you think you can-"

"Zam!" responded the Pokémon with a nod before disappearing.

"Ah!" The trainer fell backward from fright. That Alakazam always freaked him out a little with how it could read his thoughts before he could speak them. That was part of the reason he was reluctant to use him in battle.

Misty giggled as Ash crawled back over to her. The gentle breeze and the cover provided by the thick foliage made this the perfect spot for their picnic.

"You really think Alakazam can keep people from walking through here? What's he gonna do? Blast them with a Psybeam?"

Ash snorted. "No, I think I'd get in trouble for that. He's just going to use Teleport without them noticing so they'll walk straight by here without seeing us."

"I don't think he'll need to do that much…this place seems really far away." Indeed, it had taken over thirty minutes of walking through the thick forest of Route 119 to find a spot Ash deemed "good enough". However, Misty had been reluctant to disagree with the long trek considering her same desire to avoid the public eye during their outing.

"Of course, all that walking might not have been necessary. Have you noticed how the media's stopped following us everywhere?" she asked, pulling out a sandwich and handing it to Ash. He eagerly opened the baggie and started chewing away.

"Yeah, it's been pretty quiet. I think people are distracted with Sabrina and Koga getting married."

Misty laughed. "I wonder how he proposed? Maybe he used Stun Spore and put the ring on when she couldn't move."

Ash laughed a little too. "Actually, Sabrina seems more dangerous than Koga."

Misty shivered a little, remembering both their near-death experiences with the gym leaders. "Well, we were almost killed going to both their gyms, so I guess it's a good match." She began chewing, but realized something which made her groan.

"What is it?" Ash looked over at her.

She swallowed. "I just realized. Koga's like fifty, isn't he? Seems a little old to be marrying a twenty-five year old woman if you ask me."

Shrugging, Ash thought over the statement. "Well, I guess if they're really in love or something. I think it's kinda weird too, though…maybe it's because they're both gym leaders or something."

"I don't think that just because you're a gym leader, you automatically wanna marry another leader," she noted. "I mean, I never thought about dating Lieutenant Surge, and all the other girl leaders thought that he was sexy."

Ash almost coughed as he began laughing. "Th-they thought he was sexy? He was gigantic! I thought he was more scary than anything else!"

Misty laughed along and nodded. "Same here. Erika told me at a conference when I was about fifteen that she had been dying waiting for him to ask her out though. Apparently those huge muscles really got to her."

Ash chuckled again at the thought of the rather timid and kind gym leader dating the heavy metal-loving, workoutaholic electric gym leader.

After their small discourse, for a few minutes at least, the two simply sat and ate their sandwiches as the leaves swayed in time with the breeze. The sound of their Pokémon playing and eating filled the forest with enough noise to leave them content. However, as the last of the lunch-time foods were mowed through, their discussion picked back up.

"So we leave Hoenn in a week, right?"

"Yeah," Ash replied with a nod. "Now I kinda wish I'd bought the plane tickets for a few days early since we're so far ahead. We could already be there."

She smiled and grabbed his gloved hand. "Yeah, but I'm kinda happy just being here with you today."

The action instantly gave Ash reason to grin. "Now that you mention it, I like this too. We deserve a few days off after all we've been doing."

"We ought to come back to this spot tomorrow. It's so peaceful here." Misty took the sunhat off her head and leaned back against the smooth bark.

"It really is," he agreed, not taking his eyes off the young woman. She seemed almost asleep as she slowly inhaled and released the late-summer air. The striking beauty of the scene forced him, almost against his will, to lean in and tenderly peck her soft cheek.

Opening her left eye, she smiled for what felt like the thousandth time that day. "Is that it?"

"Huh?"

Before he could continue, she grabbed him by the back of the head and drew him in quickly for a long, drawn out kiss. The teen boy didn't think to resist, but instead inched himself closer so he could comfortably cradle the back of her head within his grasp, feeling her silky red hair and tasting the cherry flavored lip gloss as his tongue began to dance around hers.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I'll see you in a little while," Ash assured as they approached his room. "I'm gonna go lay down and rest after all that walking and eating."

Misty nodded. "Good idea. I'll go rest up too and then maybe we could do something."

"Like a movie?"

"Sounds good!" She pecked him on the cheek before merrily walking to her room. Today had been so great, and it wasn't even five yet. Having the day to themselves seemed like the perfect gift after so many months of hard work.

Humming to herself as she unlocked her door, she was slightly surprised to find the light atop her cell phone blinking. Picking it up, she tapped the screen and saw that her sisters had called while she'd been out.

"What could they want?"

Quickly pressing the "reply" button, she held the thin phone to her ear. After two rings, Daisy picked up.

"Like, hello?"

"Daisy, is that you? It's Misty."

"Hey Misty!" cried Daisy happily. "It feels like forever since we last talked! I have some big news for you!"

Misty furrowed her brow. She couldn't think of anything that would prompt a surprise call from her sisters. "What is it?"

"Well, I was, like, checking the mail this morning, and I saw you had a letter from some college or something? I didn't know you were even applying!"

"From Vermillion University?" Her heart began pounding. "What did it say? Am I in?"

"Well, actually, there were, like, two letters from there. One says 'admission'. You want me to open that one first?"

"Yeah! Hurry!" The phone began to tremble in her hand as she awaited her sister's response. She could hear the envelope tearing over the phone.

"Oh man!" moaned her sister.

"What?" Misty screamed, panicking.

"I, like, broke a nail! I just got these done yesterday!"

For an instant, Misty wished she was there in person to slap her sister. "Forget about the nail! Tell me what the letter says!"

"Geez, okay, okay. Hold on." The sound of paper unfolding followed the statement, and Misty heard Daisy quickly murmuring through the first few sentences. "Like, looks like you're in, little sis! It says 'congratulations' on it!"

Pumping her fist in the air, Misty began to celebrate. "Yes! I can't believe I got in!"

"Well, I'm not really surprised. You always got, like, much better grades than I did, even when you were on your journeys…and I was actually going to school!"

After a second, Misty quit her celebration, remembering what Daisy had said earlier. "Wait, didn't you say that there were two letters? What was in the other one?"

"Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that one!" The sound of more paper ripping came across the receiver before the blond continued. "'Ms. Waterflower, in light of your recent acceptance to our institution of higher learning, we have promptly evaluated your request for a Pokémon Battling Team scholarship. As you are most certainly aware, our school takes great pride in the Battling Program, and our recent national championships have only propelled that pride. However, along with the spike of interest in our team, has come a spike in expectation. Unfortunately, your gym, which we discovered after running your name through the system, has appeared to be of too low a tier to apply to our recent 'Gym Leader Initiative (GLI)' program through which gym leaders are automatically accepted onto the team with full scholarships. Despite your failure to meet these requirements, you are still a candidate for one of our twenty open slot scholarships which are open for the public to compete for. The fall competition which determines who wins one of the current ten scholarships takes place the third week of the September before expected entry into our program. Because you applied for next fall semester, we advise you participate in the fall competition as insurance in the unfortunate case you do not currently meet our standards. This will still allow you the chance to partake in the spring application competition and still give you a chance for the full scholarship before school starts. If you decide to attend the September competition, please look on our website for further detail of dates and location. Thank you for your expressed interest in our program and we hope to hear from you soon. Respectfully, Sydney Jenkins'…uh, what'd that, like, mean? Were you applying for some scholarship thing?"

Misty blinked, trying to process everything that had been read to her. She wished she could have received the letter herself. Why didn't they just send a virtual message like everyone else? "Uh, yeah," she finally answered, recognizing the question. "I'd applied for a battling team scholarship. I didn't even know they had a special program for gym leaders, though."

"Well, I guess that's, like, a good thing, since you're apparently not good enough for it," her sister noted matter-of-factly. "It says so right here."

The redhead's cheeks darkened at the words. "_Excuse_ _me_? The gym was one of the highest-rated when I was in charge. It's obviously dropped since I left you three to take care of it, though. _That's _the only reason they think I'm not good enough for that program."

"Well we've been getting better. I'm winning a lot more battles than Violet or Lily, at least."

_You're obviously not winning enough, _Misty mentally retorted. Though she hadn't known of the GLI, she was quickly coming to grips with how much easier it would have made her life if it had been applied to her situation. _Now I'm gonna have to go all the way to Vermillion City in two…weeks._

"Uh-oh."

"Like, what? You realized how mean you were being?"

"Um, no," Misty answered instinctively. She had just remembered something significantly more important than her current conversation. "I-I've gotta go Dais. I'll talk to you later."

The conversation was cut as she turned off her cell. Daisy just shrugged as she hung back up the phone. "What a weird woman."

Meanwhile, Misty ran to the small desk provided her in her room. She flipped her laptop open and headed directly for the website of the Vermillion University Battle Team. After a few moments of scrolling, she groaned in aggravation.

"Of course!"

Why, of all the dates in the entire year, she wondered, did the competition have to take place the same week as Ash's speech?

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You ready to go out Mist?"

Feeling as deflated as an old balloon, she opened the door for her boyfriend. Her uneasiness instantly revealed itself the second he saw her face.

"Is something wrong?"

She looked up in surprise. He was beginning to scare her with how quickly he could read her emotions now. "Um, no. I'm ready to go. You wanted to do a movie, right?" She did her best to put on a smile, but her tone was still flat and Ash leered at her.

"What's going on? Do you not wanna go out?"

"Of course not."

"'Cause, we could stay in, you know. Pikachu's with Nurse Joy, so we could just hang out here and talk or something." The worry in his tone caused Misty's heart to sink. She'd planned on keeping this a secret, but that was already ruled out as an impossible task. Ash just cared too much to leave this alone, and for an instant that thought caused her to really smile.

"Well, I wanna go, but there's something we need to talk about first. Is it okay if we miss the first few minutes?"

"Sure!" he replied enthusiastically as he made his way into her room. "I didn't feel like watching the previews anyway."

Taking a seat on her bed, he bid her to do the same. "So why do you seem sad all of a sudden?"

Taking a deep breath, Misty grabbed his hand and explained the phone call with her sister. First she explained the acceptance letter, which was met with a flurry of confusion. The first question which came to his mind, though, was why he hadn't heard she'd even applied.

"When was this even going on?"

"When we were still with May and Drew."

"That was three months ago!" he exclaimed. "Did they know you were applying?"

"Only May, and that's only because she caught me working on my essay. I didn't want anyone to know I was doing this, which is why Daisy didn't understand when the letter came in the mail." She was a little concerned by the hurt tone in her boyfriend's voice.

"Why wouldn't you have told me you were making such a big step? I haven't even started my application yet, but you were here sending off letters to colleges. Why didn't you want me to find out?"

She bit her lip for a moment. She hated to admit to the truth, but it was clear nothing less would calm his nerves, and she knew he deserved it. "To tell the truth, I was afraid of letting everyone down."

"Letting us down? About what?"

"If I didn't get accepted, then everyone would just feel sorry for me." Her mood darkened. "And if there's one thing I hate, it's feeling pathetic."

Slowly, Ash removed his hand from her grasp and put it around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "But Mist, if you're doing something big like this, I should know. You know about me trying to become a Master. I didn't just hide my plans because I was afraid of what would happen if I failed. You need to tell the people who like you, so they can cheer you on and help you out, you know? Even if you hadn't gotten in, I woulda been here to make you feel better…not pathetic."

She smiled sheepishly in return. "I know. I wanted to tell you several times, but we just got so busy, and after a while it almost looked like I was never going to get an answer, so I decided against it. You're right though, I know about your big dreams, so I should let you know about mine too."

"So is that the big news then? I'd think you'd be happy about this."

Swallowing hard, she continued. "Well, that brings me to the second part. I also applied for the Vermillion University Pokémon Battling Team."

"You did?" He sounded excited at the prospect. "That's so cool! Ma says I can't join because I'm a Champion, but I grew up watching them battle! Did they accept you?"

"Um, not exactly."

Ash looked puzzled, and this prompted a longer response.

"You see, I applied and wrote down my main team along with all of the competition's I'd won, and, of course, that I was a gym leader. They wrote me back and said that the Cerulean Gym wasn't powerful enough for me to earn some scholarship they automatically hand out to gym leaders who agree to go, but that actually didn't bother me because I didn't know about it in the first place. Then they told me that I would need to actually compete in a battle interview thing they do in a few weeks where they decide who gets one of twenty scholarships they hand out every year."

"That's so cool!" Ash cried. "I've heard about those too! Maybe it's a good thing you didn't win that gym leader thing, since now I can go with you and watch you blast away all of the competition!" He gave her a confident look, and she hated that she had to keep going.

"Actually, Ash, you can't come with me to the one in September."

The perplexed look returned. "Why not?"

"It's in a couple of weeks…just like your speech."

For a moment, Ash was quiet. "Oh. I didn't think about that."

Misty lifted her head and looked up at him. "But don't worry, I already decided that I'm not going. I have to be here with you to help you get ready for your big speech!"

"You're not going? Then how are you gonna get the scholarship?"

"It's alright! There's another competition in April, and I can try out then!" She mirrored his previous confident smile. "There's no way I could lose, right? I actually wasn't even going to tell you about this because I'd already decided to just go in April."

Her boyfriend, despite her exuberance, still seemed concerned, though. "But this still doesn't explain why you weren't happy when you opened the door. If you were accepted, and can try out in April, then why did you seem sad?"

For a second Misty tried to come up with a plausible lie, but ultimately figured it would be tactfully ignorant to do so given her boyfriend's almost bizarre ability to seemingly read her mind.

"Well…the letter from the coach said that it would be a better idea for me to come to this one, because they only hand out ten per competition, so if I didn't win the first time, I could come back. If I just go in April that only gives me one shot."

"I see…" Ash seemed to dwell on this a moment. "Why couldn't I just pay for you to go to college with me?"

"Huh?" It seemed irrelevant to their conversation.

"I mean, I've got more than enough for us both to go. You're already accepted, anyway, so why is this dumb scholarship such a big deal?"

Misty rolled her eyes and separated from her boyfriend. "_Because_."

"But why?"

She huffed. "Because I don't wanna be some just some girlfriend to a famous trainer. I might never be as strong as you are with Pokémon, but I wanna be my own person, Ash. If you pay for college, then it just looks like I'm your pet or something who wouldn't be able to make it without you."

"But that's not true!"

"Of course it's not," she replied simply. "I mean, I'm your coach, after all."

"Uh, what?"

"And I'm also the water Pokémon expert of our little team, but the rest of the world just sees me as your girlfriend right now, which I love being, but I don't want that to be the _only_ thing I am. If I make it onto the team, I not only prove I can pay for college myself, but also that I'm a strong trainer. A lot of those college battles are on T.V. You said you watched them when you were younger, right? This is my chance to become a world-famous trainer too!"

Ash smiled, and for a minute the redhead thought the reaction was rather ambiguous. "Are you wanting to laugh at me?"

"No! I'm just thinking that you haven't changed much. I forgot how independent you were when we were kids. It makes sense that you'd be afraid of people thinking you weren't."

"I guess that's kinda true…"

"Well anyway, I think that if it's really this important for you to get this scholarship, then you should go ahead and miss my speech." Ash stated it so matter-of-factly, with no sadness or depression, that it took Misty a second to even register what he'd decided.

A concerned look crossed her face. "But what about my help? I'm the one who did most of the research and listened to and edited your speech as you worked on it. You might need me!"

"I'll definitely need you, Misty, but you need this opportunity more." He gave her a smirk. "Besides, maybe it's time I show people that I'm not just the boyfriend of some water gym leader. How will people ever take me seriously if you're always there?"

"Very funny," she replied sarcastically. "You'll be sorry when you're in front of everyone and forget what to say."

"That's what I wrote it down for."

She snorted. "It only helps to write it down if your handwriting is legible."

"You can read my handwriting! It's actually pretty good!"

"For what? A second grader?" She raised her eyebrow. "Face it. Without me, you're in big trouble!"

He laughed, causing her to cave in as well. "I guess we'll find out who needs who more in a couple of weeks, huh?"

Nodding, she agreed. "If I needed you more, I'll owe you ten dollars for being wrong." Laughing again, Ash shook her hand on the bet.

"So do you still wanna catch that movie? It's getting dark, so I don't think we'll have to worry about people bothering us too much."

"Sounds good," she agreed, standing. Grabbing him by the hand, the redhead strode out confidently, suddenly sure that they could both handle their respective upcoming challenges.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Sir, the two agents you requested are here," announced a young male voice over Giovanni's intercom.

"Very well. Send them in." He scratched the top of his Persian's head as he awaited the two to enter.

_Presumably with that annoying talking Meowth of theirs._

Several seconds later, Jessie, James, and Meowth all fell through the door awkwardly, apparently having been fighting over who should enter first.

"I told ya that I shoulda been the first to stride in!" Meowth bellowed.

"And I said that I command the most respect, so I should," Jessie retorted heatedly.

"I just didn't want to get trampled on…ow," remarked James, rubbing his head.

However, all bickering came to an instant end when Giovanni cleared his throat. "Are you three done arguing like idiots?" he hissed, forcing all three to gulp in unison. It was rare for them to see their leader, and the last thing they needed was to appear foolish in front of him when they did.

"No sir!" all three replied, standing and giving a salute.

"Uh, we mean 'yes' sir," Jessie mentioned after a second of thought.

"Well then, let's get down to why you're here." He motioned for them to take a seat in one of the three leather chairs placed before his desk. "This is going to take a while," he explained.

Nervously, the three sat. They'd never been offered a chance to sit down with their boss before. He obviously had something on his mind.

"You three, though completely incompetent, have proven worthy in at least one aspect. You managed to capture quite a lot of face time with the current Sinnoh Champion, Ash Ketchum, correct?"

"You mean da twerp?"

"Yes. This young man." A television behind the mastermind flickered on and revealed a picture of the advanced trainer. "If I'm not mistaken, it was you three I demoted after he became the champion after you failed, after all the years of chasing him, to actually acquire one of his powerful Pokémon."

Sadly, they nodded in agreement.

"That was definitely us," James affirmed.

"I guess today is your lucky day, then," he announced, causing the three to look up again. "Because I have decided that I need you for an important mission regarding this young man."

Jessie leaned forward in rapt attention. "What is it, sir?"

James and Meowth followed suit, their eyes wide at the prospect of making their boss proud once again. "Yes, what do you need us to do? Capture that Pikachu?"

He shook his head. "No. You provided plenty of photographic evidence proving that you're incapable of such an act. However, the job I have for you is more important than any you did while chasing him around the four western regions."

He turned and pushed another button on the remote, causing the picture of Ash to disappear and be replaced with a picture of Paul.

"This, as you may know after your travels with Mr. Ketchum, is Paul Ikari. We relied heavily on him six months ago in the Sinnoh Championship match against Ketchum. The plan was to use Paul as a puppet. He was a talented trainer on his own, and with our vast resources we equipped him with the best Pokémon money could buy. If everything had gone according to plan, he would have become Sinnoh Champion and then Pokémon Master…unfortunately, that was not the case."

"Wait," James interrupted. "You mean the match between the twerp and the purple-hair twerp had been fixed? Is that why he had an Entei?" Indeed, the trio had been confounded throughout the battle as to how Paul had managed to capture so many new, powerful Pokémon within a year's time in order to battle Ash.

"That is correct," Giovanni confirmed. "And if I do say so myself, it was quite the ingenious plan, but was stopped by that nuisance of a trainer, Ketchum. Because he defeated Paul, any chance Team Rocket had of taking over the Pokémon League from the inside was destroyed for the time being, and now Mr. Ketchum is happily spending his days with his new girlfriend catching Pokémon." Another button push, and the cover of a recent magazine with the two holding hands and smiling broadly for the camera appeared.

"As if dat surprised anyone," Meowth whispered to Jessie.

"I _did_ always think they looked good together," James noted.

A sharp glare from the boss quickly ended their short remarks. "It's too bad for Mr. Ketchum that this isn't a fairy tale world, where after winning he goes on to live happily ever after. He has to pay for the damage he's done to this organization."

Jessie frowned at her boss's words. "Um, sir, what are you talking about if you don't want us to steal his Pokémon?"

"Let me tell you a small story." Giovanni stood and turned around, gazing out at the lights of Celadon twinkling in the dusk. "When I was a boy, my father left this organization in ruins. For no reason beyond simply losing a Pokémon battle, he decided that he no longer wished for Team Rocket to exist, and thus left, supposedly disbanding our group forever."

The three gave each other small shrugs as they continued to listen, unsure of where this was going.

"A few years later, some smalltime thugs, such as yourselves, tried to bring about the resurrection of the organization. While noble, I suppose, what they didn't understand is what you don't understand now; Team Rocket is more than a syndicate. It's a monarch, meant to be passed down through the generations, and only those divinely appointed through birth can properly maintain and govern it. So, like any inappropriately run government, their attempt failed quickly."

"Whaddya think he's talkin' about?" Meowth whispered to James, who simply shrugged again in return.

"Maybe he just felt like sharing some family history?"

"Fortunately, like a mighty phoenix, my mother rose from the ashes of the once great Team Rocket and brought it back to its former glory. However, before she began rebuilding, she had one piece of unfinished business to take care of in place of my missing father…revenge. She had to exact so much revenge on the boy, now a man, who initially brought about our temporary end, that he would never think to interfere again."

"Yes sir, but-"

"Don't interrupt me!" barked the leader, turning on his heel and almost causing the three to jump out of their skin in fear. "Once more and my Sharpedo will have an after-dinner snack to enjoy."

The three nodded, and after a stiff moment, Giovanni turned back to look out the window. "Originally, the idea was to simply kill _him_. After all, it would make sense to simply do off with the person who committed such an atrocity. Despite this seemingly obvious solution, though, my mother was far too intelligent to think in such short terms. He had now become the Pokémon Master, and killing him would have only caused another to step into his role and try to take us down once again. No, Mother would never do something so foolish. Instead, she decided to scare him so that he would know that if he ever again stepped out of line, she would completely ruin him."

A few moments of silence ensued, and Jessie began to silently wonder if that had been the end of a very long, seemingly pointless rant. However, just as she was about to risk opening her mouth and asking, he started again.

"I'm sure you three dunderheads are wondering how you scare someone without ruining them. Well, it was quite simple, really…she killed his wife."

The three gasped in shock, and Giovanni turned and flashed them a malevolent smirk. "Why the wife? Because it was deep enough to tear him apart, but it was only one person. He had a mother and kids who he tried to keep secret, but we knew about. We warned him that night, as his wife lay on the ground bleeding, if he ever interfered again we would finish what we started. Never again did he mess with Team Rocket, nor did he leave that blasted mountain he trains in to this day."

Jessie couldn't contain herself anymore as the secrets swirled through her head. "You mean, your mother killed-"

"The wife of Pokémon Master Red, yes."

"B-but what does this have to do with m-my question?"

He smiled again, sparking fear in each heart. "We're going to see if the same model created by Mother will work in this situation as well." He gave them a knowing glance. "We're going to kill this one." Another picture appeared above his head.

"Misty Waterflower."

"B-b-but, why, uh, why us?" James managed to mutter.

"Because you're the perfect agents for the mission. You'll simply be there to lull her into a false sense of security. I know how often you failed to defeat her in battle, so she won't expect a struggle, and when her guard is down, we'll capture her."

"Wait, what?"

"I don't want to simply kill her. That wouldn't be enough." He gripped the shoulder of his chair with a vice-like strength. "I need to see Ketchum as he watches her die…just like I saw Red when he watched his wife perish. He needs to be punished, and I _need_ to see it happen. So you three will only be needed in lowering her guard and helping to catch her."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I thought it was a pretty good movie, actually," Misty noted over her chocolate sundae.

Ash shook his head, taking another bite of his cone. "It was terrible! Why did everyone have to die like that? There's no way all four women could get cancer at the exact same time."

"But it had a sweet message!" she insisted.

"What? That if you have cancer, everything will be alright with enough love? I don't think she went to a doctor the entire movie!"

"I just think you're mad because there wasn't any violence or other stupid guy stuff that boys drool over for some reason. It was an intellectual film, which is why I was able to enjoy it and you didn't understand it."

"I think you just like it because it makes you feel smarter than me. If I'd liked it, you woulda hated it."

"I don't need the movie to feel smarter than you, Ash. I can just talk with you to do that."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, ha, ha Misty. You're such a _genius_."

"Excuse me, but could I have your autograph?"

"Me too!"

Surprised, Ash looked up to find what appeared to be three ten or eleven year olds, all holding out badge cases in one hand and ice cream in the other.

"Uh, sure," he answered, taking a marker from his jeans pocket.

"Sorry to interrupt, but when we saw you were here, we _had_ to get your autograph," explained one of the two blond girls of the group.

"Yeah," agreed the only boy, a redhead, as he handed the champion his case. "We've all just started our journeys from Mossdeep together, and we thought it's a good sign to see a Pokémon Champion this early in our travels."

Ash nodded as he signed the boy's and handed it back. He held his hand out for the other girl's. "Do you want me to sign yours too?"

"Um, actually," she bit her lip, appearing pensive, "I was wondering if Misty Waterflower wouldn't mind signing my case?"

She looked over to the redhead with admiration. "I know we have our own water gyms here in Hoenn, but I've been one of your biggest fans for years, Misty. Some people just started knowing about you because you're dating Ash Ketchum, of course, but my brother battled you back when we lived in Kanto years ago, and he said you were the prettiest and most difficult leader he'd ever faced…and you were his seventh gym badge!"

"Aw, really?" Misty was flattered and surprised. "That's so sweet! I'd be happy to sign your case." She took Ash's marker and scribbled her name across the top.

"I wanna be a water trainer just like you!" squeaked the blond excitedly as she received back her case. "I even started with a Mudkip, and I already caught a Feebas and a Magikarp…though I'm not really winning many battles."

Misty gave the smaller child a warm smile. "Don't give up! Those two seem like the weakest water Pokémon around, which is why most trainers give up on them quickly, but if you love them enough and raise them right they'll turn into some of the strongest and most loyal you'll ever have."

"I know." She smiled back. "I caught the Magikarp on purpose since Gyarados is your strongest, and I've always wanted a Milotic…I guess I just gotta wait."

"Keep up the good work! There aren't enough water trainers, in my opinion, so every one of us is important in making people realize how special and cool water Pokémon are."

The girl smiled confidently back. "I will! And maybe someday I'll go to Kanto and visit your gym!"

"I'd love to see you. Just make sure my sisters aren't there when you do."

The young girl smiled again and agreed before the three trainers ran out of the building exclaiming their excitement at meeting the powerful couple.

"You think they're staying in our Pokécenter?" Misty asked, scooping up more ice cream.

Ash shook his head. "If they are, I haven't seen them around, and they don't really seem very quiet. I guess they're camping out in the woods around here."

"Can you believe we were just like them once?" Misty asked, looking out the window and watching the kids continue to gesticulate wildly as they walked down the street. "Camping out-"

"We still do that."

"Yeah, but camping out because we were going to the next big city with another gym. Me and you would fight and Brock would cook and then we'd all sit around the campfire talking and eating and joking until we were too tired." For a moment, a glimmer of sadness glinted in Misty's eyes. "I mean, it's just not the same anymore."

Ash grew worried at the sound of her voice. "Are you talking about…us?"

"What?"

"Are you saying it's not the same between us anymore because…you know." He motioned to their hands which had rejoined each other on top of the table after the kids left.

Misty's eyes grew wide. "No, no! Nothing like that! I just meant that when we were travelling and kids it just seemed so innocent. We didn't really have a goal other than getting you to the next Pokémon League competition. Now, I mean, Jessie and James and Meowth aren't even following us anymore."

"I'm kinda happy about that. They always got in the way."

"Well, yeah, but don't you kinda miss having them around to 'blast off' every few days? Life was so simple and predictable back then. Now we're in the woods for weeks, but it's not fun. We're constantly looking for new Pokémon and worrying about your speech, or catching a certain Pokémon in time, or having a Pokémon evolve, or _now_ getting scholarships and getting into college."

Ash reflected upon her words for a moment. "That's true. It was kinda nice not having all of this stress constantly. We never really worried about being anywhere on time, or about anything at all except having fun and going to the next gym." Thinking back, he suddenly realized how much he missed it. "You know what we should do?"

"What?"

"Before school starts, and after all of this is over, we should get all of our friends together for a big reunion! We could have it there in Pallet and just make it a big party!"

Misty's expression brightened at the suggestion. "That does sound like fun! And it would be even more fun because we wouldn't be worried about getting scholarships or battling the Pokémon Master, or anything like that."

"Nope. We could just relax and have a good time."

Misty squeezed his hand a little tighter. "You're the best." She gave him another luminescent smile, and he felt completely thrown by the compliment.

"Um, so-so are you."

He'd been given many nice compliments by his girlfriend over the past several months, but she'd never said something like _that_ before…at least not without throwing in some kind of sarcastic remark to somewhat offset the seriousness of the moment.

A mischievous gleam suddenly sparkled in her eye. "You wanna go back to the Pokémon Center?" She lightly tapped her foot against his ankle, and her raised eyebrow gave him plenty of evidence as to her thoughts.

"Sure!" He grabbed his wallet and threw a hundred dollar bill on the table before practically dragging the redhead out the door with him. The look she gave him made him know he was in for a treat this evening.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Several hours later, Misty found herself suddenly awoken in a cold sweat by a dream…_that_ dream. The same one which had permeated her peaceful sleeps for years, and the one which never seemed to diminish as the span of time widened. She'd hoped that, this many years later, at least some of the dread the memories brought up would have dissipated, but it had become painfully obvious that time, unfortunately, did not really heal all wounds.

She tried closing her eyes, but the second she did she heard the terrible, terrible noises, instantly causing her eyes to flutter open again.

Sitting up, she realized she was in for another long, sleepless night.

_Unless…_

Quickly throwing on a pair of pajama bottoms, she stepped out of her room and walked to Ash's. The Center was dark, and the dream caused an instant fear to blossom in her stomach. Hurriedly rapping upon the young champion's door, she called out for him to answer.

"Are you in there, Ash? Ash, are you there?"

After what felt like forever, she heard the trainer unlock and open the door. It was so dark, she could barely make out his features. Though he was clearly disoriented, she didn't care. She threw her arms around him, and in a muffled and tired voice he asked what was wrong.

"I-I had a…bad dream." She felt the tears begin to trickle down her cheeks, and felt instantly ashamed of how infantile her whining sounded.

"A bad dream?"

"Uh, yeah…" She wondered what could have possessed her to look to Ash for comfort. She'd dealt with these dream almost her whole life. There was no reason she couldn't handle this on her own. "Actually, I'm okay. I'm sorry for waking you up." She wiped the tears off her cheeks and let go of the champion. However, he took a hold of her arm and refused to let go.

"What was the dream about?" Even in the dark, she felt his concerned gaze upon her.

"I-it's nothing…I don't wanna talk about it, if it's okay."

He nodded. "That's fine, but why did you come here if you didn't wanna tell me about it?"

"I…I dunno. I'm sorry for bugging you." She again made to leave, but his grip simply tightened.

"You don't need to be sorry." The words hung in the air like an echo for a moment. However, after a second, he took a deep breath and continued. "Misty, um, would you like to spend the night in my bed?"

"W-what?"

"I mean, just so you don't have to feel alone or anything," he replied defensively. "You don't have to if you don't wanna."

For a moment, she silently mulled the thought over. Truthfully, though, the answer seemed obvious the second the question escaped his lips. "I'd like that."

Though neither could see the other, the smiles they presented were quite obvious. He took her by the hand and, carefully in the dark, led her to his small bed. He laid down, and then invited her to do the same.

Carefully, she slid beneath the sheets, the young champion behind her, and pulled the blankets over their forms. Unsure of what to do, he slowly draped his arm over her torso, and she showed her approval by inching closer backward to him.

The feeling of his warm breath upon the back of her neck felt like a drug that directly induced a feeling of security and drowsiness, and the feeling of her warm body next to his provided the same magic. However, as both drifted away again, Ash fought the urge and managed a few final words. Words that, for some reason, seemed incapable of waiting until the morning.

"I love you."

He didn't know if he'd said them loud enough, or if she was even awake to hear them, but for the moment he was just happy to hear himself admit it. As he lazily wafted back into sleep, he realized he could easily spend the rest of his life sleeping like this.

* * *

Author's Notes: A little whimsy, then a little serious romantic development, then a suicidal-depressing side story, and then a little more romance with an air of mystery. That was pretty much the equation for this chapter. I brought you up to speed (hopefully) on where Ash and Misty now are in their relationship, and I am introducing you to what will be, basically, the climactic apex of the Team Rocket sub-plot which has plagued and confused many of you throughout the long history of this fic. PLEASE, IF YOU LIKED OR HATED IT, TELL ME! I NEED TO KNOW SO I CAN IMPROVE AS IS NECESSARY!

It's almost two in the morning here, so I better go, but again I'd like to apologize for my tardiness, and ask that you please have some faith in me yet that I can return to a regular update schedule. Well, until next time, have a Merry Christmas! (Also, listen to the Pokémon Christmas Bash on iPod or YouTube depending on how cheap you are…they're some of the corniest songs ever, but they're AAML and they're awesome. Ha,ha)


	40. Parting Ways

**Hey Everybody!** I know, it took another four weeks to get this one up, and I'm sorry about that, but the good news is that I was actually almost done with it last week, and so I used the extra time to start work on chapter 41. So even though school starts back in a couple of days for me, I should get next chapter out on time in two weeks.

While I have you, I want to mention that I haven't answered everyone's reviews yet, so if I haven't answered yours in particular, please don't hold it against me and please let me know what you think about this latest installment. I was so happy to see that just about everyone loved last chapter, and I really need to get some feedback on what you thought about this next part too to see if everyone likes the direction the story's taking.f

Well, I guess that's about all I've got to put up here this week. Oh! Except for please read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

"Do we really have to get up?"

"I dunno."

"I mean, what if I caught a later flight?"

"I dunno."

"Ash, are you even listening to me?"

"…I dunno."

"Wake up!" Misty turned over and lightly smacked her boyfriend to consciousness. Giving him an evil smirk, she showed him her cellphone, which was currently going off. "The clock says it's time to get up. Why do I have to leave so early again?"

Ash yawned and scratched his head. However, looking up at his girlfriend, all he could do was stifle a small laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Your hair always looks weird when we first wake up. It's all over the place!" He began to chuckle and Misty responded with a quick blow to the arm. "Ow!"

"Don't make fun of my hair!" She rolled her eyes. "We've had this…_sleeping arrangement_, for two weeks now, and every morning you make some stupid comment about how I look. What about you?"

"What about me?"

She pointed to his hair. "You don't exactly look like Prince Charming yourself first thing in the morning, you know."

"Whatever," he mumbled, slowly righting his body. A shiver worked its way up his spine as the cold floor met his bare feet. The motel they'd stayed in for the evening was cheap, and the carpet appeared dingy and even cheaper than their fare. "I think we've been pampered too much. When we were kids, I would've thought this was an awesome place to spend the night, but now I can't imagine spending another night here. Camping's more comfortable than this place."

Misty laughed in agreement. "I know. I think this is the kinda place people go to when they wanna kill somebody."

"You know what those kinds of places look like?"

She smirked. "Of course." She wrapped her arms around his torso and leaned close to his ear. "Why do you think we came here?"

"I thought it was because this was the only hotel in town. I didn't know you killed your boyfriends."

She gave him a light peck on the cheek. "It's just a hobby, but I don't think I'll do it just yet."

"Why?" He turned as she released him and got off her side of the bed.

"I think there may still be a little fun we can have before that happens." She gave him a quick wink before telling him to turn around.

Moaning in frustration, he complied. It was almost torture to be so close to Misty, yet never get a _good_ look at her.

"Why are you so upset?" she asked. The sound of a shirt being lifted over her head caused him to tighten his fists.

"Oh, it's nothing," he lied.

Misty gave the back of her boyfriend's head a soft smile. It was so nice of him to let her sleep with him. After the second night in a row of nightmares, the two had silently agreed to her just spending nights in bed with the champion. Oddly, the bad dreams never invaded her thoughts when he was near her, though she was beginning to sense some bad thoughts in her boyfriend's mind with the new arrangements.

"You know, if you wanted to we could…"

"No, no, we really can't." They'd already discussed this at some length.

"But I still don't get why. I mean, we've been dating for a while right?" She finished with the bra and pulled a fresh shirt from her bag and over her head. "You can look, by the way."

"I just can't do that yet…not unless we're married."

She gave him another smile. She pretended to be the perfect one, but the truth was he had her beat in this contest. Maybe it was because she'd grown up around her sisters, but for some reason she didn't see the harm in sex since they both clearly loved each other and, though he probably didn't yet know it, were going to be married someday anyway.

She decided to play with him a little. "Why? Do you not think I'm attractive?" She gave a small pout, and the worry etched clearly across his face.

"No! It's nothing because of you! I just-well, when I think about maybe doing…_that_, well, um…"

Now she was curious. "What? What happens when you think of that?"

"I-I can't really tell you. It's too embarrassing."

She _couldn't_ let this go after hearing that. "No, Ash. What were you going to say?"

He took a deep breath before looking her dead in the eye. "When I think about us doing _it_, I hear my mom in my head."

For a quiet second, Misty looked stunned. She stood there, staring at him with wide eyes, and Ash wondered if what he just said was enough evidence for her to dump him then and there. However, relief and humiliation simultaneously flowed through his veins, replacing the dread, when she began to laugh hysterically.

"You-you mean…" she kept laughing and had to hold her ribs, "that your mom yells at you in your mind when you think about that with me?"

"Well, uh, yeah. I just hear her say that I'm supposed to wait till I'm married since that's what Jesus wants."

After laughing a bit more, Misty finally calmed. "She'd probably be overjoyed to hear that, and I guess she's right. I just grew up in a house where the rules about sex were a little less, um, _strict_. We didn't have any parents by the time my older sisters were in their teens, so I kinda just didn't think much about it."

"Oh." He wasn't really sure what to say. Every time Misty brought up her orphaned childhood, he instantly felt uneasy. "Well, um, I'm sorry about that."

"Why? It's not your fault." She walked around the bed so she could face him. "I think it's good and sweet that you wanna wait, and the truth is I do too. I just didn't want to be the stick in the mud girlfriend who forced her boyfriend away because she didn't do anything with him."

"I'd never leave you Mist," he answered solemnly, standing up. "I don't care if you never even held my hand again."

She smiled even more broadly, and wondered how she was so lucky. "I actually wish your mom had been around to talk to my sisters." She frowned and stuck her tongue out a little. "When they were younger, they weren't exactly the best role models…though I guess they're a little better now."

"Well, if you ever want, I'm pretty sure she could still do it. She seems nice to everyone, but as her son I can say that she can be pretty scary if you want her to."

Misty giggled. "I'll have to keep that in mind."

Ash reached down and grabbed his jeans, quickly pulling them over his pajama shorts. He threw his shirt to the ground and grabbed one of his dozen black t-shirts from his bag and pulled it over his head, followed by the Indigo League logo hat. "So we probably need to get going, huh?"

The air suddenly became heavier with the reminder of the day that lay before them. Neither was excited at its prospects.

"Yeah. I'll brush my teeth and then we can grab the Pokémon from the Center before leaving. Canalave should only take a few hours more to get to."

"Great," Ash replied, the sarcasm leaving a bitter taste.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"All flights to Hoenn's Citadel will be delayed twenty minutes due to heavy rainfall on the platforms," announced a cool female voice above the frantic airport. The scenes of women dragging children, men concentrating on incomprehensible layout maps, and security agents frisking ticketholders helped Ash to remember why he preferred travel by ship or Pokémon if he could help it.

"Crowded, huh?" he asked, squeezing Misty's hand. The two were barely recognizable amongst the throng of bodies, and for the first time in a long time, he didn't fear someone interrupting their conversation with a request for an autograph.

She flashed him a weak smile. "Yeah. It sure is!"

"Is that your gate over there?" He pointed to gate number 24, the same number printed upon her ticket.

She nodded her head. "I guess I need to go. Do you wanna come with me?"

"I don't think I can. Look." He noted several security agents who were asking for tickets before allowing people into the line. "It looks like this is as far as I can go with you."

"Oh, okay," she replied. "Well…"

Despite the tumultuous atmosphere around them, the two managed an awkward silence that almost roared in their ears.

Giving her hand another squeeze, he brought her in for a hug, which she quickly reciprocated with all of her strength. "I'm gonna miss you while you're gone, Mist." His breath tickled her ear as he whispered the words.

"I'll miss you too. This is gonna be the first time we've been apart since we started going out."

They held on for another moment before the redhead suddenly released a low moan.

"What is it?" he asked, pulling away while keeping his arms around her.

"I just realized how corny this sounds. We're the exact couple that I said I couldn't stand!"

He smiled at the hint of incredulity in her voice. "How?"

"I said that I couldn't stand couples who hug and kiss in public and act all gushy, but we're here all upset in an airport because I'll be gone for a few days. Why are we so worried?"

He mustered his most confident look. "You're right. We shouldn't be sad at all! We've gone a lot longer without seeing each other, right?"

"Yeah!" She nodded eagerly. "And when I get back, I'll have a scholarship and the gym leaders of Sinnoh will finally be getting the respect they deserve!"

"Not to mention all the Pokémon me and Pikachu are gonna catch now that we're in Canalave, right buddy?"

"Pika!" cried the mouse in agreement. He'd remained mostly silent as his master and companion said their goodbyes, but was happy to finally get a chance to speak his mind. "Chu-chu!"

"So we're not sad then, right?"

Ash smiled. "I guess not."

"…Then why do I still feel like it?"

He gave a small laugh before allowing another frown to reappear. "I guess we just like each other too much." With a shrug, he hugged her tightly once more. "But that's not a bad thing."

"That's true. It'd probably be worse if we were happy to get away from each other."

Leaning away from him, she drew up quickly for a small peck on the lips before finally separating her entwined fingers from behind his back. "I really do need to go, though. They said it can sometimes take forever to get through the security checks they set up here."

He nodded. "Yeah, you better. Me and Pikachu have a meeting with Byron in just a couple of hours anyway."

"So…I'll see you in just a couple of days, right?"

He nodded. "Yep! And you'll call me tonight?"

"Sounds good."

Pecking him one last time on the cheek, she grabbed her small suitcase and headed towards the gate. She turned around again to say goodbye, but the thick crowds of people already blocked her view.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Mantyke, return," Ash said, bringing the water Pokémon back into his pokéball after a successful voyage between islands. He'd been contacted by Byron a week earlier after meeting with his son, Roark, in Oreburgh.

Walking up the beach, he was relieved to find it sparsely populated and thus freeing him from the clutter of fans which normally surrounded him. Though it had only been a couple of hours, he already missed Misty, and he didn't feel like dealing with a large number of screaming disciples at the moment.

Making his way further up the island, with Pikachu on his shoulder, he was glad when he eventually found the metallic and rock structure that was the gym building at the end of a long dirt road. It stood in stark contrast with the large forested area behind it, and Ash instantly recalled the large sums of money spent in its annual upkeep due to the various steel and rock Pokémon residing within it.

_All of that studying with Misty must be paying off._ He gave a small smile before striding up to the building and, upon finding the doors locked, knocked.

"I'm coming!" roared a low voice from inside. Ash fought the urge to roll his eyes. He'd forgotten that the gym leader was quite excitable as far as gym leaders were concerned. "Ash! You're finally here!" he screamed, opening the door and grabbing the champion's arm and dragging him inside before he knew what was happening.

"Uh, hey Byron."

"I have something to show you!" he exclaimed excitedly, now forcing Ash to play catch-up as he pulled his arm harder, moving towards the center of his gym where the battlefield was located. When he finally reached the field, he loosened his grip and pointed downward to the dirt and clay battle arena. "Look down there!"

Interested, and also a little sore, Ash peered below. Not much to his surprise, he could see that the entire floor was shredded to bits. Pieces of stone and clay and dirt were everywhere, and it didn't appear as if there was more than a square foot of solid ground left between the two trainers' boxes.

"What are you trying to show me?" The truth was it didn't look too different than after his battle with the gym leader.

"I heard that you're going to be giving some speech!"

"Uh, yeah, about the Pokémon League paying for gym repairs instead of gym leaders having to pay for them."

"That'd be awesome!" The leader clinched his fists in excitement at the prospect.

"I know, your son thought so too. I've been talking with all of the gym leaders that I can before I give my speech to make sure they know what I'm trying to get done for them. I wanna be the best Sinnoh Champion this region's ever had."

"If you can get them to pay to repair this mess of a gym, you'll be the best champion ever in my book! Though I already like you a lot after you helped me become closer with my son!"

Ash took a step back, and Pikachu's small claws dug into his shoulder a little. The booming voice of the older man was difficult to take in close range for too long a period of time. "Well, uh, thanks. So is this the only reason you wanted to have me over? Because I was actually hoping-"

"Of course not!" interrupted Byron. "How rude would that be? I have something I wanna give to ya! Follow me!" Grabbing his arm once again, the leader dragged Ash up a flight of stairs and through a plain wooden door. Inside was a small desk and papers scattered all over the place. However, Ash did notice something seemingly out of place.

"These two Pokémon are for you!" announced the middle-aged man, pointing to his desk upon which were two pokéballs. "They're a Shieldon and Cranidos if you were wondering!" He grabbed the two capsules and thrust them into Ash's arms.

"Ah!" He grabbed them tightly as their unexpected entry almost forced him to drop them. "Thanks a lot Byron! Um, but why are you giving me these?"

"I know about you wanting to become a Master, Ash!"

"You do?"

He nodded vigorously. "Of course! You don't have this job for this long without learning a thing or two about how stuff works. Because I'm a gym leader, though, I know how to keep it quiet!"

Ash had his serious doubts about that.

"Well thanks a lot. I was wondering if maybe while I'm here you could also show me how to get to Iron Island? I was wanting to check it out since you told me last time that there were rare Pokémon in its caves."

"Certainly! Just follow me! I'll show you some great fossils I just dug up while we're there!"

"Um, I didn't actually need you to go with me," Ash replied, a little concerned by the leader's statement. "I mean, aren't you busy right now with reparations?"

"I can't afford 'em! That's why the gym's closed in the first place! This gives me something to do until the next paycheck comes in anyway, so let's go!"

Sighing, Ash gave Pikachu a shrug before following.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Misty yawned loudly as she stepped out of the exit terminal. She couldn't believe she felt so tired after sitting on a plane for six hours. Her body seemed to think she'd just run a marathon as it ached from the effects of sitting in such cramped quarters.

_I shoulda let Ash just pay me to fly first class._ She was hoping to prove her independence by paying for her own airfare, but now she realized that if being slightly dependent meant flying with the luxurious comforts of first class, then she might be willing to mooch off the champion a little more.

"Like, there you are little sissy!" squealed a shrill voice from behind. Turning, she was immediately brought into an embrace with her older blond sister.

"Hey Daisy," she greeted in a muffled tone.

"Like, look at you! You've grown up so much!" She took a step back and admired her younger sister. "You really are a Sensational Sister now!"

Taken aback by the compliment, the redhead thanked her sister with a small blush. "So where's Violet and Lily?"

"Like, they're taking care of some challengers right now. They wanted to come pick you up, but I, like, won our game of rock, paper, scissors! Now let's get out of here!"

"Um, okay," Misty replied. Though they'd grown closer, she couldn't help but question why her sibling seemed so overjoyed at her return.

After they stuffed her bag into the pack of Daisy's old convertible, the blond started the car, and made her way onto the road. "So how's, like, being a celebrity?"

Misty laughed. "Not all it's cracked up to be, really. Me and Ash have a hard time going on dates without tons of people recognizing us, and we can't even travel in the woods looking for Pokémon without running into a few rookie trainers wanting tips or something."

"Yeah, but it's gotta be, like, the best to have all those cameras and attention focused on you all the time," Daisy replied, her voice dreamy. "I can't imagine how much fun it must be to get invited to all of those nice League parties and meet all of those important people."

"It is pretty nice, I guess. I just really enjoy being with Ash, though."

"Well, like, of course you do! But don't you enjoy the fame some too?"

"It's alright," the redhead relented. "I mean, I _do_ get to meet some interesting people, and being on television and magazines is kinda cool. Also, people have stopped paying so much attention to me and Ash lately because of all the other stuff going on right now, so it's been calmer."

"I remember when me, Violet, and Lily were on that cruise. We went to all of these exotic places and, like, did nothing but get photographed and then sit on the beach all day…it was great."

Misty simply nodded. That sounded like the kind of thing her sisters would enjoy. However, despite the progress in their healing relationship, she still didn't enjoy hearing about the luxury her sisters enjoyed at her expense. While they went off to travel the world, she was forced to stay at home and leave her own life of adventure and friendship.

"But you really do look good yourself, little sis," repeated the blond, snapping Misty from her solemn recollection. She could see the gym in the distance and wondered how long they'd sat in silence. "I mean, if you wanted, you could, like, easily go into the modeling biz yourself!"

"Well, thanks for the offer, but I think I like travelling with Ash more."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It's comin' your way, Ash!" yelled Byron from somewhere within the dark depths of Iron Island. Though Ash couldn't see the leader, he knew what to expect.

"Combusken, get ready!" he warned his fire type.

"Sken!" The fire and fighting type's fists glowed with intense heat as they awaited Byron to deliver.

"Wile!" The small steel type Pokémon suddenly tripped into the sunlight from within the cave. Byron and his Bastiodon followed close behind.

"See? I knew where they were living!"

The small Pokémon raised its arms to protect itself from the strong rays of the lingering sun. "Wile, Mawile!"

Combusken appeared ready to attack, flames now literally engulfing both of its arms, and Ash prepared for the offensive. However, a pang of guilt struck his heart as he watched the slightly pathetic scene before him. The steel type was struggling to stand up and gain balance due to the large weight of the extra mouth on the back of its head, and it continued to cry out from the pain being inflicted upon its eyes by the sudden intrusion of light.

"I don't think we should do this."

"Why not?" Byron appeared fully shocked. "Mawile aren't exactly common in Sinnoh!"

"I know, but look at it. Combusken, don't attack."

Nodding, and seemingly glad that his powers would not be wasted upon such a frail opponent, the fighting type quickly gave up the flames and reentered its pokéball.

Bending down on one knee, Ash looked the Pokémon in the eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Wile!" The large jaw behind her head started snapping at Ash, and the champion instinctively jumped back.

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped in front, electric sparks threatening to strike from its cheek pouches.

Calming itself down, Mawile seemed almost sorry as it repeated its name in a sorrowful tone.

"It must have just been confused. Where did you find it?

"It was in a nest! I woke it up and started to chase it out of the cave so you could find it!"

Again, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It wasn't in good sport to just sneak up on a sleeping Pokémon. He'd made that mistake as a rookie, but as he'd grown older, he'd come to realize how juvenile and dangerous that tactic could be. Wild Pokémon deserved a fair chance before being captured.

Bending down again, he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out an Oran berry. "I read somewhere that Mawile like Orans a lot." He held the small fruits out to the creature.

"Wile?" For a moment, it appeared both pensive and apprehensive, but after a moment of thought decided to approach the trainer's open palm. With its two small paws, it reached over and grabbed the food. It instantly began nibbling, and Ash smiled.

"Looks like I remembered the right one!"

"So what are you gonna do? Just leave it here?" Byron's normally loud voice sounded even more robust with the disbelief added to its tone.

"Well, it all depends. I don't catch Pokémon that don't wanna have me as their trainer. I try to become friends with all of the Pokémon I catch, and you can never be friends with someone if they don't want to be with you." He leaned a little closer to Mawile. "So what do you say, Mawile? You wanna be my newest Pokémon? You'll meet lots of my other Pokémon and make a ton of friends if you do!"

The Pokémon turned its head to the side slightly, appearing to consider the offer.

"Pikachu, explain that Mawile has a choice."

Pikachu mumbled a few syllables of its name repeatedly until a look of understanding finally crossed the steel type's face.

"Mawile!" It nuzzled up to Ash's knee.

"I guess we can take that as a yes then." He pulled out an empty pokéball and enlarged it. "Jump on in!"

Dropping the pokéball on the small creature's head, the capsule hit the ground, rolled for a few seconds, and then became silent.

"Well that's interesting! I've never had a Pokémon that joined my team without a fight!"

"Really? A lot of my Pokémon have joined like that." He picked the pokéball up and clipped it to his belt. "But I guess all trainers have their own strategy and approach to catching Pokémon. Thanks a lot for helping me to catch her, though."

"It was no problem! Just get us the help we need here! For some reason, the PLB never takes us gym leaders seriously, and I'm getting tired of it!"

"I'll do my best. Will you be at the speech?"

"Of course! Maybe I'll even make some signs to cheer you on with!"

Laughing nervously, Ash explained that such an act of gusto would not be necessary. "Just being there is plenty of support."

"Well, at least I'll bring my son along! I'll ask as many other gym leader friends as I can to go too! This'll be a big day for Sinnoh if you get the suits in the PLB to actually care about what happens to us for a change!"

"See if you can get a lot of leaders to come. That would be great!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I don't know about this Daisy."

"Like, yeah, I don't think she'll be too happy with this."

"It's our only shot you guys. If we don't ask her, then we're, like, sunk!"

"If you don't ask me what?" Misty stood at the threshold of the kitchen doorway, glancing with curiosity at her three sisters. They'd been suspiciously kind to her the entire evening, and she knew something had to give.

"Sit down for a second sis." Daisy pushed open a chair from beneath the table.

Taking the seat, the redhead slowly examined her siblings. "So what's the problem?"

"Like, okay, here goes." Daisy closed her eyes, seemingly gathering courage. "We, like, haven't exactly been winning many battles."

"I noticed. That's the reason I have to go to this stupid competition, remember?"

"Yeah, but, like, it's a little more serious than just having to go to this thing. A few days ago, we, like, got some message from the Pokémon League saying like 'we're mad at you and if you don't stop givingso many badges, then we're shutting you down'."

"What?"

"That's what, like, I said. I couldn't believe that they would shut us down for just not winning enough!"

Misty covered her eyes and muttered into her palms. "Daisy, that's exactly why they shut everyone down."

"Like, I knew things were getting a bit out of hand. I mean, we had to cut the janitors and other cleaning services a few months ago because we couldn't afford them."

"How are you paying for electricity?"

"Like, most of it comes from our paychecks. I win, like, every once in a while, so that money helps a lot too."

Misty's mind raced as she tried to recollect the various revenue the gym was bringing in before her departure. "What about the shows? They brought in several thousand dollars a year. That should at least have paid to keep the cleaning staff!"

"Like, we had to cut them out because of all the extra water they used. We, like, have completely dried the practice pool out too, and the aquariums are almost empty. Mostly just fish stay in those, and we keep the water Pokémon in the battle arena now."

For a quiet moment, Misty just allowed the sudden flurry of information to rest on her brain. It was a lot to take at once, and she honestly couldn't believe that all of her hard work, all of the effort she'd made in assuring that Cerulean was once again the most feared of all gyms in Kanto, had been completely destroyed by her sisters in a matter of months.

_Wait, a matter of months?_

"I was just here with you guys in February and you never mentioned any problems."

Daisy looked a little sheepish at this comment. "Well, like, we were losing money pretty fast when you came home after that fight with Ash, but as you started winning again, we were able to pay off everything we owed in just a couple of months! You saved us…until you left again."

"I can't believe this!" She pounded her fist on the table, and the three siblings all jumped back a little in their seats at the sudden reaction. It was obvious her temper was going to blow, but that knowledge did little to quench the fear in their hearts of the youngest Waterflower. "I leave you alone, and every time we talk, you say that everything's fine, but the second I come home, just for a night, you dump all of this bad news on me! The Pokémon are all having to live together, we can't afford the practice pool, there's no more janitors, and I suppose you three expect me to fix everything again, right?"

Daisy shook her head. "I know it's not right. That's why we, like, never told you on the phone, you know? We knew how much you love being with Ash, and we knew that we were the reason you had to give up travelling the first time back when we were a little…less close."

"So why even tell me now?"

"Because that message scared us, Mist. This gym is our home, and if we lose it, we don't just lose a place to fight trainers. We kept, like, thinking that if we ignored it, then it would all just go away, but now they sound serious."

The anger continued boiling through Misty's veins. "This is pathetic. You know that, right? You're the big sisters here! I'm supposed to be able to count on you, but it's always been the opposite. You remember why I left home in the first place, right? It's because you three were so obnoxious and acted like you were too pretty to train or care about keeping up with this place. So I left, found some friends, and saw the world, and then found out you wanted to abandon all of your duties."

"Like, Misty, don't forget that you abandoned yours first!" Lily mentioned, suddenly leaning forward in her chair and effectively startling her other sisters. She'd remained silent, but was sick of hearing the redhead complain. "Quit, like, acting as if we never did anything for you. While you were out travelling, we, like, took care of this place by ourselves for two whole years!"

Misty's eyes narrowed. "Then how can you not take care of it for six months after I leave? Have you really just lost the little talent you had when you were younger?"

Blushing, Lily shook her head. "You know that's not the point. You left first, and you need to come back again to help us out."

"The only reason I left in the first place-"

"You left because you didn't wanna work anymore."

Tears began to threaten an overflow as Misty vigorously shook her head. "You really don't remember the night before I left? You _really_ can't remember why I couldn't stand living here anymore?" The fact that the night was embossed, with so much emotion, on her own heart, and yet appeared unmemorable to her sisters heightened her frustration.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"_We need to fix the pool. There's a huge hole in the bottom of it, and the water doesn't stay in for more than a few minutes." A much younger Misty pointed to the center of the pool where a decent gape made itself known._

_Daisy, however, did not heed the younger child's voice. She instead continued filing away at her index finger nail, a look of pure disinterest etched across her face._

"_Daisy, are you even listening to what I'm saying?"_

_She perked her head up for a moment. "Uh, yeah, sure little sis. Whatever you say."_

"_This is serious, Daisy! The pool needs to be fixed or else we won't be able to have battles here! No battles, no gym!"_

"_I get it," the blond replied, rolling her eyes. "Like, don't take everything so seriously."_

"_Maybe you should take things a little more seriously," Misty muttered, suddenly gaining her older sibling's attention._

_"What does that mean?"_

"_I mean that you should stop looking at yourself in a mirror for a second to see that this place is falling apart! Am I the only one that cares?"_

_Daisy took a step forward. "Like, listen to me Misty. I'm the adult here, and I will not, like, tolerate you talking to me like that. Show some respect!"_

_"Earn some!" Misty stamped her foot on the ground. Over seven years of living under the dictatorship of her sisters had recently begun to wear her nerves thin. Some of her friends from school had just left on their Pokémon journeys, yet here she was, still obeying her snotty older sisters like some slave girl._

"_Don't talk to me like that, I said!"_

"_Why shouldn't I? You say you're a grown-up, but you've already spent all of Mom and Dad's money on yourself along with Lily and Violet, and now we have to start winning battles if we wanna keep the gym."_

"_Like, I know what I'm doing Misty. You just keep battling the trainers, and let the adults worry about the gym." The condescension in her tone made Misty want to strangle her._

_Tightening her fists, Misty fought back. "How can I battle trainers if we don't have a pool anymore?"_

"_Like, we'll fix it after the next paycheck comes."_

"_The next check doesn't come for two more weeks, and you said we already spent the money for this month!"_

"_Well, like, money's a little tight right now."_

"_Not tight enough for you, Lil, and Vi to stop going to the beauty salon every week though, right?"_

"_What are you saying now?"_

_Misty huffed. "For my birthday, I got a small cake and a Caterpie pillow! I don't even like bugs! But every day I see you guys come home with all kinds of nice stuff and new outfits for yourselves." She looked down, the need to cry forcing her direct eye contact to break. "It's like I'm not important."_

"_Well, when you're a grown-up, then you can start buying nice stuff too. We can get these things because we've earned them."_

_Her cheeks tinted a dark red, Misty looked back up. "How? By using the money the League sends? We only get that money as long as we keep winning, and we only win because I'm the only one battling! I've been doing it since I was five years old, and you guys have barely helped since!"_

"_That's not true! We have the shows."_

"_Like, what's going on in here?" Lily and Violet walked through the doors into the arena. "I heard Misty's little voice out in the hallway."_

"_She's, like, saying that we don't pull our own weight around here."_

"_What?" Lily and Violet stared down angrily at their youngest sister. "What about all of the shows we do?"_

"_Those shows cost more money to make than we usually get from selling tickets! You just wanna be models and are using them to get noticed."_

"_Like, don't be angry that you're too young to have a great body like we do," Violet said, striking a pose. "Maybe when you're older, you'll understand."_

"_If I'm like you when I'm older, then we won't have a home anymore. You're all the same! No one cares that there's a giant hole in the pool, and that means we're not gonna be able to take trainers unless we get it fixed quickly."_

_Daisy rolled her eyes. "A little overdramatic, don't ya think Mist? We can just use some of the insurance money to pay for it."_

"_We don't have any more, remember?"_

"_We, like, don't?" Daisy looked to her sisters, who shook their heads._

"_Like, remember? The lawyer guy came and told us about that last month."_

_Rolling her eyes back for a moment, Daisy snapped her fingers. "Ooooh, right. I forgot about him."_

"_So what are we gonna do?" Misty asked. "I mean, look!" The pool was already halfway empty again._

"_This wouldn't be so hard if we didn't have some little mouth yelling at us right now." Violet mentioned, glaring at her younger sister. "Why don't you go play with some of the Pokémon or something?"_

"_This 'little mouth' is the only reason you guys even noticed the pool problem in the first place! I'm not going anywhere!" She stamped her foot again, and leered at Violet, threatening the girl to retaliate._

_However, Lily intervened on her sister's behalf. "Well, maybe if you didn't spend so much of our money, we wouldn't have this problem. We could probably pay it off if you didn't go and buy that new bike for yourself yesterday."_

"_My bike? The only reason I got that thing was so I could get around town easier when I'm doing chores…besides, it's not like I've gotten anything nice lately anyway, unlike you three who always get whatever you want every time you go to the mall."_

"_Didn't we already, like, talk about this? We're the adults, so we can get whatever we want with our money."_

"_It's my money too, Daisy."_

"_Like, I don't see your name on the paycheck every month."_

_Misty's jaw tightened. "Only because I'm not old enough yet, but you know I'm the only reason we get to stay open."_

"_Like, don't think so highly of yourself."_

_The redhead raised her eyebrow in surprise. "You really think you could run this gym without me?"_

"_Like, we'd probably be better off. One less mouth to feed. Right girls?" The blond looked behind her to find her sisters nodding in solemn approval._

"_Fine then!" Turning before the tears began to cascade down her cheeks, she ran up to her room, which, through tinted windows, overlooked the pool. Slamming the door behind her, she reached under her bed for her small red backpack._

"_I won't need these anymore," she noted, emptying the sack of various school papers and pencils. She opened her drawers and quickly stuffed it full with clothing before tightening the top off. "I don't need them anyway. After all I've done to keep this gym alive, if they don't think I'm important…" Her words died off momentarily as she sniffled a little. "If they don't love me anymore, then I don't need them. Let the whole gym just get torn down for all I care."_

_Grabbing her backpack and slinging it behind her, she marched out of her room, but not before grabbing the rod and reel she left laying against the wall next to her door. Her dad had told her long ago that this was his lucky fishing rod from back when he started his journey._

Let's hope it really is lucky,_ she noted while slamming the door shut behind her._

_Marching down the stairs, she called out for her sisters, but didn't hear a reply. Going into the dingy kitchen, she found a note scrawled out on top of the dining table._

Misty,

We've gone to the mall. We'll figure this whole pool hole problem out when we get back.

Later!

_Huffing again, she turned the paper over and grabbed the pen her sisters had left by it._

I'm leaving to start my own Pokémon journey like my friends. If you guys are so smart, then good luck running the gym without me!

_An involuntary tear dripped from the tip of her nose onto the sheet, but now she didn't care if they found out they made her cry. By the time they got back from another spree they couldn't afford, she'd almost be out of Cerulean._

"_Uh-oh." As she prepared to take her first step of freedom out of the house, she realized something._

"_I need Pokémon!"_

_Running back inside, she quickly sprinted to the rack where the pokéballs were held. At first, she was tempted to simply take all of them, but she knew, despite how much she loathed them, she couldn't do that to Violet, Daisy, and Lily. Instead she grabbed the first three on the rack, and made sure to avoid the Gyarados' capsule._

"_That's better," she noted, dropping the balls into her bag and closing it back up. She was certainly at an advantage in terms of training. Most kids had little experience in battling before their journeys, save for the classes they had to attend before leaving home where they would use "practice" Pokémon. She'd been battling for five years now, and she quickly decided to not waste her time with the local Pokémon League branch to try and get a starter._

_Stepping out of the pool room, she realized that, in addition to the Pokémon, she would also need money to buy a sleeping bag and a tent like her friends. Going into Daisy's room, she opened the safe and, once again unable to bring herself to take everything, withdrew the minimal amount to keep herself going for a while without having to write home and ask for money._

_Now, with money, clothes, a fishing rod, and Pokémon in her bag, she took a deep breath and walked out of the entrance, grabbed her new bike, and pedaled as quickly as she could from the gym and home that harbored so much of her past. She didn't dare to look back…she couldn't risk falling for its memorial charms until it was too late._

"_Bye guys," she muttered, head down, as she sped down the street and toward a new adventure._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The three siblings sat, their mouths agape, as Misty reminded them of why she left.

"Like, I totally forgot about that fight we had."

"Me too."

"Like, so did I!"

She gave them a sad smile. "Now that I look back at it, I realize it wasn't that big of a fight or anything, but when you're almost eleven years old, feeling like no one needs you is a pretty big reason to want to run away from home."

"I'm so sorry for what I said earlier," Lily whispered, her eyes misty after listening to the recant. "I had no idea how you felt when you left. You had, like, every reason to leave when you were younger."

"Like, I think we're all sorry for how we acted back then," Daisy mentioned, grabbing Misty's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I don't know why we acted like we did back then. I guess we just thought we were important because we were 'adults' or whatever. I wish I could, like, go back and fix everything."

"It's okay you guys. We were all confused. You were younger than I am now when Mom and Dad died, and that's a lot of pressure to put on a bunch of teenage girls."

"So…like, where does that leave us?" Violet questioned suddenly, pulling the girls' mind back onto track. "Are you gonna help us?"

Misty sighed and looked up at the ceiling. She didn't know what to do. When she was younger, out of anger she didn't care what happened to the gym, but now she was older and supposedly more mature. Also, she really did care about her sisters and her old home.

_But what about Ash?_

_

* * *

_

Author's Notes: I know this didn't have near the same level of excitement as last chapter, but you know that more action is in store in the near future, and I really needed this chapter in order to shed a little more light on Misty's background, as well as prepare Ash for his upcoming speech to the Sinnoh PLB. So yeah, I'll admit that this probably isn't going on anyone's "favorite chapter" list like last chapter, but I would really like some feedback on if you think I handled the characterization well for each of the players in this chapter. As the story continues to get darker, and we handle a few more mature subjects near the end of this fic, I'm going to have to take more liberty with their personalities because they've never really faced anything like this in the show before. Therefore any opinions on how the characters reacted or what they said during this chapter that you thought was OOC or IC would be much appreciated.

…Of course, just a "Great chapter!" would be nice to hear too. Ha,ha.

Thank all of y'all for your patience. I'm always amazed that writer's block can hurt me for such a long period of time between chapters (like the last two), and yet I can still count on so many of my loyal fans to instantly flock back and both praise and critique my writing style. Y'all are truly the inspiration for my continuing to work on this story, and I promise to respond to all of your reviews this time, and to continue giving my best effort to provide y'all with a good Pokéshipping fanfic.

I'll see you in two weeks!


	41. Individual Adventures

**Hey Everybody!** Well, I'm in kind of a hurry this week to get this up because I've got to go to church in less than six hours, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the author's notes this week. I want to say that I still, unfortunately, have not yet replied to all of your reviews…but in exchange for that, I was able to get this chapter out on time! (For like the first time in about two months!) This is the first time I've gotten two chapters out in a month since like October too, by the way, and I think this may continue. When I was on vacation, I got easily distracted, but now that I'm back at school I actually have nothing much else going on right now, so I think you can definitely expect to see chapter forty-two up in the next couple of weeks, along with review replies to all of you out there who take the time to review this chapter.

Oh! I need to mention though that this chapter is dedicated to pokemaster101 for being my 1000th reviewer! Can y'all believe it? We finally crossed the four digit threshold! Of course, I hope we don't stop just because of that…10,000 reviews would certainly be nice (as well as almost impossible…but still, haha). Thank all of you though, seriously, for dedicating so much time and thought to this story. I cannot express my gratitude for all of the reviews, both good and bad, because they have been and continue to be my motivation and my guide for writing this fic. It wouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is without you, and I hope no one doubts that for a second.

Also, I need to publicly apologize to Pokemon-Princess.8 because I told her I was going to dedicate this chapter to her for giving me some great ideas for this chapter…except I didn't use them, and I already dedicated this to someone else. Rest assured though, PP8, when I use your ideas next chapter, the chapter is yours! Of course, she's already been such a huge source of inspiration for this story already that she deserves the entire fic dedicated to her…but the next chapter will have to do for now. Ha,ha. Also, I should mention that PP8 is also special because she is the first fan of mine that I've actually talked to in real life! It's so cool actually knowing that my fans exist in the real world and aren't fanfic robots meant to make me feel better, and so I want to say thanks to her for all her kind words and for listening to my boring thoughts on writing!

Wow, I guess I wasn't in too much of a hurry, huh? Well, go ahead and read and REVIEW PLEASE!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

Characters' Ages:

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hey Ash! It's me!"

"…who?"

The redhead squinted her eyes. "You know who, Ash Ketchum. My name shows up on your phone every time I call along with my picture. If you can't figure it out, then you're even dumber than I thought."

"Oh, it's Misty," he snickered. "I knew I recognized those insults!"

She rolled her eyes as she closed the bedroom door behind her. Looking around at her surroundings, she almost forgot she was in the middle of a call. Coming back into this room always felt like a blast from the past. Though they'd heavily renovated over the years she'd been the leader, she had refused a single contractor to touch her room. The sentimental value it held just seemed too great to allow some sweaty guy named "Rick" to tear apart without emotion.

"Mist? You there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" She jumped a little at the voice in her ear. "What were you saying Ash? I just saw something that distracted me."

"Oh, well I was asking how your sisters are doing?"

A frown permeated the leader's features as she remembered the main reason for her call. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about them."

"Sure Mist. What's up?" His voice was completely upbeat, and Misty's heart sank as she thought of the news she was about to deliver. Though she didn't know whether or not she was going to help her sisters just yet, she knew Ash would be upset to hear about the possibility of her leaving all the same.

"Well…"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So basically Daisy, Lily, and Violet haven't gotten any better since the last time you saw them and now the Pokémon League's threatening to close us down again," Misty concluded. She bit her lip while nervously awaiting the up-till-now quiet champion's response.

What if he cries or something?

However, she was surprised by the rather emotionless reply over the receiver. "You're not staying."

"…what did you say?"

"I said that you're not staying in Cerulean, Mist," Ash responded, his voice like ice. The blunt reaction to her news caught her off-guard, and for a moment she just stared at the blue bedroom wall before her.

"Um, I never said I was gonna stay," she reminded, still a little confused. "Why do you sound like that?"

"Yeah, but you never said you weren't either. You're not going to go back and live with your sisters again." The stern tone almost scared her a little. It wasn't like Ash to be so forceful.

"Like I said, I never said I was gonna stay, but even if I did, you have no power to order me not to." With every word, she began to feel her face grow hotter. "I called you to talk about my problems, and all you say is that I'm not staying? Why are you so mad all of a sudden? You didn't answer my question!"

There was a pause, followed by a long exhale, and when he answered, his tone sounded almost normal again. "Misty, I know your sisters. Every time they need something, you just give it to them."

"No I don't!"

"Really? What about when we visited the gym when we were kids and they asked for your Starmie? You just handed over your most powerful Pokémon without a fight! And when they asked you to watch the gym? You left me and Brock crying!"

"Um…" She blushed at the realization that he had a point, but she refused to allow him to win the argument. "Just because I helped my sisters out twice doesn't mean I'm some pushover…and it really doesn't mean you can just tell me what to do!"

"Misty, what if I was about to jump off a cliff? Would you just let me do it?"

"Right now? Probably."

His tone grew more serious. "C'mon Misty, would you let me?"

She sighed. "Of course not, but I don't know what that has to do with-"

"This is like jumping off a cliff. I'm just telling you not to do it for your own good, not because I think I'm your boss or something like that. You don't want to be a gym leader again."

"How would you know that?" He was right, of course, but she wasn't done feeling indignant over the way he'd responded to her story.

"Because you were so excited to leave. Remember that night at the party when I told you about becoming a Master? You didn't think twice about inviting yourself to join me! You couldn't wait to get out of there!"

A short pause reached Ash's ear as this time Misty thought of what she should say. "You're right, I don't wanna, but you don't have to sound so mean telling me not to."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just that I know how influential your sisters are in your life, and I can't stand the thought of them taking advantage of you just because they can. You're a grown-up, and you can make your own decisions."

"But the gym…"

"Forget about the gym, Mist!" The sharp tone caught her by surprise once again. "Who cares? It's obvious that they don't if they're still no better at battling. They've been running it this long and still can't win against rookie trainers with powerful water Pokémon you've been sending home from around the world? If the gym was as important to them as it is to you, then they would've learned by now."

Though she found herself nodding in silent agreement to what he said over the cell phone, the redhead was still shocked to hear Ash talk about her sisters in such a harsh way. She noticed that he normally was very reserved when discussing them with her.

"Ash, why do you sound so upset about this? I already said that I don't wanna stay."

"I know…it's just that I can't stand the idea of you leaving me again," his voice had lowered to almost a whisper now, "and your sisters wanting that to happen just makes me…I dunno."

She smiled. "Angry?"

Another short pause.

"Yeah, I guess that's it. I don't mind that your sisters are kinda ditzy, but I don't like the idea of them trying to steal you from me, you know?"

She laughed. "Yeah, I know."

"Why are you laughing?"

"It's just I've never heard you really say what you think about my sisters before. It's kinda funny to hear you use the word 'ditzy'."

In Sinnoh, Ash smiled despite himself. "I don't normally wanna hurt your feelings by saying what I think of them most of the time, but this is different."

"Yeah, I guess it is…but that still doesn't change the big problem of what'll happen to the gym."

"Like I said, who cares?"

A frown reemerged on her lips. "I care, for one, Ash. You're right that they don't take their responsibilities seriously, but this is my home too, in case you forgot. If I just leave them, then we're definitely gonna lose the gym. I don't want to come back, but I can't let this place go." She looked around her old room once again, remembering all the time she'd spent here.

"I understand," Ash replied sympathetically. "I don't know what I'd do if Ma told me she sold our home or something…it has a lot of memories, huh?"

"More than you can imagine."

"Well, I'm not letting you get away again. If it's really so important to keep the gym in your family, then I'll move to Cerulean.

Misty furrowed her brows in shock. "Wait, what?"

"I dunno, I mean, they've got schools there, right? Even if it's not the one Ma wants, she'll be glad I'm just going. And we could work together being gym leaders and taking care of the building or whatever."

The shocked expression quickly disappeared, leaving a look of concern on the redhead's face. "That's not happening, Ash."

"Why not?"

"For one, you're a champion. I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to demote yourself to gym leader like that. Also, your mom would be upset if you didn't go to Vermillion like her, and I never want to make her angry with me."

"Well, I'm not leaving you. You can stay in Cerulean if the gym means that much, but I'm coming whether you like it or not." The adamant tone reminded her of their childhood fights.

"I don't wanna be a gym leader anyway, Ash. I mean, maybe when I'm older or something, but I wanna travel and go to college and do all the stuff we talked about doing."

"Then how are you going to keep the gym open?"

She thought for a moment, racking her brain for a solution. Suddenly, a thought hit her and she bolted up in excitement. "Ash, I have it!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Like, what did you say little sis?" The four sisters were once again sitting together in the kitchen, and all eyes were on Misty as she explained her solution to their current woes.

"You're going to boot camp, you guys," she answered, beaming with joy. "I thought of it last night when I was talking with Ash on the phone."

"Like the army?" Violet appeared as if she were about to faint.

"Ewwww, no way little sis!" Daisy replied as Lily just stared at her sister as if she'd lost her mind. "I don't care, like, how bad we need money. I am not joining the military."

Rolling her eyes at the theatrics taking place before her, Misty shook her head. "Not the army, you guys. You guys are gonna be trained by some of the toughest Pokémon champions in the world so you can be great trainers!"

They eyed each other suspiciously, instantly quieting at the news.

"Like who?" Lily finally asked.

"Like Cynthia and Steven Stone. They trained Ash before his big match with Paul, and I asked Ash if he could maybe get them to help you three out too. He's calling them right now, actually."

Daisy's eyes widened. "But we can't battle, Misty. It doesn't matter who you get to teach us because we'll never be good at it! I thought we already decided you were just gonna come home and help us out!"

Misty gave her sister an incredulous stare. "We never agreed to anything like that Daisy! I said I had to think about it, and then when I talked to Ash I got this idea."

"So that's why you're not gonna stay with us," Violet interrupted. "Misty, I'm, like, happy for you and everything, but we're sisters. That's a lot closer than boyfriend/girlfriend. We should be the ones you help."

"No Violet. You guys need to help yourselves. Do you love this gym?"

"Uh, no duh," Violet answered for her sisters. "That's why we want you to come back, remember?"

"Well, if you really love it, then you'll learn to fight for it. I've taken care of it for a long time now, and now I'm an adult who's starting my own life…and that life isn't in this gym. I love this place, but I'm moving out, and not just to go travel. I'm going to college, and then who knows…but I know that I'm never gonna live here again." Her voice became almost melancholy as she came to the end of her small speech. "So now it's your decision. You can either stay or go, but I can't help you anymore because I have my own life to lead."

Looking each of them in the eye, she waited for their shocked expressions to melt and to hear their response.

"…I guess we have no choice then," Daisy resolved, catching the attention of Violet and Lily. "Girls, pack your bags."

Her shoulders drooping, Violet slowly got up and walked out of the kitchen, with Lily moping not far behind her.

"They seem a little upset," Misty noted sarcastically.

Now it was Daisy's turn to roll her eyes. "They'll get over it."

"Are you okay with what I said?"

She gave a sad smile and nodded. "I know you've grown up. I guess I'm just so used to you being my little sis that I kinda forgot you have your own boyfriend, your own Pokémon…your own life."

"Well, that doesn't mean I don't wanna be a part of the family anymore," Misty explained, a little worried by the glossiness of her sister's eyes. "I mean, I'll still come home a lot and talk with you all the time, of course."

"I know you will," Daisy answered, sniffling a little. "I'm not sad about that. It's just…"

"What?"

"It's just that every time you leave, I always thought 'oh, she'll be back', but now I'm starting to realize that you're, like, really not moving back in again. Even when you left with that Ash kid last year, I knew you'd come back, and you did! But now…now I know you're not."

Despite her statements from earlier, Misty felt herself begin to grow upset too.

"To tell the truth, I think I was even a little happy when I had to tell you we were having trouble because it meant you might be coming back." A tear rolled down her cheek, and Misty felt her heart break a little. "I guess I just really am gonna miss you when you're gone."

Now it was Misty's time to tear up a little. "I'll miss you too, Daisy. But like I said, I'll come home a lot, no matter where I am. It's not like this is goodbye forever or anything."

"I know," the sad smile remained, but her voice inflected a more upbeat tone. "Now isn't it time for you to, like, get going? It's still a long drive to Vermillion from here."

"I probably should," she resolved, standing up from her chair. Daisy followed suit and the two sisters walked out of the kitchen together. However, before she went upstairs, Misty turned and gave Daisy a strong hug.

Reciprocating the squeeze, Daisy smiled. "I love you too little sis."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I don't know if we can, Ash."

"Whaddya mean? It can't be against the rules, can it?"

"It's not that," Steven explained over the videophone. Though the image on the Pokécenter's telecommunication device was a little grainy, Ash could see that the champion appeared quite tired. "There's something going on right now that has the League, and the G-Men in particular, a little worried."

"What is it?"

"I can't really tell you over the phone," he explained, looking worried. "All I can say is that we think Team Rocket's up to something big. Our informants have caught wind of some big operation they have, and it involves some high-leveled person in the Pokémon League."

"Do you know who they want?"

"Not yet, which is causing a lot of problems. It's actually funny that you called because you were next on my list of people to warn."

"Warn?"

"Yeah, since we don't know who the target is, we're basically playing it safe and calling all Pokémon League officials and telling them to be careful the next few days as we try to figure out what's going on. It's been crazy around here."

"It sounds like it," Ash agreed, "but is there any way at all you could help them out? They've been getting letters saying the gym is going to be closed down soon if they don't start winning, and Misty can't go back there to help them anymore."

Steven closed his eyes and rubbed his left temple for a moment. Whether he was thinking or simply annoyed was beyond Ash, but once he looked back into the phone, a smile appeared. "Wait, the Cerulean Gym? Isn't that a water thing?"

"Yeah, that's their specialty."

His smile widened. "I think I may have the perfect person for the job. My old friend, Wallace, was the Hoenn Champion a few years ago while I traveled, and he specialized in the water type. He's one of the smartest guys I know."

Ash searched his brain for a moment, but couldn't remember the champion before Steven. "I don't think I've heard of him. Where is he?"

"Oh, I think he mostly is into contests now, but I'm pretty sure he'd be willing to help if I gave him a call."

"Wait, contests?" A certain blue-haired male coordinator popped into his mind.

"Yeah, you may have heard of him back when he was travelling in Sinnoh. He's one of their contest masters now."

"I think I met him," Ash stated, thinking back to the rather extravagantly dressed man. "He was wearing a cape and a beret or something."

Steven laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like him. He was always dressing up like that, but he had the strength to back it up. Anyway, I think he'd be perfect for coaching these women."

"You think he would do it?"

"Sure!" Steven's smile grew bigger. "He's always asking if I need anything, so now I have something for him. He can use the island off of Hoenn that you trained on, and I'll get some gym leaders from around Hoenn to help out too."

"Really? Thank you!" Ash cried cheerfully.

"No problem. I'll make some calls and get back to you this evening with details."

"Alright, I should be here at the Center, but if I'm not, then you can call my cell phone."

"Right." He appeared ready to turn off the monitor, but stopped his hand halfway to the screen. "Oh! And Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. We really don't know what Team Rocket's up to, so we need everyone on high alert. If something bad or suspicious catches your eye, call me immediately."

Ash chuckled lightly. "Alright, but I don't think Team Rocket's gonna be giving us anymore problems after all we've done."

"Pika-chu!"

"He thinks so too."

Steven gave a small smile. "Alright, but you can never be too sure."

"Right." With a nod, Ash turned off the screen and returned to his room for yet another speech rehearsal. He was scheduled to speak in less than twenty-four hours and he needed all the practice he could get.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Like, I guess we'll see you around," Lily said, still a little bitter. Her and Violet now had five rather large suitcases waiting for them by the door for when they were picked up by the League for "boot camp".

Not feeling the love, Misty gave a quick nod. "I'll call you guys this evening after Ash tells me the details so you can know when to expect to leave and come back home. He was only gone for a couple weeks, so I'm sure it won't be much longer than that."

"Whatever," Violet responded, rolling her eyes.

"Like, don't listen to her," Daisy interrupted. "When you come back, we'll be like all new trainers!"

Though neither of her sisters seemed to feel the same excitement, Misty wished them all luck and said she looked forward to it. "I'll stop by after this competition thing is over for the night before heading back to the airport, so could you give me an extra key?"

"Like, sure," Daisy reached into a drawer in a desk by the front door and pulled out a plastic card with a black stripe across its middle. "Just swipe it in when you get back."

"Thanks." The two sisters hugged briefly once more before pulling away. "See ya soon!"

"Good luck little sis!" Daisy waved as Misty headed out the door and around the side to the family vehicle. As she pulled out, she turned on the navigation system and headed south towards Vermillion. She sighed as the automated voice informed her that twenty hours of driving lay ahead of her.

"This'll be fun."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hey Misty!" Ash voice reverberated around the small vehicle's interior as Misty's phone sat, plugged into the phone adaptor. "How's the drive going?"

"Not so good, actually. It feels like my legs are gonna fall off if I sit here much longer."

"How long have you been on the road?"

"Six hours so far. I'm gonna stop in a couple more for the night, but I need to get there before three o'clock tomorrow, so I'm trying to cover as much ground as I can before it gets dark. So what's up with the training? Did Steven say they would do it?"

"Actually, they can't right now."

"Oh man," she groaned.

Why didn't I wait to give them that speech?

"It's alright though, Mist!" he reassured quickly. "Steven told me that he's gonna get his old friend, Wallace, to train them. Wallace was the Hoenn Champion a few years ago and he specializes in water Pokémon so it should be a perfect match!"

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I can't imagine after the discussion we had having to go back and tell them that it was off…that would have been awkward."

"They didn't wanna go, huh?"

She smiled. "Not at all. So why couldn't Steven and Cynthia help them out like they did with you? Is it against some rule or something?"

"Nah," Ash replied, sounding almost bored. "Team Rocket's up to something again, and they're saying it could be a big deal. They're not sure, but they think Giovanni wants to hurt someone high in the League."

"Oh, wow."

"Yeah. I told him I don't think we have to worry about that after I beat Paul. Giovanni's too scared now."

She rolled her eyes despite the fact she was alone in the car. "I think you're being a little too careless about this Ash. I mean, just because you won a really hard Pokémon battle doesn't mean they can't hurt you…we know that better than most people."

"…yeah, I guess we do."

There was a moment of silence as the two reflected on how the syndicate had changed their lives for the worst early in their childhoods.

"But you're right," Misty suddenly interjected, shaking her head as she tried to clear it of the depressing memories. "I don't think they'd mess with you anymore after that. You're one of the strongest trainers around. I bet they'll target like the President of the League or someone else who doesn't battle that would be easy to take care of."

"I bet so too," he agreed, all too eager to drop that subject completely. "So where are you now?"

"I'm almost to Saffron. I'll probably go a little past there and then stop for the night. Where are you?"

"I flew Altaria over to Jubilife for the speech, and I've been locked in my room all day practicing."

"Good," she nodded her approval. "You need to know that speech inside and out."

"I know Mist, I know. You've told me a million times now."

"Yeah, but that's because I have to if I want it to sink into your thick skull." She snickered as he scoffed over the phone.

"I don't have to take this!"

"Yeah you do. You're my boyfriend, remember?"

"I don't think that means you have the right to treat me badly all you want."

"I'm pretty sure it does, actually," she teased.

"Hmph," he muttered. Another moment of silence followed before he continued. "Hey Mist?"

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking about something earlier. You said that your sisters don't have janitors or anything like that anymore to keep the gym clean, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"I thought you told me and Brock that you guys didn't have to pay for maids and janitors when we first went back to the gym?"

"Yeah, but apparently the League's stopped sending them over because they stop funding gyms that have less than two months before they are shut down. I guess they were just trying to save money by not sending anyone."

"Less than two months? I can't believe it got so close before you heard about it!"

She sighed. "Me neither. I don't know how I would have found out if I hadn't come home yesterday. They didn't even know how close they came to completely losing everything, which is kinda scary. Can you imagine if I had been in Sinnoh and just got a call from them saying that they were homeless?"

"That would have been bad," he noted. "I don't think I could stand having them travel around Sinnoh with us for very long."

She laughed at the statement while speeding down the highway. "Well, I better let you go Mist. I need to get something to eat for supper, and then I'm gonna go to bed early so I get plenty of rest."

"Lucky," she muttered. "It's only seven o'clock. Why don't you keep me company a little longer?"

"Okay. I'll bring the phone with me while I go get supper."

She looked up at the car's roof. "You mean you can't wait to eat like ten minutes to talk to your beautiful girlfriend?"

"Fine, I'll keep talking," he moaned sarcastically. "So what do you wanna talk about?"

"…I'm not sure."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next day, arriving on campus promptly at half an hour after two, a travel-weary Misty finally pulled into a parking spot in front of the large battle stadium.

"Wow," she muttered, getting out of the car and stretching. She'd seen the concrete behemoth on television before, but in person it appeared so much larger. It towered over her small frame at a height of fifteen floors, and there was a large night light on each rounded corner, all facing the middle of the field for matches played in the dark.

"Just made it," she noted with a smile as she dropped her cell phone back in its pocket.

Checking her belt for her pokéballs, she shut the door and approached the large structure. The stadium appeared to have many gated entrances, but there was one with an older man in a sweat suit and a fold out chair beside one of them, so she decided to try it first.

"Um, excuse me?"

"What do you want?" he murmured, not looking up from the newspaper he was currently engaged in.

"I'm here for the tryouts for the Pokémon Battling Scholarship. The message said we were supposed to report here by three o'clock."

"That's true." He turned a page but still didn't look up.

"Um, can I go in then?"

"You may not."

"What?" Her respectful demeanor vanished in an instant. "Why not?"

"It's three-thirty," he answered with a shrug.

She checked her phone. "No it's not, it's two-thirty!" She pointed to the screen. "See?"

The man observed his watch for a moment. "Listen lady, I don't know what kind of clock that phone has, but it's not on Vermillion time. There were about a thousand trainers out here just thirty minutes ago waiting to be let in, and now they're gone."

"How could that be?" She checked her clock again, and suddenly a realization dawned upon her.

I'm still on Canalave time! Sure enough, after checking the settings of her clock, she saw that she had left the device on the western Sinnoh setting.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" she fumed. The clock in her sisters' car was even on the right time, but she hadn't thought to check it after looking at her phone during a short break she'd taken during the drive.

"Nope," he answered, back to his paper.

"Look, is there any way I could still be let in?"

"Not unless you have a time machine of some sort. The rules are the rules, after all."

Her face grew darker as the man seemed to ignore the urgency in her voice. "But I traveled all the way here from Sinnoh! I drove here from Cerulean in less than two days, and I practically haven't slept! There has to be some way that you can let me in!"

"Is your dad President of the Pokémon League?" he asked sarcastically.

She suddenly smiled. There may be a way to get in yet.

"No, but my boyfriend is the Sinnoh Champion."

Suddenly, the man's grip on his paper tightened, and he slowly lowered it and looked up at the redhead. "You mean Ash Ketchum is your boyfriend?"

She nodded. "He said goodbye to me at the airport. It's a shame, too, because he was wanting to come to this school, but if I don't get this scholarship, then I can't go, and then he definitely won't be coming here."

"Ash Ketchum wants to come to VU?" This caused him to drop his paper altogether. "That would be great! He could be a real inspiration for some of our other trainers!"

"Well, yeah, he woulda been…except I'm not getting to compete for the scholarship, so why would he go now?"

After a moment of thought, the man stuck out his hand. "You are now! Welcome to Vermillion University! I'm Coach Jenkins!" He roughly grabbed her hand and began shaking it with quite a bit of force.

"Wait. You're the coach?"

"Sure am! Sydney Jenkins here! Head Coach of the Vermillion University Pokémon Battling Team! National champions five years ago!" He continued shaking her hand throughout this, and she successfully pulled it away after feeling as if it were about to be ripped out of the socket.

"Why are you out here, sir?"

"I don't normally sit around watching all those trainers trying to compete for ten spots. It's depressing, and what's even more depressing is how bad some of 'em are. I'm hoping you're not one of those kinds."

"Uh, no. I'm Misty Waterflower of the Cerulean Gym! I'm Ash's girlfriend, remember?"

He shook his head. "I know who Ash Ketchum is, of course, but I have no interest in anyone's personal life beyond my own. I can't keep up with all of those tabloids and whatnot."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. You're a busy man." She blushed a little at her arrogance in thinking that the coach would simply recognize her from a magazine cover or television interview.

"Well, if you're a gym leader, why aren't you just using the GLI to get in like the others? We had two gym leaders automatically accepted this month to our scholarship program. One's from Kleinwood, and the other's from Lufkin."

This caused her to blush even more profusely. "Um, actually, our gym wasn't in a high enough tier for me to be accepted. I left it with my sisters while I went and traveled with Ash, and I guess it fell a little."

"Hm, I see." He gave her a serious look. "Now listen, I wasn't actually gonna turn you away when you showed up late."

Puzzled, she asked, "You weren't?"

He laughed aloud. "Of course not! You had a good excuse after travelling this far, and I've already let two other guys go ahead of you after they had similar stories. I was just wanting to see if you really wanted it or not."

"I really do," she nodded eagerly. "More than anything!"

"Good. But I'm telling you this so you don't think for a second that we're gonna take it easy on you here. Just because you might be able to bring Ash Ketchum here doesn't mean you get to battle the easy trainers or just automatically get the scholarship. You'll have to work for it."

She gave him a confident smirk. "I wouldn't expect anything else! I'm here to earn that spot."

"That's good to hear." He smiled and pointed her to the entrance. "Just walk through the entrance and they'll sign you in and give you a training suit.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Are you ladies prepared to leave?" A chauffeur in a black suit stood outside the Cerulean Gym as the three sisters clutched their respective suitcases.

"Like, I guess we are," Violet sighed. "We may as well hurry up and get this over with."

"Alright then, please follow me. I will be driving you to the airport where a private League plane has been chartered by Champion Lance to take the three of you to Padre Island where you will begin your training."

The three followed him out to the limousine, and after they shut the door, Jessie, James, and Meowth finally emerged from the broom closet they'd been hiding in the entire morning.

"Thank goodness that's over," Jessie complained, stretching her tired limbs. "As usual, we should have taken my advice."

"You complain too much Jessie," James stated. "My plan worked, didn't it? We made it inside!"

She snorted. "We could have just broken in after the twerpette's sisters left like any good criminal. And never tell me I complain too much again. I have plenty to complain about after travelling with you Slowpokes for so long."

"But we're tryin'a be da good guys dis time, remember?"

"Yeah, good guys don't break into people's houses while they're gone Jess."

She gave him a sinister glare. "Good people don't hide in their closets waiting for them to leave, either."

"How could I have known that? I'm new to this 'not being bad' thing! Besides, how could we have broken in? Gyms always have so many alarms in them to keep thieves out."

She sneered. "Fine. I guess it was worth it."

"Can you imagine if we'd broken in and gotten caught by the police?"

"Can's you imagine what woulda happened to da twerpette if we'd been caught?" All three shuddered at the memory of their boss's plan.

"I just can't believe the Boss would do something like this." Jessie sounded almost heartbroken. "He's been my idol for so long! I always thought he was the perfect criminal, but now…"

James looked down in shame. He too had been rattled by the boss's plan. Though they'd always considered themselves mildly evil, the thought of committing, or even assisting, a murder had absolutely rocked their faith in the criminal syndicate.

"I don't know if we're in the right crowd anymore, Jess."

The redheaded woman looked up, shocked at what she heard. She'd thought the same thing the last few weeks, but this was the first anyone had spoken aloud of it. "What are you saying James?"

"Yeah James, whaddya mean?" Meowth gave him a curious look.

"Well, I mean, is this what we wanna be part of? Stealing Pokémon is fun, and blowing stuff up is lots of fun, but…"

"But not when you have to do stuff like this," Jessie concluded. "I liked Team Rocket when I was younger because they treated me like an adult. I had a job, met you two, and got to do whatever I wanted, but I never thought about all the really bad stuff Team Rocket must have been doing all that time we were just chasing that Pikachu around the world."

"Me neither," Meowth admitted. "When the Boss found me, I was just a stray, and I felt so happy to just have somewhere I belonged, but now I can't believe I liked dat guy!"

"So what do you think?" James asked, looking at his two best friends in the relatively dark gym hallway. "Should I take it off?" He gripped the collar of his white "R"-labeled shirt.

Nodding, Jessie grabbed the bottom of her white tank top, and together they lifted the shirts and threw them to the ground.

"Wow, you guys look different," Meowth noted as the two stood in their black undershirts. "Now I kinda wish I had a shirt or sometin' too to t'row off."

"Well what do we do now?" James asked. He held a black phone with a red "R" on the back up. "The Boss – I mean – Giovanni wanted us to call him as soon as she got here."

Jessie took the phone from his hand. "We're obviously not gonna do that." She dropped it on the ground with a thud. "Still, though, he's gonna be suspicious if he doesn't hear from us soon, and then he'll send that Mallory twerp anyway."

"We just need to make sure da twerpette's long gone by the time she gets here!" Meowth noted. "And us too, of course."

"Right," James nodded. "I'm actually surprised that the boss had enough confidence in us to give us this job in the first place. It seems like he could have just let Mallory wait out here."

"He didn't want to waste her precious time, remember? We're just distractions until they can come. I guess he didn't want any of his valuable members getting in trouble."

"Oh yeah," James answered. "So what do we do until she gets back?"

"Hey guys! Remember dat pool dey had? Let's go for a swim!"

The ominous tone of the conversation was instantly dropped at the suggestion as all three ran to the water arena.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Here it is, Pikachu," Ash noted. Before the duo stood an impressively-sized glass tower. "You ready?"

"Pika!" The rodent gave a small thumbs-up and Ash nodded in turn.

"Let's do it!" He walked briskly through the sliding doors, past the receptionist, who didn't waste time asking for identification for entry, and into the gold-door elevator. Pressing for the twelfth floor, a woman's voice rang throughout the compartment.

"Floor twelve, Sinnoh League Conference room."

As they flew upwards, Ash reached into his jeans pocket and felt the note cards, checking for what felt like the millionth time that day to ensure he hadn't left his speech behind by accident.

"I wonder if I shoulda dressed up?" he asked Pikachu, who remained tightly clung to his shoulder. Though the formal even almost seemed impossible not to dress up for, Lance had cautioned over the phone that he was there to represent the trainer half of the Pokémon League.

"Only the business people wear suits. Just wear your regular clothes, because that's what we are. We're not in it for the money or power like them; we're in it because we love Pokémon."

"I guess he was right, though."

The elevator slowly came to a halt as the lit numbers overhead approached his destined floor. When twelve was finally lit, the corridor came to a complete halt, and the doors slowly opened up.

"Ah!" He covered his eyes as dozens of cameras suddenly focused their attention on him. Reporters hurriedly shuffled around him, holding microphones in one hand and pencils and pads in the other.

"Mr. Ketchum, do you think you can get the Pokémon League to change its mind?"

"Do you think Cynthia failed gym leaders of Sinnoh?"

"How do you think your proposed amendments to the current system will benefit the League and trainers in general?"

More questions and more flashes came as the champion did his best to fight his way through to the door of the conference room. "E-excuse me. Pardon me." He rattled off apology after apology as he tried to walk through the cluster of reporters in the rather narrow hallway that led to the room. He hadn't anticipated that they would wait outside.

"Can you get away from him?" Cynthia's voice finally cried over the hustle of the reporters. "Maybe he'll talk to you afterward, but he's busy right now." She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him through the door.

To his surprise, they were still not actually in the conference center, but rather a small in-between space. The actual entrance stood before them, and Cynthia quickly looked him over. "I'm glad to see that you listened to Lance. No need pretending you're something that you're not." She gave him a small smile as he nodded shakily. "You nervous?"

"A little," he admitted. The run-in with the paparazzi only helped to remind him of how much attention his small speech was gathering in the Sinnoh region.

"Don't worry about it. This will be way easier than any battle you've ever had. Just remember that we're all rooting for you in there."

A curious look crossed his face. "Did any gym leaders come?"

"Did any?" She appeared as if she were almost ready to laugh. "Thirty-nine came, and the other twenty all sent messages wishing you good luck! You've got a pretty big fan base in there. Byron actually brought signs to hold up, I think."

This news caused Ash to laugh despite the situation. "That's good to hear…I guess."

She glanced down at her watch, and then gave the champion a questioning glance. "It's time. You ready?"

He nodded his head quickly, and Pikachu did the same. He wanted to get out there before the nerves had another chance to overcome his confidence.

"Alright then," she pushed the door open for him and he walked through.

"And now, I will turn the mic over to my counterpart," announced David Cornell, the current President of the Sinnoh League, gesturing towards the champion in the back of the room, "Ash Ketchum, our current Champion."

Applause roared through the room as the teenager and Pokémon made their way down the center aisle of what appeared to Ash to be more of a movie theater than a conference room. There were only around two hundred seats, and they were all aligned in rows to face the front stage, where a lone podium with the Sinnoh League insignia embossed on the front stood. The backdrop provided was the skyline of Jubilife viewed through one of the large windows.

Slowly taking the stage, the two shook hands, and the President leaned in. "Good luck," he whispered, before pulling back and walking offstage.

For a moment, Ash watched as he strolled away, wondering if he was being sarcastic or earnest, before turning his attention back to the many cheering leaders and their families. He noted that though the applause was quite loud, most of those in suits and ties remained fairly quiet as he took the podium.

"Um, thank you," he said, causing even more claps and cheering. "I appreciate the feedback," he quipped, reading the line from off his first card. Misty had thought it up for this situation, and he silently thanked her for it as some began to laugh.

Clearing his throat, and allowing the applause to completely settle down, he looked down at his colored cards, and then back up at the waiting audience.

"I've been doing a lot of work lately on becoming a Pokémon Master. However, today I'm here as the Sinnoh Champion, and as such, the head of the Sinnoh Pokémon League."

Some of the suits shook their heads at the statement, and Ash responded quickly. "Of course, I share this responsibility with President Cornell, but we all know that the Pokémon League isn't just about making money. It's about people and Pokémon, coexisting and thriving together." The words slipped off his tongue like turpentine after so much practice, and he confidently kept his eyes up and away from the written text before him.

"As the Champion, it is my responsibility to make sure that the gym leaders and trainers of Sinnoh are treated fairly and with respect." He took a pause and looked around the room. He had everyone's full attention now, and he took a breath before leaning into the microphone and plunging ahead. "That's why I'm here today. For too long, the Sinnoh Pokémon League has disrespected the very people who make it what it is; the gym leaders."

Murmurs of dissent or agreement spouted up throughout the mixed audience. "You already know what I'm talking about. The Pokémon League of Sinnoh does not, for some reason, pay its gym leaders for regular repair and upkeep of their gyms. They have to pay for these expenses, including cleaning and washing the floors and stadiums, from their paychecks."

More murmuring began, but now he ignored it as he continued. "The numbers show that the average gym leader is paid slightly higher than the median income of all Sinnoh citizens, but with this normal payment, they're expected to do great things including paying for cracks and holes in their floors and walls from tough battles, feeding up to dozens of different Pokémon at a time, and of course keep winning all of their battles." He gave himself a small smile, glad he'd practiced this so much, and even happier Misty had helped him. He sounded like a politician on T.V., and he was sure from the expressions of many in the audience that he was surprising the majority with his knowledge of the issue.

"In conclusion, I think we need to follow in the steps of the League in Johto and Kanto and begin paying our leaders an additional funding aside from their salary which would compensate them for their winning. This would give them more money to run the gym, and take a lot of unnecessary stress away from them so they could focus on making Sinnoh the most difficult and feared of all regions."

Following the ending, many of the leaders clapped and whistled, and Ash did indeed see a sign with "Best Champion Ever" and a crudely drawn portrait of himself being hoisted up by Byron.

"Is the Champion making a request for a vote then?" asked the President from the back of the room. He held a personal microphone in his hand.

"Uh, yes I am," he answered, blushing that he'd forgotten to mention that at the end.

"Before we proceed, I think that a few members have some questions they would like answered," noted a man in a tan suit near the front. "Is the Champion open to questions?"

"Any and all," he replied, a bigger smile on his face. This was the real test, and he gave Pikachu a small smile to his side.

The President handed the microphone to a man near the back with large rim glasses and a nasally voice. "I would like to thank the Champion for taking time away from his schedule to talk with us today, first of all. However, my question is where do you expect the money for this project to come from?"

"Thank you for the question," he recited back, remembering the etiquette Misty had trained him on for this session. "To answer, the Sinnoh League is actually one of the richest. We have way more money saved than Kanto or Hoenn, and Johto's barely beating us."

"Yes," interrupted the man, "except a large amount of that money is tied up in stocks. Do you even know what stocks are?" There were a few chuckles in the audience, and Ash felt his cheeks warm.

"Yes I do, actually." Thanks to Misty, of course, but I do. "And our numbers show that we have been losing money on several industrial stocks the last three years. These would be great to sell for the money we'd need to pay the leaders."

Though he was in the back, Ash could have sworn he made out the image of the man's shocked expression as his eyebrows went high. "Um…thank you." He gave the microphone back to the President, who went down the aisle and gave it to a young woman in a pantsuit.

"That's all fine and good that you know what an industrial stock is, and how our market is doing, apparently, but did you know that Sinnoh League gym leaders are paid higher on average than any other group of gym leaders in the four regions?"

He nodded. "But they're only paid a little more on average than Kanto leaders, and I bet they'd give up a little money in return for not having to pay their own repairs any more. It's not fair that they have to use their money to pay for League property." He looked down at his card and remembered an important comparison. "You work in an office, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"What if a Spearow flew into your window and broke the glass? Would you have to pay for it?"

"Um, well no."

"Who would?"

She squirmed a little. "I guess the Pokémon League would."

"So why should the leaders have to pay when a Pokémon attack destroys the battlefield?"

"Because that's League property!" yelled another woman a few rows closer to the champion. "The leaders should be more careful when handling it!"

He gave the woman a questioning glance as several gym leaders to his right began booing the statement. "So are you saying that our gym leaders shouldn't try their best to win? And what about the opponent's Pokémon? They usually cause most of the damage…I know that for a fact!"

A few people laughed, and the woman sat back down. Seeing that the situation seemed to be getting out of control, the President quickly strode down the aisle and snatched the microphone away. "I'm sorry, but I need to say something here. I normally don't like interfering with affairs of the League when they help our loyal leaders, but I think everyone is forgetting why we voted down Cynthia when she proposed this same idea years ago."

"Why did you?" Ash questioned, curious as to what his response would be.

"Because it simply wasn't practical. What would stop these leaders from abusing the system and using the money we gave them for repairs on themselves for nothing related to their gym duties? In Kanto there have been a few reports of those kinds of problems. We must be careful with our money."

Ash sighed. "There are fifty-nine gym leaders in Sinnoh right now. Out of those, thirty-two have families, and out of those thirty-two, after paying for repairs, only one stayed above the poverty line." The air seemed to leave the room at that last statement. "Do you know what this means? It means that the gym leaders, our League representatives, have kids going hungry at nights because we're not willing to spend a few extra dollars to pay for reparations, but we also say that they can't keep the gym unless it's in top condition."

"But what about the abuse?" the President persisted. Despite the solidarity in his tone, sweat began to bead atop his bold head, and he reached for his kerchief.

"Those who abused the system in Kanto were caught weren't they? If that happens here, we'll catch them too, but I think the big question is whether or not you trust your gym leaders enough to try this system…do you?"

The question caused a hush to fall upon the crowd as they awaited his answer.

"…I guess you have a point." He sounded disappointed, and Ash had a feeling he would still rather they vote the measure down. "Of course, I still have the veto power of the League, so I will need to think about this before signing it…that is, if it's even voted through here."

"I guess we'll find out." He smiled as the applause rang through the room once again, now with both sides joining in.

* * *

Author's Notes: Again, not a huge exciting chapter, but we've now seen Ash's speech (though not its outcome quite yet) along with gotten Misty to Vermillion for her competition. We also dealt with the Waterflower sisters, and we see what path Jessie, James, and Meowth have chosen (did anyone think they were actually going to go through with planning her murder? Too OOC for me). Next chapter, though, things start to heat up, so I hope you enjoyed the cool-down session of these last two chapters because this story's going to be twisting, turning, freaking you out, and surprising you until its conclusion from here on out.

Well, whether you liked it or hated it, PLEASE REVIEW and let me know. I appreciate all feedback, and will take all criticism to heart to improve this story's quality.

Well, until next time, later days!


	42. Making the Grade

**Hey Everybody!** Well, I'm sorry for the delay. I was sick, I was taking tests (still am), I was fighting Martians, I was dating supermodels, and I also was sleeping at certain points…and basically, all of this got in the way of my writing. Ha,ha. Actually, I was sick and had a lot of tests, but even worse I was plagued with terrible writer's block. However you should be happy to hear that I've already started the next chapter and it's coming along swimmingly, so we should have the next chapter up in the regular two weeks allotted. There's not a lot to say today, but before I let you go, I should say that I'm pretty sure I've responded to everyone's reviews now, and I will do the same for this chapter because I really do appreciate all of your feedback, so please let me know what you think!

Yep…that's it for up here. Please, read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

The lights seemed to get hotter as Ash continued plowing through question after question. Though he felt as if he'd successfully won over the majority of the audience, he knew he was still in trouble unless he was able to get enough votes to override a veto by David Cornell, who continued to eye him skeptically from the corner of the room.

"Can you really justify transferring funds away from possible stock index dividends under the guise of unfounded moralistic behavior?" Another tactic Ash had discovered over the last hour. In order to throw him off, those opposed seemed to increase their vocabulary exponentially in a ruse to confuse him.

Unfortunately, this tactic was becoming increasingly effective.

"Um…could you maybe say the question a little less…hard?" He blushed as the woman guffawed.

_Man do I wish Misty were here._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_Why couldn't Ash be here?_

The redhead was sweating heavily beneath the late summer sun. She was now into her third battle, and she had four more before the day came to an end. For some reason, perhaps overconfidence she supposed, she'd assumed that the first few battles would be rather easy, but already she had barely scraped by her last two opponents.

"Starmie, give 'im another Water Gun!"

The star-shaped Pokémon spouted off another strong surge of water at the Butterfree, who quickly dodged. The water spray continued until it hit the Light Screen/Barrier combo shield produced by two Alakazam. Because there were so many trainers trying out, the very large battlefield had been split horizontally into six smaller fields, each field being surrounded by psychic walls so the battles wouldn't spill over into each other.

Effectively dodging the water attack, Butterfree began flapping its wings rapidly.

"Heeyah!" Starmie was thrown backward by the powerful gust.

"Now we've got 'em Licorice!" declared her opponent happily. He appeared to be her age, but she was thrown by how much experience he had under his belt.

_Especially to use a Butterfree so well._

"Poison Powder attack!"

Licorice continued pounding its wings, but now a purple-hued dust scattered across the battlefield, enveloping her water and psychic type.

"Rapid Spin quick!"

"Hyah!" The starfish Pokémon rolled onto one leg and began spinning wildly, dispersing the violet spores.

"Alright!" She pumped her fist in the air. "Now finish it with a Surf attack!"

The three top "tips" of the Pokémon's head began spouting large quantities of water, creating a miniature tidal wave.

"Get up high!" yelled the opposing trainer. Unfortunately for his bug and flying type, the command came too late as the Butterfree's body was quickly covered and floored by the water attack.

"Free-free!" It struggled under the weight of its wet wings, and it was clearly unable to raise itself.

Groaning, the brunette trainer reached for his pokéball. "Don't bother Licorice…return." He held the capsule up and in a moment the butterfly Pokémon disappeared from view.

"Great job Starmie!" Misty congratulated, running out to her battling partner. "I might need you for the next battle. Do you think you're up for it?" She was startled when, in response, the crystal in the middle of her water and psychic type began to blink slowly.

"I guess that battle really wore you out, huh?" She sighed and reached for her pokéball. Because of the seven battles per day required by the coach, she was one Pokémon short, and thus far not one of the Pokémon she'd battled with seemed capable of handling another fight.

_Corsola, Starmie, and Politoed are already out for the day! _She had been scolding herself since the first battle for not coming better prepared. She had simply not expected the other contenders to be so skilled, and the fact that she didn't have much diversity in her team regarding type or species was definitely putting her at a disadvantage.

"Looks like I shouldn't have gone so soft on you."

"What?" She looked up to see the young man holding out his hand for her to shake. She stood and grasped it firmly.

"Well, I thought everyone was saving their best Pokémon for the end, so I was using Butterfree in this one because I didn't want to wear my better guys out. Looks like I made a mistake."

_That was one of his _weak_ Pokémon?_

"Oh, well, thanks. Yeah, Starmie's not my strongest, but she's pretty tough, so don't feel too bad."

"I won't. This gives me more time to train for next spring. I plan on making it all the way next time." He shot her a confident glare. "Who knows? Next time we meet, it could be for practice."

She smiled in return. The determination in his voice reminded her instantly of Ash. "I hope so. If that Butterfree is one of your weak team members, I can't imagine what your stronger Pokémon are like."

"Well, I've traveled through Hoenn and Kanto, so my group's pretty diverse."

"Excuse me," called one of the referees through the Barrier/Light Screen shield currently held up by a duo of Alakazam. "Is this battle complete?"

"Yeah, she won," answered the young trainer, pointing to the redhead.

"Alakazam, take it down," directed the referee. Instantly the mixed blue and golden translucent shields were dropped by the psychic Pokémon.

Walking out, the two were instantly replaced by two new young women. Each was clutching an enlarged pokéball as the shields went back up.

"What was your name?" the blue-shirted official asked, glancing at a clipboard with a pen.

"Misty Waterflower," she answered. She was almost surprised that he didn't recognize her from the media, but realized that spending all day in the sun battling had probably left her unrecognizable.

He looked the list over, flipped through one page, and then widened his eyes. "Here you are. Alright Ms. Waterflower, you can return to the bleachers and await your next assignment."

She nodded and gratefully jogged over to the side bleachers. Unfortunately there was no free space on the titanium seats, but she was so tired from standing that she held no reservations about sitting on the dusty clay floor of the battlefield. Around her dozens of referees shouted out battling partners and battlefield numbers, and team managers walked around offering quick shots of water from squeeze bottles.

"Can I have a drink?"

The green-haired manager walking by smiled. "Sure," she replied. She handed down a plastic water bottle and Misty happily shot the cool stream of hydration into her mouth. After a few hearty gulps, she wiped her mouth with her forearm and smiled up at the girl.

"Thank you. I really needed that."

The manager laughed as she took back the bottle and placed it in her cart. "You look like it…actually, everyone does. Being out in the heat this long gets exhausting."

"Tell me about it." The girl walked off, and suddenly Misty felt someone poke her in the arm.

"Excuse me." A blond trainer with green eyes was trying to get her attention.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wanting to ask you something. I know this sounds kinda ridiculous, but you look like someone famous."

She smiled. "Yeah, I'm Misty Waterflower."

"Ash Ketchum's girlfriend?"

She nodded. "Yep, that's me." She wiped the sweat from her brow. "I'm surprised you could tell though. I bet I'm really red after all of this battling."

"Well, I just thought you looked familiar." He paused as one of the managers handed him a bottle. After he was finished he looked back at her. "Boy, I hope I don't get into a match against you."

She squinted."Why not?"

"Are you kidding? A battle against the Sinnoh Champion's girlfriend? Who stands a chance against those kinds of Pokémon?"

"Well, just because I'm dating a champion doesn't mean my Pokémon are any stronger than they ever were."

He laughed. "I don't mean _your_ Pokémon. I mean the ones you borrowed from Ketchum."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Trust me, I didn't borrow any of his Pokémon for this tournament."

Now it was his turn to look shocked. "You didn't? Why not?"

"I don't wanna owe him for getting into this school!" she answered indignantly. "I'm a good enough trainer on my own."

He shook his head. "Okay, but I gotta tell you, if it were me, I'd have no problem asking for help. In fact, I probably wouldn't use a single one of my own Pokémon."

"Misty Waterflower will be battling against Elizabeth Anthony at battlefield four after the current battle is over," shouted one of the officials. "Please make your ways over to the fields now in preparation for your fourth battle."

"That's a shame," the blond remarked after the announcement.

"What is?" She gave him a quizzical look.

"I was hoping to battle the famous champion's girlfriend. Now that I know you're not using his Pokémon, I might stand a chance."

"I don't think so," she answered jokingly with a wink. "But who knows? If you make it through this next round, we might still battle it out."

"I hope so." He gave her a nod as she walked towards the fourth battlefield. She could see that the two guys currently occupying the field were in mid-fight, so she took the opportunity to sit down once again. She knew she was ruining the silver short training shorts she was issued for the day, but now she honestly couldn't care less.

As she sat, mindlessly watching an Aggron and Rhyperior battle it out, her mind began to wander to the conversation she'd just held.

_Maybe I_ should've_ borrowed some of Ash's Pokémon._ Though the entire point of acquiring this scholarship was to prove her independence, she was beginning to realize that her Pokémon hadn't been seriously trained in quite some time. Though she had no one to blame but herself, she knew that the battles she'd barely won today shouldn't have been challenging for her team at all.

_Almost losing to a Butterfree?_

Gyarados spent most of his time out of his pokéball eating or sleeping, and the same went for her other, less powerful, fighting creatures as well. The only battling practice they got was normally with weak wild Pokémon she was searching for with Ash, and those battles were rarely tests of her Pokémon's true strength.

She grimaced at her own arrogance. _I'm as bad as Ash._

What hurt even more was the thought that she'd just sentenced her sisters to a couple of weeks of hellish training, saying they needed the practice, and now receiving a fairly clear wake-up call that she too probably needed the work.

She knew that, just like humans, Pokémon needed to constantly work their muscles to stay in fighting condition, but she'd somehow managed to ignore this obvious rule the past few months. Ash even went out and trained almost every day _after _spending the mornings and afternoons looking for new species. He'd go out with at least one new Pokémon he'd captured to build trust and strength, and ninety percent of the time she'd decide to stay in and relax after a long day.

Though she often chastised Ash for his behavior, it was beginning to seem as if his child-like energy was something to be admired.

"Hi, I'm Elli." A short girl with brown hair stood above her, breaking her trance.

"Oh, hi. I'm Misty."

The girl smiled sweetly. "You know, I probably see your face a thousand times a week on the internet and in stores. It's so cool to meet you in person!"

Despite the already prominent redness on her cheeks, Misty blushed a little still. "Well thank you."

"It looks like we're almost up." She pointed to the battlefield, where Aggron was on his knees.

"Finish it with a Hammer Arm, buddy!"

His fist glowing, the rock and ground type brought down his arm with all his strength, pummeling the steel and rock Pokémon into the ground with a quake that Misty felt even outside the psychic barrier of the Alakazam.

"Looks like it," she agreed, standing up. Her legs felt weak and sore, but she was happy to see that the sun had finally set beneath the large stadium, meaning the giant fireball would no longer be gazing down upon her directly.

Once each trainer had taken their place, the reflective walls resurfaced, and the brunette gripped a pokéball.

"I was saving this one for the end, but I don't think I wanna go easy against a gym leader," she announced across the field.

Misty felt a little nervous at the announcement, but she quickly shook her head, dispelling the quelling uneasiness about her own Pokémon's abilities. "Smart move!" she half-joked in response.

"Let's go Dragonite!" In a flash, the large orange flying and dragon type appeared on the field. Stretching his arms, he let out a low bellow into the sky, and Misty had a brief flashback to Ash's Charizard. Lowering his gaze, the rare Pokémon stared intently at the water trainer, as if daring her to release an opponent.

Gulping quietly, she steeled her resolve and reached for Gyarados' pokéball. Though she too had been saving her strongest for the end, she knew he was the only one who could stand a chance against the pseudo-legendary creature.

"Pretty nice Pokémon," she complimented, trying to sound cool as she enlarged the capsule. "But check out mine!"

The red and white orb turned over mid-air a few times before popping open and suddenly revealing her trusted companion.

With a roar of his own, Gyarados looked down on Dragonite with wide eyes and jaw open. Unfortunately for the water and flying type, his Intimidate ability seemed to have no effect as the dragon simply huffed a flume of smoke through his nostrils and widened his wings in preparation for the fight.

"Nice! I've heard about your Gyarados! This should be a fun battle." Elli folded her arms. "So you want the first move or should I?"

"You can," Misty answered, disliking the idea, but wanting to appear calm all the same.

Taking a deep breath, the young trainer unfolded her arms and pointed at Misty's Pokémon. "Dragon Rush!"

Dragonite's wingspan expanded to a full eight feet as a light blue fire seemed to surround his body.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Earlier you mentioned that the gym leaders can't be productive with damaged gyms. Why couldn't a simple small wage increase solve these problems?" asked a middle-aged balding man in glasses, holding the microphone. "If we create a special fund to only help repair gyms then we're basically telling the gym leaders to let all Hell run loose and not to worry about it."

"An increase in their wages won't help unless it's very large," Ash answered, relieved to finally have a question he fully understood again. He and Misty had practiced for this because Cynthia had warned about it several weeks before. "If leaders can't get by with their current salary, a slight increase won't do anything. And like I said earlier, the gym leaders respect Pokémon League property. Do you think they would simply destroy their gyms just because they could?"

The man shook his head. "Of course not, but I do believe that there's something to be said for subconscious thinking. If they know they'll have to pay for every repair, then they may be a little more careful in battle."

"That's not good for the Sinnoh Pokémon League reputation though," Ash reminded. "A study done after Kanto implemented this plan showed that after the Pokémon League began paying for repairs, gyms won seven percent more battles on average. What you're saying may be true, but being more careful actually makes our leaders less respected worldwide."

"Hm…"

"Also, the same study done by the Cerulean Institute showed that gym repairs only increased by two percent annually after the law was signed in. This means the gyms weren't taking much more damage than before, and the leaders did a lot better without having to worry about paying themselves."

The man gave the microphone back to an assistant walking up and down the aisles for the workers to voice their questions.

"I think that Champion Ketchum needs a break." The voice interrupting the murmurs after the answer belonged to none other than Cornell. He took the stage and lifted his wrist in the air, revealing a golden watch. "He's been up here for over two hours. Let's take a small break and then we can wrap this up and go on to the vote."

The hushed whispers suddenly exploded into general discussion at the announcement, and the President grabbed the Champion by the shoulder. "Come with me. We need to discuss something."

The two walked off stage, and through a wooden door Ash hadn't noticed off to the right. Inside was a small office which stood in stark contrast to the theater-like setting right outside its door. The carpeting was plush and maroon in color, and there was a grand wooden desk with a lone fountain pen atop it.

"Wow," Ash remarked, taking in the ten by twelve office in wonder. For such a small room, it was certainly well-equipped for comfort.

"Yes, when the League bought this floor of the building, we had this room installed for signing new propositions into law within the organization." He reached behind the desk and opened an unseen drawer. Pulling out a few sheets of paper, he placed it on top next to the pen. "This is your proposal, and this is the pen that has signed in laws for the last thirty years within the Sinnoh League."

"Um, that's nice," he noted, a little confused. "So are you saying you'll pass my bill?"

"No, Ash. We _can't_ have this law signed in."

Ash frowned. He was tired of this pointless arguing, especially after having just spent the last two hours on stage taking questions. "Why are you so against this? The gym leaders work just as hard as anyone to make the Sinnoh League the best in the world!"

"I know, I know. We've all heard it out there." He rolled his eyes, as if aggravated that the Sinnoh Champion continued to bring up the welfare of his workers. "But there's more at stake here than what they know about out there. You see, the Sinnoh League looks like it's about to be bought out."

"What?"

"The Sinnoh League, along with the other regional leagues, is currently under the ownership of President Goodshow. However, recently there's been talk that a company is going to buy out the Sinnoh League from Goodshow in exchange for quite a lot of money."

Ash shook his head. "What does this have to do with why you don't want this law to be passed?"

"Listen…" David sighed and looked down. "The truth is that before I didn't want this law to be passed because I really don't trust the leaders. I know that's mean, and I know I can never say that to anyone outside of this office, but the truth is that there just isn't a lot of love between us in the corporate sector and you in the battling sector of the Sinnoh League, and it would not surprise me if the leaders simply destroyed their gyms on purpose as payback for all the fighting we've done in the past."

"Don't you see, though? This fighting won't stop until you start helping each other out!"

"I know. Honestly, if this company wasn't trying to buy our league right now, I wouldn't think of vetoing your measure…if for no other reason, then at least because you seem to have a large number of my voters out there on your side and I don't want to give up this office."

Ash frowned at the statement. It didn't sound like he'd gotten through yet to the President.

Ignoring the dark look from his counterpart, David Cornell continued. "But I received a message a couple of days ago from the corporation, and they said that any new rules passed before the deal is finalized would result in them dropping the agreement altogether."

"Why would they do that?"

David shook his head. "I guess they're afraid that we'll be spending too much. The message specifically said to keep all funds in place until the transaction was complete."

"What company is trying to buy us out, anyway?"

"I actually haven't heard much about it. It's called Goodwill Management."

The name took less than a second to register in Ash's brain.

"What?"

Frightened a little by the overreaction, David repeated what he said. "Why are you so freaked out?"

"I-I know who owns that company," he muttered, double-checking his memory to insure he was thinking correctly.

"Well so do I. I mean, it's there on the website. I believe his name is like Leonard, or Leo, or something."

Ash shook his head. "No. I mean, I know the real story behind that company."

"Real story?" The President eyed him skeptically. "What're you talking about?"

"That company's owned by Team Rocket!" He vividly remembered the corporation's black and white logo on Giovanni's screen as he explained his plot to Ash.

David laughed lightly at the answer. "Team Rocket? You mean the Pokémon thief organization? What are they doing owning an International Investment firm?"

"They're just using that as a cover-up. When Giovanni tried to get me to join him and the Rockets to help take over the League-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Interrupted the older man. "I'm sorry? What are you talking about Giovanni for? How did you ever meet?"

Ash blinked a couple of times, slowly realizing that David was obviously kept blissfully unaware of the goings-on of the Pokémon League Champions and the Pokémon G-Men. He'd always thought everyone high in the League knew about Team Rocket and their plans, but apparently not.

"Um, well a long time ago I was kidnapped by Giovanni and he tried to get me to join Team Rocket."

He folded his arms and shook his head. "I-I don't understand what you're talking about at all. You're saying that Giovanni, the world's largest mob boss, kidnapped you?"

"Yeah, right before me and Paul battled for the Championship. He told me that they could give me all the Pokémon I needed to become a Master, and then I could make him the President of the League."

"Is this some kind of joke or something?" David began to smile nervously, as if trying to play the entire speech off as a prank. "I mean, you're not serious about this, are you? You couldn't be."

The trainer looked him directly in the eye. "I'm being completely serious. As you know, the Master can make whoever they want the President of all the Leagues, and he wanted to take it over so he could move money into _that_ company because he owned it."

"So…" The man rubbed his temples furiously while covering his eyes. The news seemed to be more than a little shocking. "So he was trying to steal the League's money?"

"Yeah, but it went deeper than that. He started talking about making an army of super-strong Pokémon. Mewtwo."

"Mewtwo? There's only one of those in existence and…and we've taken care of it. He can't seriously be considering doing something stupid like that again. His dad almost single-handedly destroyed the world the last time."

Ash paused for a moment, trying to understand. He remembered the Mewtwo he met in Johto that was almost destroyed by Giovanni. Was that the same one David was talking about? It didn't seem to match his description of being "taken care of". Shaking his head, he pressed on.

"Well, he said he's trying to master the process his dad made. Something about a Berserk Gene or something, and he said that the process to fix it costs a lot of money, which is why he wanted to take over the League. That's the same company that's trying to buy the Sinnoh League right now."

For a moment, David continued rubbing his head, appearing lost in deep thought. Finally though, he spoke in a whisper. "Do you have any proof that this is true?"

"The Pokémon G-Men have been fighting Giovanni for a while, and they were the ones I told first about Giovanni after this happened. I was actually trained by Cynthia, Steven, and a few other League members before my battle so I wouldn't lose."

"I can't believe this…"

"I know. It's a lot to hear all at once, but-"

"No," David interrupted, holding up a hand. "I mean, I can't believe I haven't heard about this until now! So you're telling me that the champions all knew about this, and yet no one thought to inform the Presidents of what was going on?"

"Well, they said we didn't have enough proof to convince others."

"So you don't have any proof that Team Rocket actually does own this company then?" His anger seemed to take a backseat to curiosity.

"Not much. I mean, I was bruised a little after they took me, but they brought me back to my room before anyone knew I was missing and I never heard from them again after I beat Paul."

"You mean Ikari? The guy who battled you for the Championship?"

"Yeah."

"Did he know about this?"

Ash nodded. "That's where he got those powerful Pokémon from…like that Entei, for example. They were trying to make him the Champion so he could run for the Master title."

For what seemed like the thousandth time within that short conversation, David seemed almost too stunned to speak. "I need to know more about this, but if what you're saying is true, then we need to let Mr. Goodshow know immediately. He can't be left out of the loop like this if he's considering selling our League to this company." He suddenly walked around the desk and towards the door. "You wait here. You said Cynthia knew about this, right?"

Ash nodded, and he was gone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Dragonite, stop it with a Flamethrower!"

Misty's Hydro Pump and the fire attack collided in mid-air, once again cancelling each other out.

The redhead groaned in frustration. Her Gyarados was taking hit after hit, and barely getting in any of his own. The dragon Pokémon seemed almost impossibly strong.

"Now give him another Dragon Rush!"

The flying Pokémon covered itself in the blue orb and pushed off against the ground so hard that he was almost invisible to the naked eye as he rammed, once again, into the water and flying Pokémon's chest.

Letting out a cry of pain, Gyarados fell backward. Misty looked into his eyes and knew he didn't have much energy left, and she looked across the field and saw Dragonite, who had barely a scratch on him, land calmly back to his starting position on the field.

His breathing labored, Gyarados began to try lifting his head to right his own position, and as he struggled to get up, Misty saw Elli preparing to call out another attack.

Sighing, she shook her head. "Don't do it, Elli! I forfeit!" Stepping onto the field she rushed out to her large Pokémon. He gave her a sorrowful and painful look. "You did your best Gyarados. This was my fault. Return."

She looked across and saw that the orange dragon was no longer there either. Instead, the brunette was on the field coming towards her.

She always hated this part. No matter how much older she got, having to walk across the battlefield after giving it your all was always a lesson in humility; a lesson she couldn't care less about. Even worse in this case, she realized, was the fact that despite giving it her all, she came nowhere close to winning, and perhaps just as badly, she was now out of the running for the scholarship.

_What will Ash think of me after this?_

Still, when she got there, Elli held out her hand and Misty gave the young girl a smile, reciprocating the gesture. "You did great in that battle. It looks like I need some serious training if I want to win this in the spring."

"Thanks." To Misty's surprise, the girl seemed a little sheepish at receiving the compliment. "I mean, I really appreciate it. I'm…I'm sorry it had to happen like this though."

"What are you talking about?"

The opposing trainer nervously put a strand of wavy hair behind her ear. "Well, you know, that I had to go so hard. I didn't-I mean, I know you're a strong trainer and all, and it just seems weird that I, well…"

"That you beat me so easy?"

"Well yeah. I mean, you have a reputation in Kanto, and it doesn't seem like this was a very hard battle, and I don't know if you were just trying to go easy on me or what, but I feel bad because I'm sure you really wanted this like I want it."

Though a little confused, Misty frowned. "I never go easy on an opponent. You beat my best Pokémon because you're so strong. The truth is that I haven't trained in quite a while, and I guess that's why Gyarados had such a hard time, but even if I'd trained for months before now, you're Dragonite is obviously really strong. You deserved the win, and you shouldn't feel bad. This is a competition, and we're all out to win it, just like in any other Pokémon tournament."

Elli smiled a little. "Yeah, I know it is, but it still feels bad. One guy I beat earlier actually cried."

"You just need to remember that they want to win just as bad as you. Don't worry about how they feel, just make sure you make it to the top." Despite the heaviness of her own heart, Misty tried to give the girl a look of reassurance. "If I have to lose, then I at least want the person who destroyed me to make it to the top so I have an excuse."

The brunette nodded and gave her own clearly-forced smile.

"I'll do my best," she answered as the walls fell around them.

A referee stepped up with another clipboard. Without looking up, he simply asked for the winner.

"Uh, me. Elizabeth Anthony?"

Scrolling through the names, he saw hers and marked it off. "Loser?"

Clenching her jaw at the title, though she knew it was well-deserved, Misty raised her hand.

"I need your name."

"Misty Waterflower," she responded, trying not to sound too bitter for the sake of her former opponent.

"Oh, here it is. Okay, Ms. Anthony you can take a seat back at the bleacher and we'll announce when it's time for your next battle, and Ms. Waterflower you can go through those doors-" he pointed to a pair of large steel doors at one end of the battlefield "-and shower. Please leave the training clothes in a basket by the exit on your way out."

"Thanks," she muttered, walking towards the doors. Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine how she would break the news that she didn't make it through her fourth battle in to her _Pokémon Champion boyfriend_.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So you don't think we have a right to know?" screamed David. His face was red and he was breathing heavily, but he showed no signs of letting up on his verbal assault. "We're the ones who actually run this organization! We're the ones who sign _your_ paycheck, but you don't think we should know that Team Rocket's trying to recreate Mewtwo?"

"Listen," Cynthia said, holding out her arms in a feeble attempt to calm the man down. "We didn't think it would help to tell you in the corporate side what was going on because there isn't enough proof, like Ash told you earlier. We _know _that this is happening, and that Giovanni is the mastermind behind this plan, but since there's no concrete evidence, we have to work within the system to stop them from taking over."

"How do you work within the system to stop a criminal syndicate from taking over?" he asked incredulously. "What we need is concrete evidence so we can turn them over to the police. If you have spies in Team Rocket, just get them to steal some documents or something."

"It's not that simple. Do you remember what happened when we tried to take down Team Rocket in court eleven years ago? They killed everyone who they thought were spies. Some weren't, but they got everyone we had planted, and since then it's been impossible to get our guys past the grunt level without putting them at full risk."

"Well we have to do something! If you're right, then we can't let this go on. I think we should go out there and tell the press."

"What would that do? We don't have any proof, and you'd instantly put all of our lives in danger for nothing. We need to work within the system."

He shook his head. "That's not gonna work. It doesn't make any sense."

"It worked when I beat Paul in the Championship," Ash noted, interrupting their dialogue. "I mean, we knew there was no way to stop the battle from happening, so we prepared for it the best we could. That's what we need to do now too."

"How can we stop it from happening now?" His voice was lowered, but he was still flushed from anger and confusion.

"By passing this law," Cynthia stated, pointing to the papers on the desk. "If you sign this into effect, then the deal is off, right?"

He shook his head. "I received specific instructions from President Goodshow himself to not pass anything without his express consent until the deal was completed."

"Then we'll need his consent. Let's just call him and explain what's happening," Ash said.

Cynthia seemed to consider the option for a moment. "I guess we don't have any other choice." She pressed an almost-invisible wood-stained button near the edge of the desk and a video monitor rose from the top of the table suddenly. "I'll explain this to him the best I can."

"Actually, I better do this," David volunteered, walking around the desk to face the monitor. "I'm still in shock myself, but it will probably make more sense for me to talk since I'm the one who needs to sign-off on it."

Ash and Cynthia nodded. "I guess we could go back out there. The break's gone on way longer than expected and I think they're getting anxious," Cynthia noted. "You up for taking more questions?"

"Yeah." He was about to pick up a sleeping Pikachu up from the plush carpeting. The Pokémon had been resting after remaining glued to his shoulder for over two hours, but Cynthia shook her head.

"Why don't you just leave him here? I think he needs a break from all the politics." She gave a small smile and Ash laughed a little, looking at the small mouse creature snoring lightly and mumbling his name.

"I think you're right."

The two walked back out and Ash took the stage.

"I'm sorry for the long delay, but there was some…business that we had to take care of and discuss. Are there any more questions for me about this bill?"

A dozen more hands shot up in the air, and Ash used all of his willpower to not groan directly into the podium's microphone.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Fully washed and re-dressed, Misty threw the shiny training clothes into a bin at the exit door and walked out the back and directly to her vehicle. Around her she saw a few other trainers, some with their parents, and they all seemed as somber as she did. The entire place was eerily quiet, and the only light now came from the fluorescent lighting of the street lamps.

Getting into her car, she turned the ignition and quickly backed out. Getting away from the lot, she sped down the highway towards her hotel for the night, complete silence ringing in her ears. Even her thoughts fell silent as she raced along. It felt as if this were almost a dream. Like she'd wake up any minute and find herself in bed the day before the actual tournament.

Pulling into the hotel garage, she parked and made a brisk pace towards her reserved room. Once inside, she shut the door, laid down, and stared at the ceiling for a few moments.

Then, she began to cry.

All the aggravation just seemed to unleash itself upon her fragile emotional state at once as she laid there. It all suddenly felt too real. She was supposed to be one of the best water trainers in the world, yet she couldn't pass the fourth battle? How could she have sent her sisters away to be trained when she was in this condition?

She suddenly felt a rush of feelings at once. Sadness, of course, at the loss, but also an array of other sentiments. She was embarrassed that she didn't last longer, she was ashamed at her arrogance for not thinking to train in preparation, and she was just angry; not at any particular person or thing, but just the world in general.

All of these emotions ran their course through her body, like a virus, and with every teardrop that cascaded down the sides of her face, she felt the pain grow more real. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried after losing a battle, but it just seemed like so much had depended upon that loss. Now she was without a way to get into college, a way to make her name known, and most importantly, her pride.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So we can set up a special board to monitor gym repair spending then?"

"Of course. It's actually already there in section six of the bill," Ash answered, pointing to his copy of the document. "Where it says that a commission can be appointed for overseeing expenditures."

"Excuse me." David suddenly emerged from the door, over an hour after Ash had retaken the stage. "I need to see Mr. Ketchum for a moment. Let's take one more break and then we can go ahead and bring this to a vote."

Again, a tidal wave of discussion followed the announcement of a break, and Ash walked back into the office. Pikachu was still resting near the desk, and the President was standing behind it.

"Well, I explained to Mr. Goodshow about what's happened and about what you and Cynthia explained to me…"

"And?" Ash asked anxiously.

"And he said that we need to pass this bill to discontinue the corporate takeover," he answered, looking down.

"That's great to hear!" Ash pumped his fist excitedly. "Now we're helping the gym leaders and we're stopping Team Rocket from taking over the Sinnoh League!"

Taking a deep breath, the President shook his head. "If I were you I wouldn't get too excited just yet. He also had quite a few concerns about you and the other champions keeping this information secret from us for so long…I've actually never seen him mad before, but he was pretty angry."

Cynthia suddenly walked through the door. "So what's the news?"

"He's said we can pass the bill," David answered.

"Yeah, but Mr. Cornell says he's mad at us for not telling him about this before now." Ash added.

Cynthia's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Really? I've never seen Goodshow mad before. What did he say to you?"

"He said he wants to speak with you two immediately at his office at Indigo Plateau, along with Steven and Lance." The Sinnoh League President looked at the two trainers with a serious gaze. "I'm not sure, but I think he's considering revoking your Champion statuses."

"What?" Ash cried, shocked. "What are you talking about? No one can just take away a Champion's status except for the Master, right?"

"Remember, the Master owns exactly half of the Pokémon League, and the President of the League owns the other half. Legally, they both have the same power. Of course, Cynthia doesn't need to worry about this, but you, Ash, should probably start preparing some kind of an apology."

"He can't do this!"

Cynthia placed a hand on Ash's shoulder in reassurance. "Don't worry, Ash. In the two hundred year history of the League, a President has never stripped a champion of their title. I doubt we'll start now. Besides, you weren't even aware that we didn't tell the corporate side about this." She looked at the President. "We made that decision a few years ago. It just seemed like telling your side had the risk of leaking information we had to the press. We don't need the syndicates knowing how much of their plans we understand and don't get."

"Well, whatever the reason, you'll need to appear in front of him tomorrow morning."

"Morning?" Ash looked at the clock on the wall. "It's already evening time."

"We've chartered a plane for you two." He pointed to the telephone monitor. "But before you leave, we need to bring this to a vote. It'll be close, since most of my assistants in the audience were told to vote against the measure no matter what, but I think you have enough leaders in the crowd to win, and I'll sign it."

With a much more sober attitude leaving than he had coming in, Ash took the stage one last time, with Cornell by his side.

"We will now begin the voting procedure."

"Finally!" shouted someone from the gym leaders' side. A few snickers arose from the response, but all fell silent as the President raised his hand.

"Now, under everyone's seat is a small voting device that has two buttons. Push the button that says 'yes' if you want to vote the measure proposed by Champion Ketchum into effect, and vote 'no' if you do not." He stood to the side and pushed the button on a small remote he had hidden in his pocket. Suddenly, the window behind the podium turned into a large screen with the words "yes" and "no" on it. "Your votes will be tallied up here, and we'll see if the measure passed voting procedure."

A few seconds passed, with hundreds of buttons being clicked, and then the President took the podium once again. "Alright, assuming everyone has voted we will now see if the measure has been passed or not." He pushed another button on the remote and numbers filled the screen. 103 appeared next to the "yes", and a 98 appeared next to the "no".

In reality, Ash was surprised that it was still so close, even with the President's assistants, but none the less he gave a small smile seeing that the majority had been won. Unfortunately for the leaders and the others in the audience unaware of the President's stance on the position, the vote meant little. Overriding a veto required three-fourths of the voters, and the numbers certainly didn't support that kind of overhaul, so the theater remained relatively quiet as everyone waited with bated breath to hear David's ruling on the matter.

"A couple of years ago," he began, "Cynthia, now the former Champion of SInnoh, came to us and proposed this same concept: the idea that gym leaders needed payment for gym repair. At the time, we mocked the concept. Such an idea had been unheard of up to that point, and the need for that plan seemed unnecessary. Now, however, we've seen this plan implemented in both Johto and Kanto where, as Champion Ketchum has shown, it has been met with resounding success. Gym leaders, as he's also pointed out, are a valuable part of this franchise, and without their constant devotion for their craft, the Pokémon League wouldn't exist as we know it. That is why I have decided that this bill should indeed be signed and made effective immediately at the beginning of the next business quarter."

"Woo-hoo!" Byron shouted immediately, holding up his sign with Ash's face painted upon it. Though it took a second for those around him, everyone who supported the bill soon began celebrating too. Seeing them all so happy also helped Ash, at least for the moment, forget about his own new problems and just feel glad to see he'd been able to do it. Pikachu ran out of the open office door and up the stage.

"It looks like we did it, buddy," he complimented. He shook the small Pokémon's paw, and laughed a little as the yellow mouse yawned in response. "I bet you're tired after all the help you were with this."

"Pika-pikachu," responded the Pokémon happily, climbing up his arm.

"You ready?" David approached the champion from behind.

Ash nodded, still smiling. "Let's go!"

As they closed the door behind them, Ash saw the papers of his proposal sitting on the desk. Again, he realized, without Misty none of this would have been possible. She had even helped him in writing the proposal, using exact language to insure avoidance of loopholes, and she made sure it sounded like an "official law", as she put it.

Reaching for the pen, the President flipped through the document to the last page, where two lines awaited his and the champion's signatures. Signing his name quickly, he flipped the packet around to Ash's side and gave him the pen. "Your turn."

Ash happily took the writing utensil and sketched his name across the bottom of the page, ending the "m" of his last name with a flourish that crossed the "t".

"It's official," David noted, putting out his hand and shaking Ash's. "Congratulations on getting your first bill proposed as Champion passed." He took the pen back and placed it in its special upright holder on the desk.

"You and Cynthia will have to leave immediately," he suddenly interjected, quickly reminding Ash of his new dilemma. A frown reemerged across the champion's face. "We have a helicopter waiting for you on the roof. It will take you to the airport south of the city and you'll take a chartered flight to Viridian from there."

"Do you think he could actually take away my Champion title?" Ash asked, completely serious.

"Pika?" This was the first Pikachu had heard of such a thing.

"I don't know, to be completely honest," answered the President. "He said he was considering it when we talked on the phone, but that may have just been his rare temper flaring up. If it's any consolation, I certainly hope he doesn't. While I'm no fan of this law, it's clear that your dedication to the League is real, and you obviously care about the people who work for you. I'd hate to lose that in my counterpart."

"Thanks," Ash said, still frowning as he began to consider life as an excommunicated champion. Not only would something like this soil his image forever, but it would devastate everyone he knew.

_Especially Misty_.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Do ya think the Boss'll get suspicious when we don't call 'im?" Meowth inquired, floating around the pool in an inner tube.

"I'm sure he will," answered Jessie, bouncing a beach ball back and forth with James, "but that's why we're leaving as soon as we talk to the twerpette. After she knows she's in trouble, we can get out of here."

"I'm still a little worried about what will happen to us, Jess," James mentioned, punching the beach ball back towards her. "I mean, Giovanni is a pretty mean guy. Where do you think we should hide to get away from him?"

"Hm," she tapped her chin. "I haven't really thought of that yet. Wherever we go, we'll need to make sure we blend in so we can stay in hiding until this all blows over."

"That won't be easy to do with a talking Meowth," reminded James.

The cat-like Pokémon eyed him darkly. "Well it's not like da two of ya could make it without me. Besides I can just meow if someone's around to cover up my identity."

"Maybe we could go to the twerp's hometown," offered Jessie. "What's the name of that place again?"

James reflected for a moment. "You know, I don't remember. But maybe you're right. It's a really small place, and I bet Giovanni would never look there."

"Are you two nuts?" Meowth questioned. "A small town is where we'll stick out like sore t'umbs! We need to go to a big city like Celadon to stay away from da Boss."

"But Giovanni has bases in all of the big cities in Kanto," Jessie reminded. "We won't be able to stay long without someone recognizing us."

"Why don't we just leave Kanto altogether?" James asked. "I mean, Team Rocket's only strong in Kanto and Johto. We could move to Hoenn…I've always loved the beach after all."

"I like cold weatha'. Let's go to Sinnoh!" Meowth offered.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "How do you propose we do that without any money? We'll need to stay here at least a little while if we want enough to travel. And James is right, Hoenn's better."

Meowth gave a "hmph", and James smiled. "So the plan is to find a job, get enough money, and travel to Hoenn?"

"Yeah, but that still doesn't help with where we should hide out here," Jessie reminded. "I mean-"

"How about I help you out?" an eerily familiar voice asked from the doorway to the pool.

Looking over, all three were instantly shocked to silence as they watched Mallory step into the light of the battle arena. She held a gun at arm's length. "Could I suggest the bottom of the ocean?" She gave them a cold smile and cocked the pistol.

* * *

Author's Notes: So what did you think? People keep asking if Misty's going to die, and I keep telling them that I can't tell, but I will say this…something big is going to happen. This is definitely not going to be a clean break kind of story where all the good guys get out alive and well, and the bad guys are locked up so…yeah. Get ready for that.

Anyway, as many of you know, I keep my love for Pokémon a secret from everyone in the free world that doesn't read this story. However, sometimes I see something Pokémon-related and I want to talk about it. This is one of those times:

Pokémon Best Wishes has started in English now! I've watched the first two episodes online (I can't get up for cartoons on Saturdays anymore…I don't have the will like I did ten years ago), and I think they were actually pretty good. The truth is I didn't like Sinnoh much because it felt like the entire Pokémon anime was in a rut. I mean, we all knew the pattern. Ash left with Brock and Pikachu, picked up a girl (and her brother in May's case), went to the League and lost. However, now it looks like they're changing things up, and this really started in Sinnoh with the Sinnoh League. Ash made it all the way to the semi-finals this time! (Never done before) And not only did he make it that far, he also defeated TWO LEGENDARY Pokémon! It looks like the writers are intent on continuing this pace of change too, since in the new Best Wishes series, he's going without Brock for the first time.

Despite this change though, I read something that interests me even more. Some people are calling this series a "reboot" of the Pokémon anime (including the writers). This news has led some to claim that this means that Best Wishes is kind of an alternate universe for the anime. Basically, they're saying that after his Kanto (and maybe Orange Islands) adventure(s), in this universe he went to Unova instead of Johto with Brock and Misty. At first it didn't make sense to me, but actually the evidence is pretty compelling. First, as stated, is that the writers are calling this a reboot of the series, which implies a kind of restart. Also, in the first few episodes at least, only Ash's Kanto adventures and Pokémon have been mentioned. There's been no talk of his previous adventures or people he's met on those adventures. Also, this anime just follows the Kanto arc a lot in style and script. They use a lot of the older music in the background, and Ash seems pretty inexperienced (and not like a coach as he's been the last two regions). He actually had to be told to battle a Pokémon before capturing it again, and the writers have said that they're speeding up the episode progression to be "more like the Kanto series". It took only 72 episodes to get through Kanto, yet in Sinnoh it was almost that long a space between the time he got his seventh and eighth badge! And, of course, the most compelling evidence is the fact that for the first time since the first episode, his age was mentioned in BW's first scene, and the narrator mentions he is ten STILL. This would make sense if this is just after Kanto and the Orange Islands since it was mentioned it only took about a year for him to go through all of that, but anymore than those two arcs would make this impossible.

Of course, I know that this is an anime, and consistency isn't always a prime goal, but personally, as a devoted fan, I think I'll stick with this logic until it's fully disproven. I actually like the idea of just restarting Ash's adventures, and truthfully this helps a lot with the consistency of this story (since I only have to ignore the last few episodes of the Sinnoh arc instead of an ongoing series).

Well, that's about it. Sorry for rambling, but I wanted to just give my thoughts, and frankly, if you didn't want to read this you could have exited this page at any time (just saying).

Later Days!


	43. Falling Dreams

**Hey Everybody!** Here it is! A week late (plus a few extra days because the site's server wasn't allowing authors to update stories), but at least I made up for that by giving you an extra long chapter this time, right? This is actually the first chapter in about three months that I've written which crosses over 10,000 words by itself, so hopefully it will refuel your batteries and appetite for this story. Before you scroll down, I want to mention that I've begun some review replies, but didn't get to them all (there were an awful lot), so I hope that if you weren't replied to you won't begrudge me a review for this chapter because I fully intend on answering all comments made concerning this installment.

Also before you read, I'd like to mention something else. My devoted fan and great friend from this site,** Pokemon-Princess.8**, took time from her busy schedule to look this latest chapter over for me before I uploaded it. She found a few glaring mistakes both in grammar and imagination that needed my attention before I presented this latest installment to all of you, so I gladly give her credit for making this chapter what I truly believe it is; a great one.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn't just go ahead and dedicate this chapter to PP8 after giving her such accolades…or maybe you couldn't care less and just want to read the story…

Anyway, the reason she didn't get the dedication is because someone else this week has already claimed it. **EchidnaPower **has been writing his awesome fic, "AAML: Diamond and Pearl version", for exactly one year. He just updated again today, and I think we should all take a moment applaud this author (and REVIEW HIS STORY IF WE HAVEN'T ALREADY AND I'M NOT SURE WHY I'M STILL TYPING IN CAPS SINCE I ALREADY MADE MY POINT) because, believe me, holding such dedication to a story which sucks away so much free time and ultimately pays no dividend beyond providing happiness to a few thousand faceless readers is no easy feat. Even more impressively, perhaps, is the fact that his story currently beats mine in the total number of chapters and words. That means that he's written about a hundred more pages of his fanfic within a year than I have in about 20 months…that's truly awesome, and deserving of much more than some tiny shout-out in my author's notes, but that's all I can do. You, the readers, though, can do much more. Please, please, read his story and give him your thoughts. Like I said, he's put so much time and work into his story, yet mine still boasts a significant (and unfair) majority of reviews. Let's continue to encourage his great work so he continues to contribute it to the site. We need as much good AAML on here as we can get!

Alright, now I'm done. Don't forget to read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

"Ugh." Misty threw her cell phone in disgust. She'd been trying to call Ash since eleven, but had yet to get a hold of him.

_They can't still be voting, can they?_ She decided to check the news. Something this big had to be getting media attention.

Flipping through the first few channels on the small hotel T.V., she quickly found what she was looking for as she watched footage of several gym leaders celebrating as they left the conference room. The clip was then followed by a segment of a speech the Sinnoh League President gave to the press after the voting was over, discussing how the new law would change things.

_Looks like it passed,_ she noted happily. At least _something _good had happened today.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to get an interview with the actual proposer of the bill which was passed today, Champion Ash Ketchum," noted a reporter. She had a flurry of celebration going on behind her. "He apparently gave a small speech and took questions for about three hours to get this bill passed, and was clearly successful, but our sources tell us he and former Sinnoh Champion Cynthia were rushed out of the room right after the vote and to the roof where they took a helicopter to an unknown location. The reason why is also unknown at this point."

Misty was shocked. This explained why she hadn't heard back from her boyfriend, but it unleashed a deluge of new questions. As new reporters began discussing the significance of the event, Misty walked into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face, washing her tear-ridden eyes, as she wondered what could have caused both Ash _and_ Cynthia to leave so abruptly after such a victory.

Looking in the mirror, she stuck her tongue out in disgust, temporarily forgetting the raven-haired champion. She'd cried for a solid hour, and her eyes appeared terribly bloodshot. Spending all day in the sun had done little to help her too, as she noticed the redness of her cheeks and the back of her neck.

She walked out of the bathroom and picked her phone off of the floor. _If they're in a helicopter, maybe he can't hear his phone._ She still wanted to congratulate him and, of course, discuss the terrible turn her day had taken. However, she was completely drained emotionally and physically, and now that she knew where he was, she decided it would be best to save any conversation for the morning. Sending him a quick text, she dropped the phone on her nightstand next to the bed and climbed beneath the sheets. Reaching for the remote, she turned off the television and then snapped the lamp off as well.

As she stared at the dark ceiling, listening to the normal rumbles of a large city at night, she felt her eyelids grow heavy. Her final thoughts drifted between her loss and Ash's victory.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_Ash, please call me in the morning! I need to talk to you. Congratulations on the bill!_

Ash read the message as he stepped off the helicopter pad and walked with Cynthia towards the sleek white passenger jet waiting to whisk the pair off to Indigo Plateau. He saw that his girlfriend had called at least twenty times before sending the text, and his first reaction was to hit the "re-call" button.

_She might be asleep, though, _he realized. _Probably why she said to wait till morning._ He felt a little bad that he'd missed her calls, though it wasn't his fault. He was sure she wanted to talk to him about her great battles that day, and his heart ached a little at the fact he couldn't be there to celebrate with her after his win was followed by gym leaders cheering his name.

_As soon as I get back, we'll go on a celebration date, _he thought with a smile as he climbed the jet's stairway. Hopefully that would make up for his lack of attendance in the redhead's eyes.

"So what are you thinking about, Ash?" Cynthia asked as the two sat across from each other in the well-kept plane. The plush interior, complete with wooden lining and leather seats, barely caught Ash's attention though. He was beginning to grow accustomed to the rather accommodating furnishings of the League.

He shook his head as the motor began to whir. "I'm not sure what to think. I mean, we didn't really do anything wrong, right? He can't just take away my champion status."

"Well, he could," Cynthia replied honestly as the jet took off down the runway, slowly making its ascent. "I mean, he owns the Pokémon League so he can technically do whatever he wants."

Ash's worried face caused her to backtrack a little.

"I mean he could, but he won't. I didn't mean to sound like he's going to fire you or something. My point is that he has the power, but you're right that you didn't do anything wrong, and it would look bad on his part to just get rid of-"

She was interrupted by the sound of her own cell phone ringing noisily. Looking surprised, she reached into her pocket and answered.

"Hello?...Yes…Really? Why do you think…Oh…Alright then. I guess we'll see you there too."

She ended the call and Ash gave her a curious glance. He knew it wasn't his business, but he wondered who would be calling the former champion at this time of night.

As if reading his thoughts, she gave him a sad smile. "That was Steven, he just said he got an angry message from Goodshow telling him to meet with us tomorrow morning."

Before Ash could respond, his phone suddenly began to ring. He looked at the number. "It's Lance," he noted, answering.

"Ash, it's me. I just wanted to call really quick and tell you I got some weird message from Goodshow. He sounded kinda mad."

Ash nodded. "I know. We're on our way to Indigo right now."

"Good. He mentioned Team Rocket, and said that you told him about what had happened with Giovanni. Is that true?"

Ash blushed a little and squirmed in his seat. "Uh, yeah, kinda. I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"Don't be," Lance interrupted sharply. "It's time he knew about all of this anyway. I live here, but he wants me to meet with him at the same time the rest of you do tomorrow, so I guess I'll see you then."

"Uh, Lance?" The dragon champion sounded like he was in a hurry, but Ash's curiosity got the better of him.

"Yeah, Ash."

"Do you think he'd take away our Champion statuses?"

Despite the slightly edged tone the Kanto Champion's voice held before, the question seemed to break him from his worry as he let out a laugh over the receiver. "Ash, I can almost promise you that won't happen. No champion has ever been fired by the League President before, and I can't imagine it'll start with us. Remember, we were just trying to keep things under control and didn't want to worry him with trivial stuff like Team Rocket. It's not like we were trying to take over the world or killed somebody or something."

Ash smiled a little at the consolation. Lance was normally a pretty serious person, and to hear him find something so ridiculous calmed him a little.

"Besides," the red-haired trainer continued, "if he did fire anyone, it'd be me, since I came up with this whole idea years ago. You didn't even know we were keeping it a secret from him, so you're okay no matter what happens. Now, I gotta go. Steven and I have been tracking Team Rocket pretty closely the last few days, and apparently the boss just left his hideout a few hours ago. Something big might be happening, but I can't be sure."

Ash nodded. "I hope you catch him!"

Lance gave another, half-hearted, laugh. "Catching him's not the problem. Catching him in the act is."

With that, the line cut off, surprising Ash a little. Across from him, Cynthia rolled her eyes.

"He always does that. I don't know why he refuses to say goodbye on the phone ever, but he just hangs up whenever he feels he's done talking."

Ash laughed a little. "He said that we don't need to worry about our statuses being taken away."

Cynthia shrugged. "That's what I said, remember? We're gonna be fine. I doubt we'll get more than a small slap on the wrist for this."

Nodding, the Sinnoh Champion looked out the window of the jet. The bright moon lit the tops of the clouds, and the stark contrast between the dark of the night sky with the brightness of the condensed water vapor struck him as quite scenic. Slowly, he felt himself begin to nod off.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

In the morning, Misty felt a little better, but not much. She jumped into the shower, and then quickly dressed and went downstairs for the continental breakfast. She munched on a couple of pieces of toast and chased them with orange juice as she watched a small television mounted in the corner of the room. A local newsman was giving his thoughts on the preliminary scholarship tournament, which was about to continue for its second day, and the redhead grimaced as her small profile picture was read off as one of the "losers" from yesterday.

However, what hurt almost as bad was hearing Elizabeth's name read soon after hers. As if losing wasn't bad enough, apparently the girl who'd defeated her was subsequently knocked out of the competition in one of the proceeding rounds.

_Who could've beaten that Dragonite?_

Sighing at the news, she stood up, took her plate and glass to the dish counter and went back upstairs. Fortunately, she didn't have too much packing to get done, and before long she was back on the road and headed to Cerulean. She decided that she would wait for Ash to call her since it was still early, and she was sure he wouldn't purposefully ignore her text.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Cynthia was already by the front doors when Ash stepped out of the elevator, Pikachu on his shoulder.

"You ready to go?" she asked as he neared.

He smiled and gave her a nod. "I think so. I remember Mr. Goodshow from a few years ago, and he seemed really nice. If you and Lance are right, then I guess there really isn't any reason to worry."

She smiled too. "Then let's go. We'll meet Lance and Steven outside the building."

Walking into the sunshine, Ash immediately took notice of the startling quiet. "Wow, I guess this place is pretty dead when the League competition isn't going on, huh?"

"That and the contest festivals," Cynthia noted.

Ash and Pikachu looked around the deserted city as the three made their way to a large glass building with a pokéball-shaped roof in the distance. He saw many familiar sights from the last time he came here years before with May, Max, and Brock for the Grand Festival, and they even passed the Pokémon League Village he, Misty, and Brock had stayed the first, and last, time he competed here.

"Does it bring back some memories?" Cynthia asked as she caught him gazing at some of the small village houses.

He nodded. "My first Pokémon League competition was right here." He pointed to one of the small duplexes near the concrete sidewalk they were walking down. "That was where me, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock stayed. We were living with about ten other trainers, and I remember how excited everyone was right before the battles began."

"I remember that feeling too. I was actually eleven when I tried to win the Sinnoh League the first time myself, and we had almost the exact same set-up then…of course, like you, it took me a few more tries before I finally won."

He looked in the distance and saw the behemoth metallic stadium. "And there's where my battles were. That was so fun. Remember, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" agreed the small mouse Pokémon.

"I was so nervous right before I stepped out into the crowd," recalled Ash as they continued to make their way towards the building. "I remember my hands wouldn't stop shaking. I had always dreamed about battling in front of a big crowd and everything, but it's different when you actually do it for the first time."

Cynthia laughed. "I was almost sick right before my League battle. In retrospect it seems silly, but when you're young and it's your first time, there's nothing scarier."

The two laughed, and continued the chit-chat as they drew closer to the building. When they finally arrived, the two walked through the sliding front doors and were met by a complete contrast to the outside. Hundreds of businessmen and women were walking around the main floor of the building, holding briefcases and talking on cell phones.

"Let's go," Cynthia said, grabbing Ash by the arm and pushing her way through the waves of people, making a beeline to a series of golden elevators at the other end of the lobby.

"Excuse me, but we have to get through," she told several people who were waiting in line for one of the lifts. "We have urgent business with Mr. Goodshow."

"Oh wow, it's the Sinnoh Champions," one woman noted, still holding a cell phone to her ear. Others in the line quickly noticed the pair and they quickly shuffled out of the way. Pikachu, Cynthia, and Ash all hurriedly made their way onto the elevator as soon as the door opened, and the former champion punched in the top floor button. A few others jumped in as well and they were soon making their way up the shaft.

The elevator stopped twice to let people off, and after the small compartment was emptied, the trio made their way to the top. When the small bell rang, the trainers walked out, and were greeted by a secretary sitting outside an office, a small blue couch perpendicular to her desk.

"Ah, yes," she said, looking up at the three. "Please wait outside here. President Goodshow would like to talk to all four of you at once." Her voice was neither pleasant nor threatening, but its lack of spirit worried Ash. He wondered what Goodshow had been saying about them.

Taking a seat, the three sat in relative quiet for a few moments, the only sound the clacking keys of a keyboard as the older woman continued her daily labor. However, just as Ash began wracking his brain for something to say to break the silence, the elevator door opened, and Steven and Lance stepped out together. Ash noticed they looked quite tired.

"I'll tell President Goodshow that you are waiting for him," the secretary remarked, looking up again to find the champions walking out. Leaving her desk and entering his office, the four looked at each other.

"You guys look terrible," Cynthia noted from her seat. "Did you ride Metagross all the way here Steve?" Indeed, the steel trainer's hair looked completely disheveled, and his normally well-pressed suit was quite wrinkled.

_It looks like he's slept in it, _Ash thought.

Lance didn't look much better. Though his hair and clothes, cape included, appeared presentable, there were dark circles under his eyes.

The Hoenn champion shook his head. "You know how we were getting information that Team Rocket was planning something big?" He didn't wait for a response. "It looks like they're starting it now. I called everyone in the league to be on their guard, but it's nerve-wracking."

"We spent all night on the phone trying to figure out what they could be up to," Lance added. "I thought we had more time, but one of the grunts we have in place called yesterday afternoon and told me that Giovanni had left his office for the first time in a week with Mallory. Since we don't know who he's targeting, it's just a waiting game right now."

"He'll see you now," the woman said, coming out of the office.

Nodding, the four all walked through the door. In front of his sizable desk, four chairs awaited their arrival.

Motioning to the chairs, the short, older man asked them to take a seat. "This shouldn't take long."

Ash was almost surprised, despite the seriousness of the meeting, to see Goodshow with a frown on his face. He'd met the older man a few times in his younger days as a trainer, and the President of the Pokémon League never struck him as someone who could get very angry. However, the fire in his eyes was quite noticeable as he looked at each of the advanced trainers sitting before him, and Ash gulped when his dark brown eyes grazed his and Pikachu's figures.

After a stiff moment of silence, he cleared his throat and began to speak.

"I know that relations between corporate and gym leaders has always been…tenuous, at best, but when I received a call from David yesterday telling me that Team Rocket owned and operated Goodwill Management, it dawned upon me that the distrust for corporate doesn't stop with the leaders, apparently."

Lance sighed a little, but Goodshow took no notice of it.

"I also know that a lot of the trainers in the Pokémon League, yourselves included, believe that you are the most important part of this organization. I've heard it many times before as President from many trainers just as powerful, if not more so, than you. After all, the Pokémon League is about safe, competitive Pokémon battling, and you are the ones to do that battling." He took a breath and let the words sink in as he took a drink of water.

"However," he continued, "let me remind you that the Pokémon League is, above all else, a company. And like any company, it's only as successful as the people who run it. You all get to have the fun. You make a lot of money and get to travel the world battling, while suits like myself-" he motioned to the dark suit he currently adorned, which seemed to Ash a little out of place with the long ponytail tied behind his head, "-have to sit at our desks and make sure all the merchandise is sold, all the child trainers are tracked, all of the competitions take place, etc. Without us, there is no Pokémon League, and the fact that you, the Champions of my four regions, would disrespect me in such a way simply because I'm not a trainer such as yourselves is truly hurtful."

"Excuse me sir," Lance interjected as the old man took another breath, "I never meant to be disrespectful to you. You see, this was all my idea several years ago."

Goodshow's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "Why would you hide such important information from me?"

"It wasn't because we didn't like you, or anyone in corporate for that matter," he explained. "Back when Steven and I created the G-Men, we decided that it wouldn't be smart of us to make any information we discovered known to anyone who didn't belong to the group…you remember what happened eleven years ago."

Ash's ear perked at that last part. The day before, Cynthia had mentioned the same incident.

Mr. Goodshow sighed and looked down for a moment, remembering the event. "We didn't want to take the risk of exposing our information. We didn't hide what we know because we don't trust the Corporates. It's because we don't trust anyone outside of our group…even other trainers and leaders," Lance explained.

"That still doesn't excuse your reckless behavior. Do you realize if that law hadn't passed yesterday, Team Rocket would be on their way to owning the Sinnoh League? If your information is correct, we could have had an entirely new Mewtwo Incident on our hands…and we barely survived the last one."

Steven nodded and responded for the group. "How about from now on we fill you in on all new info we gather? You can be a member of the G-Men, and when you hear something that you fear might affect the League, you can contact us for more information."

"That's certainly a start, but I'm afraid that there must be consequences for what's been done." His face kept its serious appearance, but Ash could note a small sliver of remorse in his voice. "I don't take special pleasure from doing this, because until now I've felt close to all of you. Especially you, Ash."

The Sinnoh Champion's head, as well as Pikachu's, snapped at the mention. "Me, sir?"

"Yes. I still remember the first time I met you six years ago. Even then, I knew you would make something of yourself in this Pokémon League, and I was positive of it the night before the Indigo Plateau Conference began. Every evening before the start of a new competition, I like to go into the stadium and enjoy the quiet for a moment, but that night I saw_ you_ out there on the battlefield. More importantly, though, I saw the determination and fire in your eyes." He gave the Champion a quick, sad smile. "I guess being in the League this long has given me the ability to see great potential from early on."

Ash blushed a little. "Thank you, sir."

"However, I can't allow you all to continue serving as my League Champions if I can't trust you. You're the ambassadors to my different Leagues, and if you're holding out on vital information, or if I think you are, then this relationship simply won't work."

"Sir, we've said we'll share all information with you from now on, though," Steven reminded, his voice reflecting a little worry at what Goodshow was saying.

The President shook his head. "That doesn't matter if I can't trust my advisors. Effective immediately, the three of you are suspended, and Cynthia's former Champion status is also suspended. I am trying to get in touch with Steven and Cynthia's predecessors as well, but their statuses are also in jeopardy."

Ash's jaw felt as if it might hit the floor, and by the stony silence from his colleagues, he was sure they felt the same shock. He'd expected a slap on the wrist, as Cynthia had suggested would happen, but this felt like a full-on punch to the jaw.

"Now, of course, a suspension doesn't mean you're fired…yet," the President continued after a moment. "As you probably know, a League President has never fired a Champion before, and I'm hoping it won't come to that now. In the next few weeks, I will have each of you sit down with our board of directors and explain your redeemable qualities, and we will then decide at a later date whether or not to proceed with firing or reinstating you to your prior position. For now though, you are all off the payroll and are no longer able to take challenges for your respective titles."

"I-I can't believe this," Cynthia said simply, finally speaking and breaking the silence. "After all the work we've put in, you're just stripping us of our titles like that? We've worked our whole lives to get where we are, and you suspend us because you want to make a point?" The incredulity in her voice caught Ash's stunned attention.

"She's right," Steven said, standing from his chair. "We already said we'd share info with you, and that it was nothing personal by not telling you. No one knows about this except for you and us. It's not like your authority or image in the public's eye is tarnished by acting like this never happened. So the only reason you could be doing this is because you're just mad."

"I am mad," he answered, his gaze narrowing at the steel-type champion. "I am the most powerful man in the Pokémon League, and yet you decided to just act like I didn't exist. I can't have people in positions of power when I can't trust them."

"You can't trust me?" Lance questioned, joining Steven and Cynthia by standing up. "We go back further than anyone else in this League, but you're saying you don't trust me? What happened to saying you felt close to us?"

"It's hard to maintain that feeling when the people you believed to be your most trusted counterparts effectively betray you."

Lance shook his head. "I think you're blowing this way out of proportion, sir. There was no betrayal here. The G-Men have worked for years without the assistance of anyone outside the organization, and in return we've never divulged the information we gathered unless we had absolute proof of what we discovered. So often we know what the truth is, like with Goodwill Management, but we don't have enough concrete evidence to prove it to the police or even to you. It's safer if we keep things like that secret. By telling anyone else, we're just increasing the chance of information getting leaked to the public."

"I'm not just anyone, though, Lance," Goodshow reminded, furrowing his brow. "I'm your boss."

"So you're willing to strip our titles over this?"

Goodshow shook his head. "Like I said, you'll have your chance to redeem yourself at the board meeting. It will be a good chance for you to explain why you are-"

"Just stop," Steven interrupted, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a Pokédex. "This Pokédex has been with me for years, and has served as my identification as the Hoenn League Champion…I don't want it anymore." He dropped the computer encyclopedia on the wooden desk, eliciting a gasp from the others in the room.

"What are you doing?" Cynthia and Goodshow asked simultaneously.

He ignored the former champion and leaned across the desk to look Goodshow in the eye. "You know, this is the problem with all of you suits. You can never just leave well enough alone, can you? You have to have special board meetings, and call conferences and regulatory statutes in place. I imagine you have paperwork for people who want to use the office bathroom, and I'm sick of it. I'm busy, and I don't have time to take out of my schedule to prove to some snobby board that I'm an excellent champion. My record working under you speaks for itself, and if you don't see that, then I'm done."

Cynthia still looked shocked, but Ash saw Lance begin to nod with what his peer said as he watched the red metallic device hit the wood.

"Good idea, Steven." He pulled out a Kanto Pokédex which Ash noticed looked exactly like his first one. "If you can't trust me, then I can't trust your judgment. I don't want to work for a man who'll fire me over something so trivial." His Pokédex joined Steven's.

There was a brief moment, and everyone eyed Cynthia who, along with Ash and Goodshow, was still seated. However, she quickly stood, and gave the older man a sad look.

"Maybe this is for the best," she said coolly, allowing her small device to fall. "I don't have time to waste with a group that doesn't trust me."

After the clanging of the Pokédex against the hard wood ceased its reverberating throughout the office, all eyes turned to Ash. The old man seemed to be sweating a little at what was taking place, but Ash felt like he was about to suffer a nervous breakdown. Everything was happening so quickly. Just ten minutes ago he was being told that nothing was going to happen, and now three of the four League regions were without Pokémon Champions…and the fourth hung in the balance.

Slowly, he shook his head. "My whole life I've wanted to be a Pokémon Master. It's the dream of a lot of kids, but I worked so hard to get here, and I'm so close…" He looked at Pikachu, who gave him a questioning glance in return. He felt his eyes water in frustration as he looked down, pulling the bill of his cap a little lower.

"How can I give up on that dream?"

For a moment, he felt almost ready to give in to the tears, but a hand on his shoulder took him by surprise.

"This isn't about you, Ash," Cynthia informed gently. "In fact, you shouldn't even be here."

She looked over and across at Goodshow. "You do realize that he was never informed about our secret deal, right? In fact, he's the one that broke the news to Cornell yesterday, not me."

"Really?" Goodshow scratched his beard, with intrigue in his voice. "But I thought this was an agreement between all of you."

Lance shook his head. "Like I said, only the G-Men held this agreement. The other trainers in the League were completely unaware, including Ash."

A small look of relief seemed to overtake the older man's features. "Well then in that case, I don't believe I have any reason to suspend you, Mr. Ketchum. You can continue serving as the Sinnoh Champion."

Ash's head continued to spin from the rollercoaster. First he thought he was in no trouble, and then he was suspended; now he had his job back, but his friends had lost theirs. The tears were gone, but as he looked up at Steven, Lance, and Cynthia, all smiling and giving him reassuring looks, shame began to overtake him.

He stood up.

"Mr. Goodshow, I don't think I could live with myself if I kept my job while they lost theirs. I've wanted to be a Pokémon Master for so long, and your competitions have made me the trainer I am today, but I cannot be the Sinnoh Champion if you're going to fire my friends. These guys have helped me out so much. Cynthia was the first one to tell me about the road to becoming a Master, and they all took time out of their schedules to help me prepare for the battle against Paul, which I won. If it wasn't for them, the Pokémon League might already be in Team Rocket's control."

Slowly, he reached into his jeans' pocket and pulled out his Pokédex, similar in style to Cynthia's. "You can go ahead and count me out too until you let them back in." It fell into the small pile.

There was another quiet moment as the President seemed to examine the four devices from afar.

"How do you plan on explaining that your Champions quit on you all at once?" Lance finally asked, his arms folded. "Not gonna look too good on your part, is it?"

"And who's gonna replace the three of them?" Cynthia asked, motioning to the men around her. "Without them at the helm, you're going to have to figure out who takes the new title."

However, Goodshow remained quiet, and after a few more moments, Steven turned around.

"Let's leave him with his thoughts you three." He headed for the door, with the others following. Before walking out, he turned his head. "If you change your mind and decide to grow up, you know where to reach us."

With that, all four trainers and the Pokémon stepped out of the room. Ash saw the secretary watch on in interest as they made their way to the elevator, but all remained quiet until they were safely inside the compartment and momentarily free of any eavesdropping ears.

"Well…that didn't go well," Lance noted.

The utter simplicity of the statement, coupled with the high tension of the previous moment seemed almost surreal to Ash.

Suddenly, he, along with the others, began to laugh. Though this was, perhaps, the worst thing to happen yet on his journey, Ash couldn't think of anything more appropriate for the situation. He'd possibly lost everything, so what else was there to do?

"Can you believe that old codger?" Steven asked, still chuckling a little. The numbers above the door continued to descend. "I mean, trying to punish _us_ for saving _his _company?"

"The weird thing is that I've always enjoyed talking with President Goodshow," Cynthia said. "I mean, he's always been such a laid-back guy in the past. I never would've imagined he'd get so upset about something like this."

"I bet he's getting chewed out for losing this deal with that company," Lance mentioned. "I mean, the board can't be too happy that he's losing all that money after allowing that law to get passed."

"And he can't even tell them why he did it either," Ash reminded, thinking back to his conversation with David Cornell the day before. "There's no evidence, so he'd just sound crazy bringing it up."

"I say he'll calm down in a few days, and we'll all be back," Steven said, confidence back in his voice. The bell chimed and the door opened before them. "Until then, let's head back to Lance's place to discuss what to do next."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What?" Misty screamed in her vehicle. It took every ounce of focus she had not to veer off the road after hearing Ash's news.

"It's just temporary Mist…I hope."

"How can you no longer be the Sinnoh Champion? Why would you just quit?"

Ash sighed, sitting down on the couch in the Kanto Champion's spare bedroom. He'd asked to talk there so he could have a little privacy as he explained everything to Misty.

"It's really complicated, and it happened really fast, but basically the others were about to get fired for not telling Mr. Goodshow about Team Rocket's plans for taking over the Pokémon League, and so they quit and I decided to quit with them."

Silence met Ash's ear on the other end, and after a moment he asked if she was still on the line.

"Yeah, but I have no idea what you're talking about, Ash," she answered honestly.

He rolled his eyes. Truthfully, he was a little confused as to how he got here himself, and talking about it wasn't something he had looked forward to doing. The situation was frustrating enough without trying to explain it to someone else.

Still, though, this was his best friend and girlfriend, and she deserved to know as much of the truth as he could tell.

"Well, yesterday, during my question and answer segment, President Cornell brought me into this office and explained that we couldn't pass the law because a company was getting ready to buy the Sinnoh League from the Pokémon League, and they didn't want any changes to happen before they bought it."

"Okay," Misty answered, waiting for him to continue.

"So then Cornell told me that the company that wanted to buy the Sinnoh League was called Goodwill Management."

"That sounds familiar."

Ash laughed a little. "It should. That's the name of the company Giovanni told me about when he kidnapped me, remember? It was the one he wanted the League to give their money to so he could recreate a Mewtwo."

"Right! I can't believe it!"

"Neither could I!" Ash responded excitedly. "So I told him that this was a big mistake and told him about how I was kidnapped, and then he said he hadn't heard about any of this, which kinda surprised me. So Cynthia came in and explained what had happened."

"I don't see how any of this would have caused you to quit," Misty mentioned, cutting in.

Ash groaned. "I'm getting there, Mist. So anyway, Cornell then got mad at us and asked how we couldn't have told him before now that all of this had happened. He seemed really upset that it had come so close, and then he called Mr. Goodshow and told him our story. It turns out Lance and the others had never told anyone in the League about what they discovered about Team Rocket."

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah, so Mr. Goodshow said that after the law passed, he wanted to meet us this morning and discuss why we hadn't told him or anyone in the corporate side about what Team Rocket had done with Paul, and why we hadn't told them about Goodwill Management before now. So me and Cynthia got on a plane last night and left for the Indigo Plateau."

"Oh, so that's why the news said you two left in a hurry last night after the vote."

"Uh-huh. We got here this morning, and he seemed pretty upset. He told us that it wasn't fair for us to hide information just because he wasn't a trainer, and then Lance told him it was because he wasn't a G-Men member, and then Goodshow said that we were going to be put on suspension until a board could review our cases and decide whether or not we should keep our titles."

"So then you were suspended, not fired?"

"No," Ash answered, "we weren't. But the others quit anyway."

"Why?"

"Steven was the first one. He said that his record as Champion spoke for itself, and he wasn't going to waste time proving to the board that he deserved to keep his job. Then Lance and Cynthia basically said they didn't wanna work for Goodshow if he didn't trust them, and they put their Pokédexes on his desk."

"And then you quit after them?" the redhead asked.

He paused for a moment. "Not exactly…"

"What happened? Why do you sound like that?"

"You see, I was really worried when this was all happening…it's been my dream to be a Master, and me and you have worked so hard finding and catching all of these Pokémon. It seemed easy for the others to drop their Pokédexes and act like they didn't care, but I think that's because they're not still working toward something like me, you know? It's like they've already done all that they want in the League, so they're ready to leave if they don't like it anymore, but I was really upset when I thought about leaving it all."

Misty's tone turned sympathetic. "I didn't think about it like that…it couldn't have been easy."

"Well, it got even harder because Cynthia stepped up for me and told Goodshow I didn't even know we were keeping that info a secret, and so I shouldn't be punished…and he agreed. He said I wasn't suspended since I wasn't involved."

"…wait. So why did you quit? If your job was still safe, you shoulda just left it alone."

"I couldn't do it, Mist," he answered honestly. "I almost did, though. When he said I wasn't suspended, for a split-second, I was ready to take my job back…but then I looked up."

"Did they look angry with you or something?"

He shook his head. "That's just it. They didn't look mad at all. In fact, they were trying their best to look supportive even though they'd just lost they're titles, and when I saw that I knew I couldn't keep the job."

"I see…" He could tell she was still a little confused.

"Mist, remember that without these guys I wouldn't even be the champion still. They're the ones who trained me for Paul. Without Cynthia, I never would have known about the rules for becoming a Master in the first place. Also, remember what Steven did for your sisters by getting his old friend to teach them how to battle. These people have changed from being people I watched battle on T.V., to some of my best friends in the League."

In the car, Misty gave a slight nod as she suddenly realized how much help the Champions had been the last several months. "I guess you're right…of course, that doesn't help us out much. What are you going to do if he doesn't take you guys back?"

Ash scratched his head. "I'm not sure, but Steven says he almost has to, since it'd be too hard to replace all three of us at once. Remember that Lance holds the Champion title for both Kanto and Johto, so he would actually have four spots to fill. Not to mention how hard it would be to explain to the public, since he has no proof of the Team Rocket thing."

"Well, that is good to hear," she replied, feeling a little better knowing that the others didn't seem too worried about their future. "They've been doing this a long time. If they're not upset, I guess we shouldn't be either. But still, let's just say for a minute that Goodshow doesn't take you back, what do you think you'll do?"

After a pause, he answered. "My whole life has been about getting to the top and becoming a Master, so I don't really know. I mean, I have a lot of money in savings, so it's not like I'm poor or anything…I guess I'll just go to college and get some regular job." He bit his lip hard at the thought of living the rest of his days without the excitement of Pokémon.

"You don't sound too happy at the idea," Misty noted, saddened a little herself at the idea of Ash not being allowed to pursue his dream.

"No, I'm not…but I don't think I would've been able to look at myself in the mirror if I hadn't stuck with the others when they quit. I guess some things are more important than just following your dreams."

Misty smiled a little bit. It seemed like no matter what happened, he always seemed to find some lesson from his life experiences. "I don't think you'll have to give up Pokémon. Even if this doesn't work out, there's still lots of other ways you can battle and hang out with them as a job."

He perked up a little. "How do you think?"

"Well, since you quit, and weren't banned or anything, maybe you could become a gym leader."

"That's true!" The happiness in his voice suddenly returned, and Misty's small smile grew. "I could help you run the Cerulean Gym, even."

Her heart leapt a little at the statement. Though it was silly, this was the first time she'd ever heard him mention their future together, and curiosity pressed her to probe into the statement. "What makes you think I'd let you become the leader of _my_ gym?"

"Oh! Well, uh…" he seemed to search for an answer, "I just figured that after college we would…"

"What? Live in the same city?" She suppressed the laughter threatening to escape. "Why don't you just get your own gym, Ketchum?"

"Well, I mean, aren't we going to still be…you know, together?" he asked sheepishly. She could hear the embarrassment through the speakers. "I thought we could run it together, as a couple."

"Ohhh," she answered, still smirking. "So you think we could run it together? Would you be living in the gym with me too?"

"What?"

"The gym doubles as a home. Would you be living there too?"

"…well, I mean, I guess I probably would. It'd be dumb for me not to, right?"

"So your back-up plan is that when we graduate, we live together and run the gym as a couple?"

He started to smile again as he heard the playfulness of her tone. "Yeah. That's also the plan if I become Champion again, but lose to the Master."

"What's the plan if you _do_ become the Master? Leave me and marry some rich model from Orre?"

"Nah, I'll probably stick with you anyway," he joked. "But speaking of college, how was your first day of battling? I figured I wouldn't be able to reach you yet since you'd still be at the competition. Don't tell me it's already over!"

Misty's good mood was instantly soured by the question. "It is for me," she responded glumly.

"Oh no."

"Yep. It looks like your girlfriend is a loser who has forgotten how to battle." She gripped the steering wheel tighter in frustration at the self-loathing, yet true, statement.

"I doubt that's what happened. There are tons of good trainers that come there every year…this just wasn't your year. You still have another chance, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I should even bother."

His eyes widened in bewilderment. "Why not? Just because you lost a battle?"

"It was only the fourth round in, and some girl with a Dragonite wiped the floor with my Gyarados. I don't think I got a single good hit in. And before that, some guy's Butterfree almost beat Starmie, and after the fight he said that it was one of his weakest Pokémon. Those guys are way too strong!"

"This doesn't sound anything like the Misty I know," Ash responded simply.

"That's because this isn't the Misty you're thinking of, Ash," she answered flatly. "I'm not some little eleven year old stubborn girl…I know when I'm not good enough."

"First of all, you're still _very _stubborn, trust me," Ash assured, half-joking. "But second, you're more than good enough. You're the one who's been my coach all of these years, remember?"

"Oh, Ash, we both know that isn't the truth. I pretty much quit being your coach the day you became Champion."

"That's not true," he argued. "Who motivated me when I found out I was going to battle Paul? Who reminded me that my Pokémon were more than just fighters? Who made me use Pikachu, which saved me in that final battle? You did. You'll always be my coach, Mist, but now you need to take some of your own advice and be confident."

"It's a lot harder to be confident _after_ losing a battle, than before winning it," she reminded.

"That doesn't matter. We've all lost, Mist. What matters is how you deal with it. Do you really believe that any of those trainers there were better than you? Or do you think that you just weren't prepared for them yet?"

She thought for a moment. "I guess if I'd been a little more prepared, I probably woulda done better. I didn't expect them all to be so tough, though!"

"But now you do," he said. "So you can get ready! By April, with a little training, you'll beat anyone who gets in your way!"

Though she was still frowning, she couldn't help but feel a little enthusiastic at his words. After all, he was a champion, right? If anyone could help her prepare for the next competition, it would be him.

"So what do you say, Misty?" he asked a moment later, after not hearing a response. "Do you really wanna give up now?"

She hesitated. "I guess not. If you promise to help with my training, then I'll give it another shot in the spring."

He pumped his fist. "That sounds more like the Misty I know!"

She laughed a little. "Thanks Ash."

"What are boyfriends for?"

"I didn't really know until now," she quipped.

"…hey!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The rest of the day Ash spent wandering around the large estate that was Lance's house. He strolled along the dozens of acres which belonged to the dual-champion, admiring the many creatures which resided therein with Pikachu at his side. As the sun began to set, the two took a break along a wide, fenced area. As he leaned over the wooden frames, watching a herd of Tauros graze in the distance, he heard footsteps behind him.

"So are you heading back to Sinnoh tomorrow?" Lance asked.

Ash nodded. "I guess the League won't be flying me back, so I got tickets for a regular flight."

The two stood in silence for a few moments, watching the sun sink behind Mount Silver in the distance. "I guess that's the right idea. Steven's probably correct about this blowing over in a few days."

"I hope so."

"Have you thought about what you'll do if he isn't, though?" Lance looked questioningly at the trainer beside him. "I mean, if this doesn't just blow over like we think. I don't really know how stubborn ole Goodshow can be."

Ash shrugged. "I talked with Misty about it, and we decided that if I don't get my job back, then we'll just run her gym together." He chuckled a little. "Kinda different from my original plan, but as long as I've got her, I guess it's alright."

"Oh yeah, Waterflower from Cerulean, right?"

Ash nodded.

"Last I checked, their gym wasn't doing too hot. Could probably use some help from a guy like you."

"Yeah."

Another pause.

"Hey Ash?"

"Uh-huh?" He turned to the now former Kanto Champion.

"Thanks for standing with us in there today. I know that wasn't an easy thing for you to do, considering your goals and everything."

Ash gave another nod. "I told Misty that I learned some things are more important than chasing your dreams today. You've all done so much for me, so now it was time I stood up for you."

"Well, I know that you leaving like that certainly surprised him, and now he'll be in the hot seat over how he lost us all in one day. I don't think that's ever happened before…which means you've made League history two days in a row!"

Ash laughed. "That's true!"

"I guess I'll head back in now. You coming?"

"I'll be there in a minute," Ash replied, turning around as Lance began to leave. "Hey, Lance?"

"Yeah, Ash?"

"Why didn't you go for the Master title?" He realized it probably seemed like an odd question to the dragon champion, but it was one he'd pondered on and off since he first became a champion himself.

Lance smiled and walked back to him. "Between you and me? It was because…" He paused for a moment, appearing almost pained to tell the truth. "I knew I couldn't beat Red. That guy destroyed me when he was eleven, and I watched as he traveled around the world. In a matter of two years, he'd collected all the Pokémon he needed, and then took out the previous Master, Rohan, in record time. I was able to win back my champion title after he left it vacant, but I never even thought about going against him again."

"Wow," Ash remarked. "I'd forgotten you'd faced him."

"Well, it was about thirteen years before you were born, so I'm not surprised." Lance smiled. "I was only fifteen at the time, but I still remember that look he gave me when we first shook hands before his final Elite Four battle."

Ash gave him a strange look. "Elite Four? I thought you were the Champion then?"

He shook his head. "I'd already lost to his rival, and had ceded the Champion rank to him, but that match had been close."

"Oh."

"Actually, I was preparing to challenge Blue to a rematch for the rank when Red challenged me. I was sure I could win it back…but after Red took it away from him, I dropped those thoughts. The guy has an almost supernatural connection with his Pokémon."

"You think I stand a chance against him?"

Lance flashed him a quick smile. "I'll put it this way: I haven't felt the same power emanating from a trainer since I met Red…until the day we met."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The next morning, Misty woke up again and readied herself for yet another full day of driving.

_At least I'll have the place to myself for an evening, _she thought cheerily, climbing into the vehicle. Without her sisters there, she could listen to her music as loud as she wanted, and could swim in the pool and play with her Pokémon without hearing them complain about the noise and splashing.

She found herself in a much better disposition all day as she drove across the central to northern Kanto region, and she knew it was because of her conversation the day before with Ash. The knowledge that such a powerful trainer was waiting when she got back to help train her and her Pokémon was enough reason to smile, and she no longer dwelled on the loss. Instead, she blared the radio loudly with the windows down, and pictured bringing her future opponents down in defeat with ease, causing the time to fly by.

In fact, she was almost surprised when she found herself driving into Cerulean city limits.

_Wow, that was quick! _Turning down the street of the gym, she drove around to the back and saw that her sisters' dinky car was, unsurprisingly, still parked in front of the closed garage where they stored their equipment for the shows. Getting out, she grabbed her bags and began to walk around to the front.

"There it is," she muttered, noticing a sizable rock next to the door. Underneath it laid the swipe key, which she quickly used to enter.

As she walked out of the broad daylight of the late afternoon sun, and into the dark emptiness of the Cerulean Gym, she was surprised by a small shiver that ran down her spine.

"What am I, four?" she asked aloud. "I can't still be afraid of being home alone."

However, despite her self-deprecation, she felt her heart begin to race in the same way it did when childhood phobia of monsters in the closet once captured her imagination; a gripping feel that someone was watching her.

Quickly, she reached out and flipped the switch for the main hallway light. Instantly, she could see all the way down the hall, as well as the reception desk at the front. She took a deep breath and decided to turn on the T.V. in the small lobby area for noise.

She flipped the channels around a little until she found a cartoon program she enjoyed when she was younger. She hoped the silliness of the animation and sounds would calm her.

"It just feels so lonely in here," she noted in a mumble. Deciding she wanted company, she reached down for a pokéball, only to realize she'd left her Pokémon in her suitcase.

A small tapping sound made itself known at the end of the hallway.

"What was that?" she asked, feeling her heart beat faster once again. She looked down the lit hall, but saw nothing.

She shakily exhaled and shook her head in frustration. "It's just the gym settling down. Why am I acting like such a baby?"

She stood still for a moment, waiting for another creak or crack to make itself known in reassurance, but when none came, she shrugged. Remembering her Pokémon, she wasted no time in getting on her knees to open the large suitcase behind her. However, as she began to unzip it, another tapping noise permeated the air. She could tell it wasn't coming from the television, but she steeled her determination.

_I'm not gonna turn around, _she repeated over and over. She couldn't allow herself to give into these stupid little fears, or she wouldn't be able to relax the entire evening. _My problem is I've been surrounded by people for too long. I haven't had any time to myself in forever!_

Another tap.

_It almost sounds like a shoe,_ she noted, pulling the metallic zipper around its final corner after getting it unstuck from its previous position. Specifically, it sounded like a nice dress shoe tapping against the linoleum flooring of the hallway.

Shaking her head again, trying to clear her mind of the annoying intrusive fears, she began to rummage through her pack.

"Where are you guys?" she asked, lifting up a series of colorful blouses only to find more clothing in her way. The pokéballs, she assumed, must have slowly shifted their way to the bottom of her pack, and as she heard another tap, she began to search a little more frantically.

"Come on, come on," she quietly muttered.

Another tap.

Finally, a small red and white orb caught her attention underneath a pair of socks she lifted. "There you are!" She hastily reached for it, beyond elated at the prospect of having some company to distract her from her own imagination.

"Tap".

This time, it was right behind her. Though the T.V. still blared in the background, she could swear she felt someone breathing directly behind her, and adrenaline shot through her veins like ice instantly.

Keeping her breathing as calm as possible, she gently gripped the small pokéball. She knew the instant she turned, whoever it was would probably strike, so she closed her eyes and did her best to remain calm. She was having difficulty believing this was real; that someone had actually broken into the gym, but she simply could not ignore the prevalence of someone's gaze permeating her back. She stayed still for a moment, hoping that acting oblivious to the person's presence would at least buy her a few more seconds to prepare.

_As soon as I turn, I'll release…whoever this is_, she planned, praying she hadn't chosen, of all her Pokémon, Psyduck's capsule. She noticed her hand was shaking, and suddenly she heard someone take a breath from behind her. No doubt they knew she knew they were there now. It looked like they really were waiting for her to turn.

For a split-second, she wondered who it could be and what they would want if her Pokémon failed her. It could've been a common thief, just surprised by her sudden appearance, or it could've been an ax murdered, or a serial rapist, or-

She opened her eyes and decided to quit thinking about it. Instead, she gripped the pokéball a little tighter, pressing as hard against the center button as she dared. As soon as she turned, she decided, she would enlarge it and hopefully temporarily blind whoever was behind her by releasing the creature. She'd use the small reprieve to get off a quick attack before running out of the gym and calling the police.

_Let's do this! _she commanded herself. _Three, two…_

"One!" Turning quickly, she immediately recognized the profile of a man. Her suspicions confirmed, she forced herself into action.

"Go!" she cried, trying to press the center button of the capsule. However, she realized it was too late as the pokéball was knocked from her hand before she could enlarge it. She looked over to the small ball, rolling away from her, and then she looked back up to get a better look at the intruder. She was shocked to silence by who she recognized.

"Hello, Ms. Waterflower," Giovanni greeted icily, Mallory beside him. "We need to talk."

She stammered for a moment before finally getting out a shaky "What…?"

The man simply smiled at her in response.

_Run! _The plan wasn't very elaborate, but it was all she could think as the two looked down on her with purely evil intentions reflected in their shallow eyes.

Unfortunately, as she tried to force herself up, she realized she was frozen in position. Though her mind was racing, her body could do nothing. Even in her frantic and stressed state, she knew a psychic Pokémon had to be the culprit, and a moment after the realization, drowsiness set upon her.

_How can I feel sleepy at a time like this? _Realizing the same Pokémon was probably to blame for the unexpected sleepiness, she did her best to fight it. However, despite her best efforts, she felt the one part of her body that wasn't frozen in place, her eyelids, begin to flutter shut involuntarily.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I guess we should get going," Ash told Pikachu, having finally finished packing.

Suddenly, he felt his phone begin to vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that Misty had sent him a message.

_Ash, come see me at the Cerulean Gym quickly. I have important news!_

He furrowed his brow at the odd message. Misty knew he was all the way in Indigo, and she knew he was leaving Kanto for Sinnoh today. He decided to call her.

Oddly, she didn't pick up.

He tried again, but with the same result.

"That's weird," he told Pikachu. "Let's try a text."

He sent her a message and waited several minutes to get something back, but his patience was not rewarded.

"Something's strange." If she had important news, and she knew he was leaving today, why wouldn't she just tell him over the phone? Perhaps more importantly, why wasn't she responding to his calls and messages?

Shrugging, he opened the door to his room and walked down the stairway. He noticed he didn't hear anyone else as he entered the main area in front of the entrance.

"Where is everyone, Pikachu?"

"Pika?" guessed the electric Pokémon with a shrug.

"There you are!" Lance cried, stepping out of his office door beneath the main stairway. "I was just about to come up and talk to you!"

Ash gave him a weird smile. "Uh, thanks, but I remembered to pack up myself."

"It's not about that," the redhead answered, taking Ash back with the seriousness of his tone. "We think we may have an idea of where Giovanni went."

"That's great!" Ash exclaimed, excited. "What was his target?"

Lance looked down for a moment, before glancing back up and giving the raven-haired former champion a sympathetic look.

"Misty."

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope y'all like it! I think this was one of my better chapters, and I am really excited to get everyone's thoughts (be they good or bad). Please though, just let me know what you thought, because the story only gets darker from here and I need to know if you like what you're seeing before I delve any deeper. If you didn't like what you read, or something doesn't make sense to you, then I need to know so I can address it in the next chapter before we progress.

That's actually about all I got. Before I go, though, I do need to address one of my anonymous reader's personally because they requested I do so in the comments section.

**Big big misty fan** – You seriously shouldn't worry at all about me blowing you off. As I've said many times before, every review is important to me, because every one of them gets me closer to being the best author I can. Just because you're twelve or whatever doesn't mean I appreciate your input any less than I do anyone else's. That being said though, I still cannot reveal what is going to happen to Misty or any of Ash's friends for that matter. All I can say is that I am sure you, along with all of my readers, will never be able to anticipate what's coming up. I promise you though, I think what happens will definitely catch and keep your attention, so keep your eyes peeled!

Alright. That's it for this week! Until next time, Hook'em Horns and Later Days!


	44. Mission: Misty

**Hey Everybody!** Well, it was three and a half weeks in the making, but I proudly present the next chapter in our little epic…number 44! I'm sorry for the delay, but I'd like to say now that what it lacked in punctuality I think is made up for in substance. Granted, there will be more to come, but I think this chapter covers quite a bit of action, and I'm happy to say that we're really getting into the meat and bones of the Team Rocket arc after all this time (the arc started when Mallory met Brock in chapter four, remember?). Welp, can't say much more without giving the good stuff away, so go ahead and check out the chapter for yourself!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

Ash's bag hit the marbled floor with a dull thud.

For a moment, the only sound was the echo of the duffel against rock. A thousand questions instantly surrounded him. Was this a joke? Did he hear Lance wrong? Was there another girl named Misty Team Rocket had a vested interest in?

Finally, he managed to clear his mind just enough to form a comprehensive inquiry.

"W-what do you mean it's Misty?"

Lance took a deep breath. "Just come in here for a moment." He motioned to the room beneath the dual-sided staircase. "I think it's easier to show than tell."

Without another thought, Ash ran over and into the room, Pikachu clinging tightly to his shoulder. Though the rodent Pokémon didn't quite understand the specifics, the sudden change in his master's attitude was enough for him to understand something was amiss.

Entering the room, he could see the other three were already waiting for him.

"I've been working all morning on finding where Giovanni's been," Lance began, "and I finally got in contact with one of our agents who works as his limo driver." He pointed to a large computer screen opposite the four trainers and Pokémon. On the screen was a map of the entire Kanto region, and a red dot was blinking repeatedly in the northern sector. "He told me they had stopped in front of the Cerulean Gym."

More emotions walled Ash. He felt as if his brain simply couldn't handle everything it was being told to process at once, and he again found himself staring dumbfounded, focusing on the blinking red that he assumed was Misty's gym.

"Ash, are you alright?" Cynthia asked softly, noting the stricken expression across the former champion's face. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he flinched in surprise.

Shaking his head, he managed a new question. "Where did they take her?" His voice was already growing hoarse from worry.

"I…don't know yet," Lance answered honestly, looking down in shame. "Apparently Giovanni just drove off after they came back out of the gym and ditched our guy…he must be really nervous to cover his tracks so well."

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes tightly, forced back all emotion, and tried to maintain a cool head. As inappropriate as it seemed, he couldn't help but relate this experience as similar to his battles. He'd learned long ago that losing one's cool is the last thing anyone should do when put under pressure.

Exhaling a few shaky breaths, he calmly looked back up and gave Lance a hard stare. "Why didn't the driver just take him out when he had the chance?"

"No good. Giovanni constantly has guards with him. We can't get close. Also, the driver didn't have any weapons or Pokémon on him."

Inadvertently gritting his teeth, he felt the tenuous grasp on his feelings begin to loosen as frustration and anger seethed in his heart. "Then…then what do we do?"

Lance looked at Steven, and then Cynthia. "Well, we do have a plan for this. We have two operatives in Cerulean, and one of them is an expert tracker. She used to work on the police force, but now she just raises Pokémon and works for our group. Hopefully, we'll find Misty soon."

"The other," Steven interjected, "is actually an old student of mine. He's been in a few scraps, and he's never failed us before. Once we track where Misty is, he should be able to get her back, no problem."

"The good news is that Misty really holds no intrinsic value to Team Rocket," Lance continued. "I doubt she's in trouble. The only reason they would have to kidnap her is so that they could get to you."

_Is that supposed to make me feel better? _The frustration was growing as he felt his pulse quicken and his head begin to hurt.

He was sick of this. Sick of all the problems that seemed to be following him. He didn't have any troubles, or at least none this serious, before he'd become the Sinnoh Champion, but since his inauguration nothing but bad news had seemed to plague him. He'd been hospitalized by the police, forced to leave Brock, lost Dawn in a sea of awkward emotions, watched Paul turn into a villain, been kidnapped by Team Rocket, and finally lost his status after working his whole life to acquire it.

_One of the only good things to happen has been Misty, and now they're trying to take that away from me too! _The anger built up further, and he felt his fingernails begin to dig into the skin of his palm as he clenched his fist.

"I know this must be rough on you, Ash." It was Cynthia. She sounded truly sorrowful in her tone, but he could tell she wasn't done. "A lot's happened really fast…and obviously it hasn't been good. But right now isn't the time to contemplate how hard life's been. We need to all focus on how to get Misty back."

Lance nodded in agreement as Ash looked up again. "They must be planning on some way to lure you to the gym if they really kidnapped Misty. Have you gotten any letters or messages from her recently that seemed out of place?"

He took another breath and cleared his head. He knew that now wasn't the time to bemoan his own troubles while Misty remained in the hands of his hated enemy.

_Out of place…wait a minute!_

"The text!" Ash's eyes sparked in memory, remembering the odd message from a few minutes before. He reached into his pocket. "Misty's phone sent me this message telling me to meet her at the gym. I called her, and she didn't answer, and then I texted and she never wrote back."

Lance grabbed the phone from his hand and sped through the short message, passing it over to Cynthia afterwards. "This might be the break we're looking for! When did you get that message?"

"Like fifteen minutes ago," Ash affirmed, getting excited at Lance's jumpiness. "Is that good?"

"The car pulled up to the gym last night. That was definitely not her…and that can only mean Team Rocket's waiting for you at the Cerulean Gym."

"But Giovanni already took off," Cynthia reminded.

"Which means some operative must be the one actually waiting," Steven concluded.

Ash tightened his fist, now from determination. "I bet I know which one."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Why Giovanni won't just let me finish you now is beyond me," the blond said, carelessly chewing on an apple. The three former Team Rocket members sat across from her in the dingy gym basement, tied together. "I hope he's not losing his touch."

She paused, and then gave the trio a wicked smile. "Of course, maybe he just doesn't wanna take you out of your misery yet, huh? Does it still hurt, James?"

The purple-haired former operative simply winced in reply. The rope constricted around their bodies was pressing directly against his severely wounded shoulder.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you had to amputate…it has to be infected by now." She began cackling, but the three were incapable of speaking. In her right hand rested the apple, in the other a pistol.

As the laughter died down, she gave them another dark smirk. "Actually, amputation's probably preferable to what's gonna happen…Giovanni's Sharpedo hasn't eaten in days, after all."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Fully over the shock, Ash had begun contributing the brain-storming session occurring in the small office concerning Misty's rescue.

"Why don't we call the police?" he suggested. "Tell them we know some Team Rocket members are in the gym."

Lance dismissed the idea. "We can't let Team Rocket know we're onto them. We're in the perfect position to strike. They think you don't know what's going on, and that you're just going to fall for their trap. If we send the police to the gym, all that will happen will be that Giovanni finds out we know his plans, and he…well, it just doesn't end well for us. The police aren't smart enough to take down Team Rocket, anyway. They haven't done it in over fifty years and I doubt they'll have any better luck now."

"It's been thirty minutes. I'm gonna call Chris," Steven said, leaving the room for a moment. "He told me he might have some more info ready by now."

"Good idea," Lance answered, looking back to the screen. "After you're done, pack your things quickly. We should get to Cerulean as soon as possible."

Cynthia began to leave too. "I'll go get my Pokémon and we can be on our way."

"Ash, you may want to contact Oak and get some partners together," Lance mentioned, still staring at the map, but now zooming the picture in on the streets of Cerulean. "I'm not sure it'll be necessary with Chris on the scene, but we may still have some role to play in helping rescue your girlfriend. We're no longer part of the Pokémon League, so feel free to grab as many as you think you'll need. I have a video phone and teleporter in my main office."

Nodding, Ash quickly followed Steven and Cynthia out the doorway. Finding the large office, he entered and quickly punched in the lab's number. After a few rings, the elderly man picked up.

"He-Ash!" he cried, eyes widening in surprise. "I'm so happy to see you! I heard about what happened between you three and Goodshow!"

"Professor, I'd really like to talk about that, but I can't right now. Misty's in trouble and I need some of my Pokémon to go and help her."

"Huh?" The professor's mood darkened instantly. "What do you mean she's in trouble?"

"I-I dunno, but Team Rocket has her, and we're going to Cerulean to try and save her before it's too late."

His eyes widened, and he held his hand up in exclamation. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Team Rocket's kidnapped Misty? What are you talking about? Why would they do that?"

Ash rolled his eyes in frustration. "Professor, I really don't know, and I don't have time to explain it all right now. Can I just please have some of my Pokémon? I promise I'll tell the whole story later, but right now it's kinda urgent."

The grey-haired scholar nodded quickly, understanding the immediacy of the situation. "Just tell me which Pokémon to send over and Tracey and I will get them there as soon as we can."

In a matter of minutes, Ash's belt was completely covered by about thirty different pokéballs, and Pikachu remained on his shoulder. Thanking the Professor, he turned the phone off and ran back into the main entrance, where the others were waiting.

"Are you ready?" Steven asked as he approached.

"I've got everyone I'll need to take Giovanni and Mallory down," Ash affirmed, motioning to his loaded belt. "They won't know what hit 'em."

Lance frowned. "Well, if all goes right you won't have to use them at all. Remember, we're mostly relying on Chris to save Misty for us. The rest of us just have our Pokémon in case of a real emergency."

"Speaking of an emergency," Cynthia suddenly interjected. "Lance, did you get a hold of him?"

The redheaded dragon tamer shook his head. "I can never get him to talk to me, but I left a message…though I doubt it'll do any good."

"You never know."

"I know enough after all the times we've requested help in the past and he's stayed holed up in that stupid mountain. What makes you think he'll change his mind now?"

She shrugged as they rushed out the door. "You just never know…I mean he stopped Team Rocket once before, right?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"How's our little patient doing?" Giovanni asked with a smirk. The redhead in the middle of the room remained still; dead asleep as a fiendish Gengar maintained a constant Hypnosis over her neural systems.

"Everything's stable," replied the grunt behind a small computer in the corner of the room. "She's nowhere near waking up."

The boss nodded. "Make sure she stays that way until our guest gets here."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So far nothing's come up," reported a retired Officer Jenny from the private plane's videophone. "Arcanine can't find any scent of Giovanni, and since we can't go into the gym, it's pretty much impossible for us to find a way to trace Waterflower."

"Then go into the gym!"

Lance shook his head at his younger counterpart. "Don't do that, Jen. Ash is just upset, but if who we think is waiting in there is actually there, you'll need some back-up before trying to break into the building."

"Right. I'll call back if anything comes up. Over and out." The screen faded to black, and the ex-champions looked across the table at one another.

"We need to prepare for the invasion," Cynthia reminded. "What're we gonna do once we break into the gym? We don't know how many Team Rocket members are waiting for Ash."

Steven shook his head. "Couldn't be many. Chris said he used an infrared lens to look inside and only saw a few bodies. I'd say Ash is right about Mallory, and Giovanni probably gave her a couple of grunts to help out if she needed it. Besides, I don't think the rest of us will even need to be there, remember?"

"Well, if he does need some back-up, she definitely won't be expecting to see all of us," Lance noted, "which is a good thing. We can use the element of surprise to our advantage."

"I wonder if the operatives that are waiting have any secret weapons?" Cynthia asked. "You know, just in case they were afraid things got out of hand."

"We already know they have an Entei," Ash noted, thinking back to his battle with Paul. "Who knows what else they've got?"

"Not to mention regular weapons," Steven reminded. "I mean, it isn't like this is gonna just be some Pokémon battle. She's surely armed in case of a real struggle."

Cynthia looked over at the steel trainer. "Does Chris have any…you know, guns?"

Despite the situation, Steven gave a small laugh. "Yeah, I imagine he has quite a few after all the stuff he's done. I've never seen him with one, but the missions he's been a part of have sometimes required them as a precautionary measure."

"Speaking of Chris, who is this guy?" Lance questioned. "I mean, you've talked about him before, but I don't think we've ever met."

Steven cleared his throat. "Well, he was a trainer for a few years, and he technically still is. Actually, he's one of the best I've seen, and he's only eighteen years old. He was eleven when he first won the Hoenn League Conference, and he was thirteen when he finally managed to challenge me."

"I'm guessing he lost?"

Steven nodded. "But barely. Anyway, after I saw how strong he was, I offered to make him a member when he got a little older. I don't know what he did after that, but when he was fifteen he showed up at my doorstep and asked to join the G-Men. I challenged him to a match to see his skill…and he beat me. I knew he was strong enough, so I let him, and for the last few years he's done more missions than most members do their entire life."

Cynthia gave her friend a questioning glance. "You know, I don't know that much about him myself. Do you know why he hasn't taken the League challenge again if he was able to beat you?"

Steven shook his head. "The truth is he's kinda a mystery to me too. I mean, I only know he really doesn't like the Team syndicates of the different regions, but his past is a little hazy, and he's never around long enough for me to talk with him about it. I know he trains a lot. You know that island we used to help train Ash? He actually owns that entire facility."

Lance gave a low whistle. "Must've run into money at some point."

"He's won a lot of competitions, I guess," Steven answered with a shrug.

"You said he's from Hoenn?" Cynthia questioned. "Then why is he in Cerulean?"

"Different mission. Lance probably knows about it."

The dragon trainer nodded. "Yeah, apparently the Rockets have a few underground drug rings within the city, so we sent an envoy to try and break 'em up. Chris is on that?"

"I put him in charge."

"Well, I guess it was a lucky thing you did."

"We're about to land in Cerulean," informed the pilot from the overhead. "Just give me a couple of minutes."

Ash suddenly gripped the arm rests of his chair in anticipation as the pilot's voice snapped him back to reality. The commentary between the other ex-champions had fallen into background noise as he focused on only one thing; getting Misty back. He knew this was going to be difficult. Giovanni clearly didn't like him, and the large amount of time between their last encounter and the present apparently hadn't deterred his disdain for the young trainer, nor had it tempered his desire for revenge.

"Seriously, Ash, don't worry," Steven said, noticing the young man's tense posture. "Chris is one of the best around. He'll have Misty back like that." He snapped to get the point across, but Ash couldn't help but feel skeptical at the claim.

"You guys said not to worry about Goodshow too, remember?"

Looking slightly taken aback, Lance was the first to respond. "That was a miscalculation on our part, but I agree with Steven. There's nothing to worry about as far as Misty is concerned. We know where they're waiting for us, we know why they took her, and together we can overcome anything Giovanni can throw at us."

The plane's nose dipped toward the ground as the vehicle started its descent.

"I really hope you're right, but I won't stop worrying until I have Misty back in my arms."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It's good to see you again, Steven."

"It's been a while, Chris."

The two shook hands. Turning, the powerful G-Men member held his arm out for Ash's hand. "And you're Ketchum, right?"

The ex-champion answered with a simple "yeah" as the two shook. Ash noted that though they were about the same age, Chris looked to almost be in his thirties. His shaggy blond hair covered most of his forehead, but gave way to hazel eyes. Dark circles under his eyes betrayed his youthful appearance, as did the various cuts and bruises that Ash noticed lined his arms. In addition, he was quite tall, and for the first time in a long time, the raven-haired trainer felt short in comparison.

"So I guess you're pretty anxious about all of this, huh?" He raised a questioning eyebrow, and Ash nodded again. "Well, don't worry. I've done many of these rescue missions before, and haven't had a hitch yet. Me and my Pokémon are specially trained for this kind of thing."

"That's good to hear," Ash responded, managing to find his voice despite the growing worry that every second not spent looking for Misty was another she remained endangered. "So are you going to the Cerulean Gym now?"

Chris nodded. "I'm about to head out."

"So what's the plan for getting her back?" Steven asked.

"Come in and I'll show you." Chris backed away from the door so that the four humans and Pikachu could enter the small, cheap motel room. In the corner, there was a small wooden desk with papers strewn across.

"Here it is," he noted, picking up a particular pink sheet. He laid the sheet down, and Ash instantly recognized the inside of the Cerulean Gym outlined before him. "I've been studying the structure of the gym. From what Jenny told me, there's three goons in the basement, but that's all. However, she also told me that there are security cameras all around the entrance, and whoever's inside is probably watching them like a hawk."

"So how do you plan on breaking in?"

"Well, that's where it gets a little complicated. See, there was a reason I waited until you all arrived before heading over." He looked at Ash. "I need you to come with me."

Though surprised, the ex-champion didn't hesitate for a moment. "Of course!"

"Wait, why does he need to go with you?" Cynthia questioned, looking concerned. "I thought this was something you could do on your own?"

Chris shook his head, his hair swaying back and forth with the movement. "I can get in, but I need a distraction. As soon as they see Ash approaching, they'll leave the cameras and then I can jump in."

"He won't be in any danger, will he?" Lance asked, concern seeping through his voice too. "He hasn't ever been on a mission before. He's not prepared to be in that kind of situation."

"Well-"

"Not prepared?" Ash gave the redhead a curious glare. "What do you mean I'm not prepared for a dangerous situation? Don't you remember when I helped you stop Kyogre and Groudon? What about all the times you guys weren't there, and I saved the world?"

He looked at Chris. "I'm more than ready to do anything to save Misty."

"We're just worried for you is all," Cynthia cautioned. "It's a different situation than what you're used to. This isn't some Pokémon going berserk; it's an evil corporation willing to get rid of whoever it has to in order to obtain power."

"I don't care. I just want Misty back."

There was a moment of silence, but Steven soon broke it with another question. "Why can't you just teleport into the gym with a psychic Pokémon? Didn't you say you caught a Bronzong in the Sinnoh mountains?"

Shaking his head, Chris explained. "I already thought of that, but apparently some dark type is protecting the entire gym with a Mean Look. Teleporting into the building is impossible."

"You could try attacking the gym from the outside."

"I thought of that too, but there's two problems. First, in addition to the Mean Look, the building's being protected by a Barrier and a Light Screen. Any attack would be deflected and would give whoever's in there a chance to strike back. Also, even if I did break the barrier with a Brick Break or something and managed to attack the gym, that would cause a huge scene. Remember, the gym isn't our target; Giovanni's secret hideout is. We destroy the gym, police will be there in no time, and we risk hurting or killing the grunts inside who have the info we need. Trust me, the best way to deal with this is by playing along and letting them think Ash has no idea what's going on."

"Then let's go," Ash answered, already heading for the door with Pikachu hot on his heels. "There's no time to lose!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What's this?" Mallory leaned closer to one of the security screens as a small dot appeared on the horizon. Someone was approaching the gym. Looking over at the Rocket trio, she smiled. "It looks like it's time for the operation to begin. Too bad you won't be able to watch, but I promise to tell you what's happened when it's over."

The three began to protest, but a quick motion to her pistol instantly silenced the former members. "Now you just wait here."

Hurriedly, she ran up the stairs, cocking the pistol once again as she approached the entrance.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Okay Ash, I've got a lock on you," Chris whispered into the small microphone. He was hiding behind a thicket of bushes near the entrance, and was speaking to Ash through a small ear speaker implanted in the former champion. "Just walk up to the door, and when they open, I'll take care of the rest."

Ash continued to walk in slow, measured steps, silently preparing himself for what might be awaiting his arrival. He'd been warned not to appear to be in too great a hurry to arrive in order to avoid suspicion by the Team Rocket members watching, but he couldn't help feeling almost angry at himself for his slow pace. He needed Misty back _now_.

A Pidgey chirped in a tree along the path to the gym, and the raven-haired teen almost jumped out of his skin, barely stopping himself. Instead, he quickly turned to face the Pokémon, giving it a hard glare before breathing a sigh of relief and continuing on his way.

"Pika, pikachu," assured his friend from his shoulder. The Pokémon knew his master was nervous, and was trying his best to calm those nerves to keep him prepared for whatever was about to happen.

The teen gave his Pokémon a small smile. "You're right. Nothing to worry about."

After what felt like a lifetime, he finally reached the front entrance to the gym. Taking one last breath, he knocked on the locked sliding glass door.

"M-Misty, are you there?"

Silence rang in his ears.

"Just wait a minute and stay calm," cautioned the blond from the bushes. "They'll be at the door any second."

Feeling as if his chest was about to explode from anticipation, he was almost relieved when he finally saw a dark silhouette forming from the inner-recesses of the dimmed gym building. Slowly, but surely a smirking Mallory came into full view, a gun extended from her right hand, and a pokéball in the left.

His eyes widened, a little shocked to see that he'd guessed correctly at who was awaiting his arrival, but he quickly flooded the shock with feelings of pure hate and scorn for the operative as she approached. The doors slid open, and she motioned for him to enter.

"Before I change my mind and take you out right here."

Ash gave a quick glance back towards the bushes, wondering where his counterpart was, before obliging the woman and stepping inside. He felt several small sparks snap against his cheeks as Pikachu instantly recognized their enemy.

"Keep that rat calm, or I'll do it for you." She shifted the focus of the pistol away from Ash temporarily to point it at his best friend.

"Pikachu, c-calm down, buddy," he croaked, not taking his eyes off of his enemy.

"W-where's Misty?" he demanded in as firm a tone as he could muster as the barrel pointed towards him once again.

The agent gave the former champion a lopsided grin. "Oh, don't worry. You'll see her soon enough."

"Why did you take her away?" He began to feel more confident as the anger continued to rise from within him.

"To get to you, of course. Giovanni wasn't very happy about you turning down his offer and then ending his chances, at least for the moment, of taking over the League, you know?" She continued to smile. "He's not very pleasant when he's angry, but I think seeing you again should finally break him out of this bad mood he's been in."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Thank goodness," Jessie sighed. "I don't know if I could've gone another minute listening to her prattle on about Giovanni's plans."

"I know. She sure does like to talk, huh?" Meowth asked. "James, how are ya feelin' buddy?" The feline turned to his teammate with a concerned look on his face.

The purple-haired operative gave the cat-like Pokémon a small smile despite the pale and gaunt appearance his face had taken. "N-never b-better." Blood continued to trickle down the ropes which held them together, and Jessie was beginning to grow worried for her friend.

"We need to find a way out of here, you two."

Meowth nodded. "And I know just how we can do it."

"How, Meowth?" James questioned, wincing slightly as he turned to face the Pokémon.

"My Fury Swipes can handle dis rope in no time." He gave the two a devilish grin. "I didn't wanna use it while she had dat gun pointing at our faces, but now it's no problem."

"Well then what are you waiting for?" Jessie asked, glee in her tone. "Rip these things apart!"

"Alright. Watch dis!" Between the small spacing of the ropes, light could be seen as Meowth's claws grew in size and luminosity. "Yah!" With a small flick of his paw, he ripped through the thick cords, and all three instantly jumped to their feet, celebrating.

"Way to go Meowth!" Jessie cried happily, picking him up and giving him a tight hug. "I knew there was a reason we kept you around."

Even James began to look instantly better without the binding. "Excellent work." He grabbed his limp arm and looked at the staircase. "But before we go, there's something we need to take care of."

"You're right," Jessie and Meowth agreed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I can't believe this," Chris muttered angrily. As soon as Ash had been let in, he'd run to the back door to sneak up behind the Rocket operative. Unfortunately, though, it looked as if he were already too late. Somehow, in less than ten seconds after letting him in, the psychic Pokémon holding up the Barrier and Light Screen picked up where they'd left off, giving the blond trainer no way to enter.

Reaching to his belt, he grabbed a pokéball. "Guess I'll just have to break them, then. Go Starfire!"

His Blaziken instantly materialized.

"Take out these two shields with a Brick Break!"

"Blaze!" complied his Pokémon, quickly taking a fighting stance against the invisible shields. With two swift punches, the shields appeared and then shattered.

"Uh-oh." The sound was impossible to miss, and he knew he needed to hurry before the grunts got away with Ash.

"Let's go!" he shouted to his fire and fighting type, who kicked in the backdoor entrance.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Kazam!" cried the angry psychic type, blocking the three from climbing the stairs.

An Umbreon quickly took to his side, snarling at the ex-Team Rocket members as they tried to get up the stairs.

"Oops, forgot about you two," Jessie remarked, reaching for one of her pokéballs. "Let's see if you can handle Seviper. Go!"

"Viper!" The snake-like Pokémon emerged in a flash of light and wasted no time. In an instant, he latched his body around the Umbreon, who began yelping in pain.

"Zam!" The psychic type responded to his partner's pleas for help with a Psybeam, causing Seviper to recoil in pain.

_Uh-oh, poison's weak to psychic attacks…but psychic's weak to bug types!_

Reaching for her next pokéball, she brought her Yanmega into the frenzy. "Hit the Alakazam with a Silver Wind!"

Flapping its wings wildly, the bug type created silver crescents which began pounding down upon the psychic Pokémon. Confused and injured, the Alakazam ended his assault on Seviper, and instead launched himself at the flying Pokémon, who simply hovered higher to avoid the assault before continuing the Silver Wind. Realizing it was free from the psychic blast, Seviper regained his hold on the Umbreon.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It seems we have company," remarked Mallory, dropping her smile in favor of a scowl as the sound of glass breaking surrounded the building. She hadn't anticipated the raven-haired trainer to bring friends. "No problem, though." In one swift motion, she grabbed the trainer by the neck and pulled him in front of herself, positioning the gun to his temple.

"If they want me, they'll have to go through you first," she whispered malevolently into his ear.

"Pika!" The small mouse jumped from Ash's shoulder and looked up at the woman with as menacing a pose as he could muster, sparks flying wildly in every direction as he prepared to attack.

"Attack me and Ash is dead," Mallory responded simply, pushing the barrel a little deeper into the teen's cranium.

"Pikachu," mumbled the creature, still sounding angry, but slowly lessening his small electrical assault on the surroundings.

"Now let's go see who we have, hm?" She practically drug the ex-champion through the gym to the back. There was a door at the end of the hallway that she quickly opened. Behind the door was a supply room, and at the back was a door that had been ripped from its hinges. However, all of this fell into the background as Chris and his Blaziken suddenly appeared from behind one of the shelves.

"Brave B-"

The trainer cut off his command as he saw Ash's position. His eyes went wide in surprise, as did his Pokémon's.

"You seem a little shocked. You didn't think I wouldn't hear the Barrier being broken, did you?" Her smug look appeared once again as she felt herself re-taking control of the situation. Everyone was at her disposal.

"Now then, I don't know who you are, but I'm guessing you're some little friend of Ketchum here, right?"

Slowly, Chris nodded.

"And I guess you thought you were going to capture me, huh?"

Another nod.

"Well, as you can see, my gun's a little preoccupied at the moment, so I need you to take the initiative and wait here for me to be free. We have a van coming by in a few minutes to pick up our little friend, and after that I can take care of you."

"That's not happening!"

All three turned their heads in surprise at the declaration.

"Sonicboom!"

Yanmega suddenly appeared from outside the storage room, its wings glowing brightly. Flapping them together hard, a silver shockwave instantly appeared and hit Mallory's hand, consequently knocking the weapon from her grip.

"What?" she cried. The Weapon no longer in her hand, Ash quickly wrestled himself free and fell on top of the pistol to prevent her from getting it back.

"Bet you didn't expect to see us, huh?" Jessie mocked, stepping into the room, her Seviper and two friends following closely.

"Why you little…" She enlarged the pokéball in her other hand and began to release it.

"Grab it Star!"

In the blink of an eye, the Blaziken was suddenly on the other side of the room, the enlarged pokéball trapped within his beak. He looked back at the Rocket agent, who stood stunned for a moment, her hand still high.

Chris smiled to himself at his good luck. For the slightest second, he'd been worried.

"Now what was it you were telling me about a van?"

The blond girl looked back at him and shot a hateful glare. "You're a bigger idiot than you look if you think you're going to get any information out of me."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay then." He grabbed some wire from one of the shelves. "Starfire, take care of our little friend over there."

"Blaze!" The Pokémon quickly tied the agent's arms together in a tight knot. Her ankles soon followed.

"We'll be sure to let the police know where you are," he remarked, smirking. "Good luck with all that."

"You think I'm intimidated by the idea of going to jail?" The woman gave him another smug look. "Trust me, I'll be out in a couple of days with Giovanni's help. You can't scare me."

Frowning, Chris went over to Ash and helped him up. "You alright, man?"

"Yeah," he replied, clinging to the gun tightly. "I grabbed this before she could get it back." He made to hand it off to the blond young man, but Chris shook his head.

"I think you should hang onto that for a little while, at least. We're not out of the woods yet."

Ash's eyes widened. "But I don't know how to use a gun!"

Chris smiled again. "It's already loaded. You just have to pull the trigger…trust me, you'll wanna hang onto it for now."

Hesitating for a second, Ash silently nodded as he awkwardly gripped the handle of the weapon.

"Um, excuse me?" Jessie suddenly interrupted from the entrance. "Aren't you two forgetting something?"

In the adrenaline-pumping heat of the moment, Ash had failed to realize just who his savior had turned out to be. However, as he turned to see Jessie and her Pokémon, along with Meowth and an injured James, curiosity caught him once again.

Squinting, he suspiciously asked, "Why are you three here?"

"Pikachu!" demanded the small mouse Pokémon, running into the room from behind the trio and taking a protective stance in front of his best friend.

"It's not like dat at all!" Meowth reassured the electric type, putting his paws high in the air. "See? I don't wanna hurt nobody!"

"That's right," Jessie agreed. "We came here to help you out, twerp."

"Yeah, right." Despite the seriousness of the situation, he rolled his eyes in sarcasm. "You guys have always been such great help in the past, after all."

Jessie scowled. "If we weren't here to help, then why do you think I just saved your life, you ungrateful brat?"

Though ended with an insult, Ash silently acknowledged that the point she made was accurate.

After a quiet moment, he decided to ask another question. "How did you guys know where I was gonna be?"

"We were assigned to trapping da twerpette, but we decided that we couldn't do dat," Meowth answered. Ash looked a little surprised, as did Pikachu. "I mean, we're still bad guys…but we're not dat bad."

"Yeah, we're more of the thieving type," Jessie elaborated. "Murder isn't really our thing."

Chris was the first to pick up on the last statement. "What do you mean, murder?"

"Yeah, what do you mean?" Ash asked worriedly, suddenly realizing the implications of Jessie's words.

"Oh, right. You didn't know about that, did you?" Jessie answered, beginning to look a little concerned as the raven-haired trainer appeared ready to pass out. "She's not dead yet, but Giovanni wanted us to trap her, and then he wanted to trap you so that he could…" She trailed off, but Ash instantly understood.

More questions, more frustration.

"Why would he do that? Why doesn't he just go after me?"

The red-headed thief was about to answer, but Chris interrupted.

"Ash, I know there are a lot of questions, but right now the most important thing is that we find out where Giovanni is hiding. We know a van is coming to pick you up, and we need to let them do it so you can get to the secret location."

Sighing, Ash gave a nod and a quiet "alright". There was so much he still didn't know, but he _did _know that Chris was right. All the information in the world was useless if he didn't save Misty.

"Now, I have a plan, but we need to get to work quickly for it to come together…and I'm gonna need you." He pointed to Jessie and Meowth.

"Actually, we need to get James to a hospital," Jessie remarked, motioning to her friend whose breathing was growing more labored by the minute. "We've done all we can to help the twerp out."

Grabbing the purple-haired former Rocket and leaning him against their frames, Jessie and Meowth slowly began to walk out of the building.

"What happened to him?" Ash asked, finally registering the fact that James' uniform was dyed in crimson.

Jessie turned and gave a sarcastic smile. "Little Mallory over there happened."

The blond woman simply turned her head at the mention of her name, and Jessie and Meowth continued on their way out of the building.

"Well, we don't have a lot of time. What we need to do is get you tied up." Chris grabbed some more rope from the shelf. "I have a locater I can attach to the inside of your hat so we can trace your location, but that still leaves the matter of the van that's coming to pick you up."

Blaziken began knotting the rope tightly around his arms, and Ash cringed slightly.

"Sorry, but we have to make it look authentic," Chris apologized. "Star, make sure to cover the pokéballs on his belt."

"Blaze," agreed his Pokémon, lowering the bondage material slightly.

Ash looked back over at Chris. "Why are you worried about the van? They'll just come and throw me in, I'm sure."

The G-Men member shook his head. "They'll be suspicious if they don't see Mallory or anyone else here…wait a minute!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone.

"Steven, we need you guys over here. We took out the operative, but now we need someone disguised as a Team Rocket member. Maybe Cynthia could use the uniform from the operative we just apprehended, or-"

Ash couldn't quite make out what Steven said after interrupting, but whatever it was seemed to instantly brighten his companion's mood.

"He does? Really? Perfect!" The blond smiled and gave Ash a thumbs-up. "Get him over here as quickly as possible. There's not much time." He hung up and beamed at the raven-haired trainer, who was now sitting as the fire and fighting type bound his legs together.

"Turns out Lance has an old Team Rocket uniform that he carries around."

"Oh yeah," Ash remarked, remembering that the former Kanto Champion had worn it when they first met in Johto. "I think he has a uniform from every team."

"Well Steven said he brought it with him just in case. He's on his way over right now."

"Pika-pika?" questioned the small mouse as Blaziken finished his work. Now Ash had his arms tied to his torso, and his legs bound together as well.

"Don't worry, buddy. I'm fine," he assured with a smile. "Blaziken is helping out."

"I almost forgot about Pikachu," Chris said, suddenly noticing the small rodent at his feet. "They're not going to take him with you if he's out like that. You better return him to his pokéball for now."

Ash shook his head. "I don't have it with me. I never keep him in a pokéball unless I have to."

Frowning, Chris remained pensive for a moment before snapping his fingers. "I've got it. I'll hold onto Pikachu while they take you away. That way he's safe and out of the way."

"I don't know…"

"Don't worry, Ash. It's not like you're gonna need him anyway. I'll be doing all the work, and if you leave him out in the open, the grunts that come to pick you up might try to kidnap him or something. It's just safer to keep him hidden from view."

Ash gave his friend an apologetic look. "I think he's right, buddy. You better stay with Chris until after we get Misty back, okay?"

"Pika," replied the Pokémon, shaking his head. "Pikachu-chu, pika."

Ash smiled at his Pokémon's loyalty. "I know you wanna help Misty too, but right now the best thing you can do is wait here. I'm not really going to be in danger, so you don't need to worry about me at all."

"…pika," relented the yellow mouse after a moment. He reluctantly stepped away from Ash and towards Chris.

"Don't worry Pikachu," assured the blond. "You're in good hands…and so is Ash!" He petted the top of the Pokémon's head in comfort.

Looking over at Ash, he thanked Blaziken. "Good work, Starfire. I-uh-oh."

"What now?"

He pointed to the gun, which Ash still held onto with a feverish grip. "That can't be seen. Here," he got down on one knee and took the weapon from Ash's hand.

"Ow!"

"Sorry," he apologized, "but if we wanna hide the gun, we have to put it between your body and the rope so they can't see it."

"It hurts, though," Ash cringed as the metal object was shoved into his side by the binding rope. "Like I said before, why don't you keep the gun? I've never used one before."

"It's semi-automatic. Just pull the trigger and go to town," he replied simply, pulling his hand out from under the rope. "Like _I _said before, you might need it."

Ash looked down at his bound body. "How could I use it even if I wanted to, though? It's not like my hands are free."

"I already planned for that. Take this." He took out a small pocket knife with sharp, rigged teeth. "Hide this inside your glove," he took the champion's right hand and slipped in the object, "with the handle against your palm. If something happens and you need to get out quickly, just cut through the rope with this. It'll take a little while to do, but I've found adrenaline really helps you get any job done faster." He gave the former champion a smirk, but Ash was beginning to feel sick.

"Guns? Knives? Chris, I'm not some super secret agent like you. I don't know how to do all this stuff." He squirmed uncomfortably in the rope.

The G-Men member gave him a smile and nodded. "I know it's kinda happening fast, but just try doing what I do before a big mission."

Ash gave him an inquisitive glance. "What's that?"

"Remember why you're fighting. Why you're about to go and risk your life. I do that before every mission, and it instantly calms me down. It helps me realize that I don't care if I get hurt, or even if I don't make it back…it doesn't matter because _why_ I'm fighting is more important than any possible consequence."

A small bellow was suddenly heard from outside the back door. Getting up and looking out, Chris smiled. "Looks like our Team Rocket member is here."

A moment later, Dragonite and Lance stepped in. The former Kanto Champion was wearing a black Rocket Grunt uniform, dark sunglasses, and a dark hat that covered his flaming hair. The first thing he saw upon entering was Ash tied up on the floor, and he quickly turned to Chris.

"So tell me why we're handing Ash to the Rockets peaceably?"

"They're sending a van over right now to pick him up and take him to the location. I figured it'd just be easier to attach a locater chip to the inside of his hat and follow the van's route rather than wait for Jenny's Arcanine to pick up a reliable scent."

Lance frowned. "It's also a lot more dangerous. How do you know they won't just take Ash out the second he gets to the location?"

"Because Ash isn't the target," he answered simply. "According to this other grunt that helped us out earlier, Waterflower's the one who's going to be…you know. Apparently they just want Ash there to watch it happen."

Lance furrowed his brow. "That's sick! Why would they do something like that? Why aren't they just taking Ash out?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say as a warning. Think about it. They kill Ash, someone else just takes his place as Champion and maybe Master and tries to take down Team Rocket again. But if they keep Ash, but scare him so badly that he doesn't interfere again, then they've guaranteed for themselves decades of inactivity from the Pokémon League."

"Hmm, I guess it makes sense." Lance rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So then the new mission is what?"

"Get to the hideout using the tracing device, save Ketchum and Waterflower, and capture Giovanni along with some evidence. We play our cards right, we could actually get him this time."

Lance nodded. "Sounds good. You okay with it, Ash?"

The trainer nodded, more determined than ever after taking Chris's advice. "Just don't let anything happen to her."

"We won't," Chris assured.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You got the goods?" questioned one of the grunts through a rolled-down window.

Lance nodded. "Inside. Open the back and we'll bring him out."

"One sec," stopped the grunt, peering down at the redhead. "I was told Mallory was gonna be here to drop off the goods. Where is she?"

"Emergency in Viridian," answered the faux member coolly.

The grunt in the vehicle eyed him skeptically for a moment. "Musta been a pretty big emergency to call her away from this. The boss said getting the goods was his top priority…can't think of any emergencies that woulda been bigger than that."

"Well, I don't know much about it, but I heard there was an attempted coup at the Viridian base late last night," he lied. He'd disguised himself as a member of Team Rocket more times than he could count, and he now found lying to the low-level grunts beyond easy. "You know how it is, though. They never tell us anything really interesting."

The man nodded and rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it. I don't even know what the goods we're transporting are. I heard it's a body, but you can't trust gossip, you know?"

"Yeah, it's a body," he affirmed, completely free now that he'd gained the driver's trust. "Some kid. Don't know why the boss is making such a big deal about it, but I guess he must be somewhat important for him to care so much."

Shrugging, the driver agreed. "My friend'll open the back there, and you can throw 'im in."

The other grunt in the passenger seat got out and moved to the back.

Smiling as he turned, Lance hurried back into the gym.

"They bought it," he smiled at Chris and Ash, who smiled back. "I told them you were just some guy, so hopefully they won't give you a hard time. To be on the safe side though, act like you're passed out as we put you in. They won't bother you if they think there's no fun in it."

He scooped the champion up and carried him back out the door.

"That him?"

Lance resisted the urge to make a sarcastic remark to the obviously less-than-bright grunt. Instead he simply nodded as the back was opened.

"Too bad he's passed out. We like to rough up the passengers a little when we get 'em," he mentioned casually as Lance dropped the teen into the vehicle.

"Well, maybe he'll wake up before you get there."

The door was shut, and Lance went back up to the driver. "Alright, you're all set. Good luck…with whatever's gonna happen."

"Yeah, thanks. Talk to ya later, pal." The grunt waved him off as the van sped back down the road and away from the gym.

"Looks like they bought it," Chris noted happily, stepping out of the gym. He held a small electronic device in his grip. "And the locator's working perfectly. Let's get back to the hotel and grab Steve and Cynthia."

"Right," Lance agreed.

* * *

Author's Notes: Like I said, a lot more action to come, but I think this gets the ball rolling fairly well, don't you? Well, rather you do or don't be sure to let me know what you think in a REVIEW PLEASE! I think I've answered all my reviewers from the last chapter (as promised), and I'll do my best to get back to all who review this chapter to, but whether I'm able to or not, don't think for a second that your feedback ever goes unappreciated by me. The fact that we're now 44 chapters into this story should be proof positive for all you out there that your reviews and thoughts have been successful in keeping me motivated to continue with this marathon of a fic, and as we go through the next few chapters (which are especially difficult to write for several reasons), I'll need all the motivation and criticism I can get to make sure I deliver you, the readers, the best possible story I can.

By the way, I wanted to mention that Chris, from this story, is actually an OC created by one of my good reviewers, **Mike Prower the Fox**. He gave me that character and his Pokémon team when I was planning this chapter last September. So, even though it took a while to finally get to use Chris, I wanted everyone to know that he and his team were not my invention alone.

Also, as a side note, I would like to take this time to mention that one of my loyal reviewers of over a year now, **Pokemon-Princess.8**, has started a new fanfic of her own which is exceptionally well-written entitled** "Black Balloon"**. It takes place when the original trio was traveling through Johto, and it covers what would have happened if Team Rocket had successfully taken Pikachu. PP8 is an exceptional author, and I highly suggest that all of you take a minute to check it out. She's only on chapter one right now, and she needs all the support and help she can get, so please take a few moments to read and review her story too!

Well, that's all for today. See you in two weeks!


	45. Mission: Ash

**Hey Everybody!** It's a week late, but I hope you don't hold that too much against me. School's picked back up with full force as I now enter my finals week, and it's been hellish to say the least. Finding time to sleep, let alone write this chapter, has been near-impossible, and the honest truth is I'm almost surprised I was only a week late in getting this installment out. However, I do think that the large amount of action, along with progression, contained in this chapter makes up for my tardiness…and it hopefully also makes up for my lack of review replies. Again, I've been very busy, and it was honestly choosing between getting this out (almost) on time, or replying to your reviews. And if I know my readers, I'm pretty sure y'all prefer the next chapter to just a paragraph reply thanking you for your thoughts. However, to express my true thankfulness for your continued contributions and dedication to this story, I vow to respond to all your comments on this chapter…so let me have them! Ha,ha. Okay, that's it, so go ahead and enjoy the latest addition to this little epic!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

_She was in a forest. She opened her eyes, and began apologizing. This didn't feel right. Something felt out of place…like this hadn't happened, or at least, it didn't happen like this, but she didn't care. She just started talking, and soon felt Ash's reassuring grip take her hand in a gentle caress._

_"I really am sorry, Ash. I said I know you well, but I guess I really don't. I was just acting like a spoiled child who wasn't getting what she wanted. Even if you _were _too busy, I should have understood and stayed with you."_

_Ash gave a small laugh. "It's no problem, Mist. We're new to this relationship stuff. It'll take a while, but I'm sure we'll get it down eventually. No matter what though, remember that I'll always stick with you."_

_"I'll always stick with you too," she responded, smiling as she enjoyed the feel of his touch. It was nice to feel as if she weren't alone._

_She turned to examine the milky gathering of stars mingled above their heads. Taking a deep breath, she inhaled the lovely scent of oak and pine trees which surrounded them. She closed her eyes and peacefully listened to the various rustlings and murmurings of nocturnal Pokémon waking from their daytime rest. _

_However, the serenity of the scene was suddenly shattered as she felt Ash's strong grip leave her. She turned to find him, but was surprised to instead see her sisters._

"_W-what's going on?" she asked, bewildered. "Why-?" She cut herself off as the sound of her own pre-pubescent voice rang through her ears. She looked at the hands that she'd used to grab her neck in her shock, and noticed how small they looked…in fact, she seemed to have shrunk significantly as a whole._

"_Like, Misty, shush." A much-younger Daisy motioned to her closed mouth quickly. Though it was dark, Misty could make out several brooms and dustpans, along with various other cleaning materials and she quickly realized she was back in the old broom closet of the gym._

"_What's going on?" she asked again, surprised by the fear permeating her own youthful tone. She didn't even know what was happening. Why was she scared?_

_Lily cupped her hand over her mouth immediately. "Shush, we said!"_

_All four sisters remained quiet, and Misty began to feel herself cry. She looked around and saw that her sisters had begun to do the same._

_This was insane. Why were they all so sad?_

_Her eyes widened as she suddenly noticed the sound of muttering outside the door. She couldn't quite tell what was going on, but the distinct tone of grown people penetrated the quiet in the closet. She tried to lean in closer to the door, tears still cascading down her cheeks in hushed sobs, and did her best to listen. It was no use, though. It was all just too distant. She thought she heard a woman's voice somewhere in the conversation, but any thoughts about who was talking, or why she was crying, or even how she'd gotten here instantaneously evaporated as a thunder-like roar pierced the dialogue._

"_Ah!" She fell back from the door in the blink of an eye, her pulse racing and adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her sisters screamed too, and Daisy let out a low curse as all sisters backed as far into the corner of the closet as they could._

"_Come here," Violet whispered, grabbing her redheaded sister around the torso and pulling her as close to the trio as possible. "It'll, like, be okay. Daddy said it will. Just stay quiet, okay?"_

_Tears fell heavier and with more frequency as she nodded silently. Her ears were screaming in pain from the sound, and her small hands covered them in a feeble attempt to make them feel better._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"What's going on?"

The grunt panicked as his boss suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Oh! Um, well, it seems Gengar's using Nightmare. I think he wants to eat her dreams or something…but I really don't know. I've only owned a Raticate since I joined, sir." He quickly pushed a few buttons on the small monitor in front of him, trying to appear as if he was handling the situation.

"Get that thing under control!" Giovanni ordered, his voice rising with each word. "We don't need her waking up prematurely, you idiot!"

The grunt trembled at the bellow of his employer, and he nervously shook his head while pointing to the ghost type. "I-I don't think it'll obey me, sir. I'm not strong enough to control it."

The Rocket boss gave a grunt of frustration before turning his eyes to the poison type. The malevolent ghost paid no attention to him, however; he was too busy shrouding the young water trainer in a black mist as his eyes glowed an eerie red.

"You there, stop it!" spat the boss, momentarily gaining the ghost's attention. Gengar seemed to understand the power of the man after a moment's glance and nodded before ceasing the mist. He resumed floating and waving his arms to keep her asleep. "Don't make me come back here again," threatened the leader to the two, walking out of the room. He still had a few preparations to put in place before the arrival of their guest.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chris clipped the small locator back onto the side of his jeans.

"Dragonite, come back out!" Lance cried, hurling the pokéball high in the air. "Do you need a ride?"

Chris shook his head. "Nah, I got that covered, but there's one thing we need to do before leaving."

Lance gave him a quizzical glance. "What? Lock up?"

"No. Before we go, I better check up on our little prisoner," Chris motioned back to the gym. "I need to make sure she stays put until we get back."

Lance shook his head. "There's no time. Your Blaziken did a good job of tying her up. I'm sure she's not getting away anytime soon."

"I dunno…" Chris hesitated, looking back at the glass doors of the entrance. "She's supposed to be one of Giovanni's top advisor's, right? I just need to make sure she doesn't have a chance at escaping before the police get here. It'll just take a minute, alright?"

Groaning, the redhead relented. "Hurry up, though!"

"Right!" The blond ran back into the building, and Lance looked up at his Dragonite.

"You ready to beat up some Rocket grunts?" he asked, petting the top of the dragon's head as it happily bellowed at his touch. "This'll be fun, actually. We haven't broken up a Team Rocket ring in a while, have we?"

The dragon made another guttural noise and shook his head.

Lance stood there a moment longer, tapping his foot against the ground, before looking at the closed doors. "What's taking him? He was just going in to check on her."

He walked through the entrance and called out to the hazel-eyed agent.

"Chris, come on! We've gotta go!"

Finally, after another moment of silence, the agent's voice emerged from within the structure. "Lance, get over here, quick!"

The redheaded dragon-tamer turned and gave his monster a confused look before running towards the back of the building.

"In here!" Chris's voice came from inside the supply closet they'd been in just minutes before.

"What's-" Lance cut himself off as he noticed the cut wire and small knife laying on the ground where Mallory had once sat, tied up by Starfire. "Oh, you're kidding me," he muttered, covering his eyes in frustration.

"Looks like we underestimated her," Chris noted, getting on one knee and picking up the knife. He slid it in his jeans pocket and stood back up. "This is why I came back. I knew something was up. There was no way one of the premier agents of Team Rocket would have given up that easily."

"Well then, where is she?" Lance asked, turning around and examining their surroundings suspiciously. "Do you think she's waiting to ambush us?"

"Why would she do that?" Chris pointed to the broken back door. "She'll want to complete her mission."

"Then we need to get to her before she gets to Ash!"

Chris shook his head. "Not Ash, Lance. She's gonna warn Giovanni. It wouldn't make sense to catch Ash, since Giovanni wants him alive, but telling the boss himself will give him time to plan a counter to our strategy."

Another groan came from Lance, and he angrily threw his Rocket cap to the ground. "How the hell did she even get out? We've been standing outside this whole time! She couldn't have flown!"

"The building had a Light Screen and Barrier…probably used the psychic Pokémon to Teleport," Chris reasoned, rubbing his chin.

"Well that's just great!" Lance kicked the hat now. "What do we do?"

"First, don't panic," the hazel-eyed agent replied coolly, reaching for the monitor again. "A _healthy_ psychic Pokémon normally can't normally teleport outside of a fifteen-mile radius, and the van holding Ash is already six miles away. Chances are that whatever psychic type she has is weak after battling those grunts from earlier and from holding up those shields. I have her phone, so she's not getting anywhere quickly. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she just used the Teleport to get just outside the building without our notice. She'll probably take to the sky soon to beat the van back to base."

Lance took a deep breath. "So what now, then? Do we just follow Ash like before, or…"

"We can't. Our best bet is to go searching for Mallory first. We need to be there when they unload Ash, but we can't follow him until we find her. Who knows what could happen if she got to Giovanni before he did?"

Growling angrily, Lance stomped his foot. He seemed to be taking the snag in their plans rather hard, and the blond flashed him a confident smile.

"Don't worry. It'll all work out…it always does for me. Get Cynthia and Steven on the phone and tell them to head this way via Pokémon. Make sure they stay on the lookout for any trainers flying around over the city."

Sighing, the former champion nodded. "Right."

Chris watched him walk off with the phone in his hand.

_We better find her quick, though._

"Pikachu?" The small mouse Pokémon tugged at the leg of Chris's jeans, interrupting his thoughts. "Pika?"

The agent was surprised for a moment. The mouse had remained relatively quiet up until this point, and he'd almost forgotten he was there. "Don't worry Pikachu. Everything's going according to plan. You'll be back with Ash in no time."

"Pika," replied the Pokémon somberly as his ears fell and a small shiver ran up his spine. He could feel that something bad was about to happen.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Delia was busily sprucing up the flowers in the front of her small shop. She took a step back and smiled in admiration at her own skill. The roses, daisies, and tulips all complimented each other perfectly and gave her store on the street corner of Pallet's small town square a quaint, friendly appearance. It was always hard keeping the flowers healthy as the weather began to grow chillier in the early autumn, but over the years she'd perfected the formula to keeping her plants alive and well both indoors and outdoors despite the temperature.

After another moment of admiration, she sighed and began to make her way back to the store entrance. However, as she reached out for the door's handle, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Surprised, she turned.

"Yes?" Though it took a moment, her eyes shot wide open as she recognized the familiar face from so many years ago. "It's-it's you!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash did his best to remain silent as the trip progressed to the secret Rocket hideout. Though the grunts were making it difficult with their terrible driving skills, he forced himself quiet as they hit each and every pothole and speed bump in Cerulean, and he didn't even make a noise when he accidentally rolled onto the gun which was pressed into his side by the rope.

Throughout the entire trip, he kept thinking about why he was doing this, as Chris suggested. He found that it really did help, but he still couldn't quell the slight nausea he felt when he thought of using a gun, or even facing Giovanni at all. The man was, after all, the most powerful crime boss in Johto and Kanto, and if they did meet before his former champion friends and Chris could bail him out, he knew it would be a scary moment despite his resolve to save his girlfriend.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I don't see anything, do you?" Chris asked from atop his own Dragonite. He and Lance were both hovering over the gym, checking all directions to see if their target would pop up.

Lance checked a moment longer before shaking his head. "Nothing but buildings all around." He was about to suggest they give up when his phone began to ring.

"Hello?...Really?...Okay! Hold on till we get there!"

Hanging up, he gave Chris a knowing glance. "Let's go!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You clearly don't know who you're messing with," taunted Cynthia from atop her Togekiss. The two hovered directly in front of the blond Rocket agent, who had been surprised by the Champion's sudden appearance. "You really thought you were getting away?" She smirked as the young woman remained speechless atop her Fearow.

"I'd suggest you give up now and come quietly," Steven offered, floating up behind her on his Metagross. "You're in the presence of two Pokémon Champions, you know."

She looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment, appearing thoughtful.

"I don't think it matters how much you think about it," Steven finally said, breaking the odd silence. "There's no way you're getting out of this, so just-"

"Wing Attack!" She kicked her heels into the chest of her bird Pokémon who, before either former champion could react, successfully smacked Steven off the top of his flat-headed steel and psychic type. He gave a yelp as he began falling, and Cynthia immediately left her spot to swoop to his rescue. He was picking up speed as gravity pulled him toward the earth, and she decided to pull him next to her instead of risking injury by letting him fall directly on the Pokémon.

"Down, Togekiss!" she ordered. The wind began beating against her ears loudly as they gained momentum themselves, and she felt her eyes water at the sensation. Steven was just out of reach, calling out for her, and she ordered her Pokémon to go faster. Finally, after falling quite a distance already, he came within grasping distance, and she shot out her hand to reach his outstretched arm. Their hands missed the first attempt, but at the second try they're palms clapped with perfect sync and she took hold.

Gripping her hand for all it was worth, he quickly combined his strength with hers to pull himself closer and saddle in behind. Cynthia could hear his labored breath even over the roar of the wind, and she gave him a thumbs-up after hearing a shout of thanks. Feeling that he was completely on, the Pokémon abruptly pulled upwards, and Steven yelped in pain from the sudden movement.

"Oops, sorry about that," Cynthia apologized, as Togekiss began to ascend once again.

He shook his head embarrassedly. "No, I'm sorry," he apologized, quickly settling in behind the blond former champion. "I didn't see that coming."

"Don't worry, neither did I." She looked upward at where the original confrontation had taken place, and was unsurprised to see that the blond agent had used the opportunity as a chance to escape.

"Wait, there she goes!" Steven yelled, his voice a little hoarse after the falling experience. He pointed to the distance, where the young woman was zooming away as her Fearow used Agility. A streak of white light was all that remained behind of the two.

"Grab your Pokémon," Cynthia suggested, motioning to the concerned-looking Metagross which was now flying beside the trainers. "We're gonna have to catch up with her."

"Don't worry about it, Metagross," forgave the champion, recognizing the guilty appearance of his Pokémon. "You didn't know she was going to do that, and I know you would've saved me if Cynthia hadn't gotten there in time."

"Metagross," agreed the Pokémon, appearing relieved.

"Now return." The creature withdrew into its pokéball, and Steven nodded. "Let's go!"

Togekiss gave a small cry before flapping her wings rapidly and soaring towards their foe as fast as she could manage. Unfortunately, the weight of the two champions was causing her to tire quickly, and they were soon slowing down once again.

"She can't use Agility for long," Cynthia reasoned loudly to her partner as they watched the gap between themselves and the Team Rocket agent grow. "That bird'll get too tired. We just need to stay on her heels."

"I dunno, it looks like it's still going strong right now," mentioned Steven. "Wait, why don't you use Garchomp to catch her?"

Cynthia looked surprised for a moment. "Why didn't I think of that?" She reached for her loyal dragon's pokéball and threw it in the air.

"Garchomp!" announced the Pokémon, shooting out of its pokéball and doing a fast loop before catching up with its master and Togekiss.

"Bring that woman to me Garchomp!" she ordered, pointing to the now-distant silhouette. Being known to fly at speeds exceeding the sound barrier, she knew it would take her loyal Pokémon little time to overcome their foe.

"Gar!" he roared, zooming off into the distance.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_What a couple of morons, _Mallory thought with a smirk as she watched the two champions fade from view.

"Keep going, Fearow. Don't stop till they're completely outta sight!" She kicked her heels into the bird's chest again to get her point across.

"Row!" He sped up immediately and she smiled.

"Now if only that blond freak hadn't taken my phone," she thought aloud. Though, she figured it wasn't a real problem. Fearow was trained for getaways, and she knew his Agility would hold for at least another minute or so. She would beat the van by ages.

_And when he finds out… _She grinned at the thought of what her boss was likely to do to everyone involved when they reached the hideout. _This will be a good day for Team Rocket._

"Garchomp!"

"Huh?" Before she could even react, she felt body being pulled upwards and away from Fearow. "What's going on?" She grimaced as two sharp claws dug into her shoulders. She looked up and found two beady yellow eyes staring back at her.

"Ah! Fearow, save me!" Unfortunately for her, before her Pokémon could move, Garchomp sped hastily back to his own master, barely holding a grip on the woman with his two clawed appendages.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Though they were too far to see the specifics, Cynthia gladly recognized Mallory's disappointed figure hanging limp in her Pokémon's arms as he sped back.

"Great job!" she congratulated. "Let's get her to a jail before she can slip away again." She directed Garchomp towards the ground, but before her Pokémon could make another move, the agent's head suddenly snapped up and she gave the former champion a sneer.

"You're gonna have to do better than that to outsmart Team Rocket." She turned and bit into Cynthia's Pokémon's finely-scaled arm.

"Chomp!" he cried in surprise, accidentally letting his grip on the young woman slip. She began falling toward the ground, and Cynthia ordered her Pokémon to go after her. However, before he could make it, an explosion of light appeared from the agent's hand.

_A Pokémon!_ Cynthia realized as the light dissipated to reveal an Alakazam.

"Later you two!" she cried, still falling. "I'm sure we'll see each other again soon!"

Before the former champion could retort, another flash of light surrounded the two falling figures, and in an instant they were completely gone from view.

"She teleported!" Steven cried, shocked. "Did you see that? She just disappeared mid-air!"

Cynthia grit her teeth. This one was tougher than she'd assumed.

"She's definitely no ordinary grunt."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Did you see that?" Chris asked as the two approached Cynthia's Togekiss from a distance.

Lance nodded. "Looks like she teleported again…and the only place she could have gone is towards the ground." He pointed at the Fearow, which was now cawing and flying in random directions looking for its master. "She didn't go back to her bird."

"If that psychic Pokémon was weak, then chances are she headed for the ground directly beneath her, so let's go check it out!" He and his Dragonite began to descend along with Lance towards the bustling metropolis of Cerulean City.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

When the two reappeared, Mallory quickly took note of their location. Her tired psychic type had landed them safely, but she was disappointed to see he had chosen the roof of a large corporate building to bring them to.

"What are we doing up here?" she screamed at the tired Pokémon. He was panting heavily, but she was too frustrated to care. "Get me to the ground!"

"Zam," replied the weakened Pokémon, shaking his head before falling backward.

She rolled her eyes. "Worthless." She sucked the creature back into his pokéball. "Sharpedo may have a small psychic dessert after those stupid grunts."

She examined her surroundings and noticed a door jutting up from the plain concrete top floor.

_Must be stairs, _she reasoned, running towards the door.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"That's her!" pointed Lance. Though distant, the agent's black uniform stuck out in the midst of the grey concrete. "Let's get her!"

"Not without us!" Cynthia cried from above. The two looked up and saw the blond and grey-haired ex-champions approaching fast on top of Togekiss. "We figured she'd be around here somewhere."

"Right there," motioned Lance towards the roof. "Let's get to her before she figures out how to open that door." It appeared from above that the entrance to the stairways was locked, keeping the Rocket agent out. She kicked it in frustration.

Chris shook his head. "Go without me. Someone needs to keep following the van before it gets to the hideout."

Nodding, Lance agreed. "Good luck! We'll meet you there after we catch her."

"Right." With another bellow, his Dragonite spread her wings to their fullest extent and took off in the direction of the monitor.

"Come on!" Cynthia cried, grabbing Lance's attention as she and Steven headed towards the roof.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Why would this be locked?" screamed the aggravated agent. Finally, she lost her patience completely and threw out her next Pokémon.

"Tyranitar, take it out with an Iron Head!"

With a roar, the powerful Pokémon rushed the door, his head shining. Like a twig, the metallic door snapped and flew backwards.

"Stop right there!" Cynthia jumped off of Togekiss moments before it reached the ground, a pokéball held at the ready. "Make another move and Garchomp will take you out."

"That's right," Lance agreed, landing on top of Dragonite. He slid off the Pokémon and motioned to his Pokémon. "Dragonite's ready to crush some Rocket skulls."

Steven stepped off the Togekiss, grasping his own pokéball. "Or maybe you'd rather go quick and have Metagross blow you up with a quick Psychic?" He gave her a dark smirk, and she shot them all a hateful glance in return.

"You just don't give up, do you? Why even waste your time with me? Ketchum's already there, probably."

"No he isn't," Lance disagreed. "Chris is tracing him right now. You've lost, so just give up and come with us."

"Not until I complete my mission!" Before the three knew what was happening, she ducked and the large green reptilian creature appeared from behind her. "Hyper Beam!"

With another strong growl, the Pokémon gathered light energy in its opened jaw.

"Look out!" Steven and Cynthia jumped to the side, but Lance stood strong.

"Hyper Beam, Dragonite!" he ordered, pointing at the Tyranitar.

With a cry his Pokémon gathered its energy quickly. As Mallory's creature shot off his attack, Lance's did the same, and the two powerful beams of light temporarily blinded the three former champions.

"Ah!" The roof rumbled as the two attacks met in the middle, creating explosions that seemed to rock the entire building.

"Hang in there!" Lance encouraged his Dragonite as Tyranitar continued its assault.

"Togekiss, take it out with a Water Pulse!" Cynthia cried above the roar of the two attacks. She covered her eyes to protect them from the brightness of the explosions, but her Pokémon remained aware of her enemy's location as she shot of a powerful orb of water at the Tyranitar's side. Unaware of the incoming attack, the Pokémon was slammed sideways and forced to end his attack.

Tired, Dragonite ended his assault as well.

"Now come with-" Lance cut himself off as he saw that the doorway was empty.

"How'd she do that?" Steven cried angrily.

Cynthia shrugged. "She must have been using the Hyper Beam as a distraction."

"Rawwrrrr!" The growl of the dark and rock type instantly gathered the trio's attention once again. He stood up and began to slowly approach them, breathing heavily. He appeared very angry, and Cynthia felt herself take an inadvertent step backward.

"Lance, go down to the base of the building," Steven instructed, releasing Metagross again, who quickly unfolded his thick metallic legs and pounded them into the ground as it noticed the frustrated rock type. "Me and Cynthia can handle this guy."

"Okay," he agreed, jumping back onto Dragonite. "I'll-ah!" Another Hyper Beam barely missed him as Tyranitar continued approaching. He seemed to be holding a grudge against Dragonite.

"Water Pulse!"

Another shot of liquid pounded into the reptilian creature's side, and it angrily turned towards Togekiss instead. Climbing back on top of her normal and flying type, Cynthia waved her hands at Lance. "Go!"

Nodding, the champion ordered his dragon off the building.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mallory smiled to herself as she rushed down the flight of stairs. She could hear her monster releasing another attack all the way down the stairwell, and she was sure he would keep them busy long enough for her to get away.

Finally reaching the first floor, she took the emergency exit which set off an alarm throughout the building. However, she ignored it and stepped out into a dark alleyway where the sun's light was completely blocked by buildings on both sides. She smiled as the faint sound of sirens in the distance met her ears.

_The perfect distraction_.

She quickly ran out the alley and began to move against the flow of foot traffic that was gradually moving towards the corporate structure to see what the problem was.

"Stop right there!"

_No way._ She looked up and groaned at what she saw, realizing she should have released two Pokémon to insure they all stayed busy. Hurriedly, she increased her pace and Lance yelled after her, flying behind as the onlookers to the crisis in the business district noticed their Kanto Champion.

"I said stop!" he cried. He knew he couldn't use an attack while she remained mixed amongst the throng, but he continued calling out anyway.

"Outta my way," she grunted, shoving her way past what seemed like an endless stream of people. In the distance, she heard her Pokémon shoot off another Hyper Beam, and several people cried as part of the building began to fall in the wake of the attack.

In the distance, she saw a police motorcycle approaching, lights and sounds blaring. Smiling, she reached for her final fresh Pokémon. "Nidoking, get that motorcycle for me!" In a flash, her purple Pokémon appeared and gave a roar, startling everyone around it and causing several to scream in surprise and fear at the unusually tall and bulky version of the poison and ground creature.

Roaring again, it charged the motorcycle, and the officer on top appeared too scared to do anything as the monster approached. Skidding to a stop, the officer jumped off and ran away as Nidoking picked up the vehicle as if it were nothing and carried it back to his master.

"Return," she ordered, quickly jumping on and speeding off down the street. The lights and sounds continued blaring and people immediately jumped out of her way as she raced down the center of the city and towards the van. She knew its route, and was worried she'd still be too late.

Looking down at his Pokémon, Lance shook his head. "She just refuses to quit, huh?" He ordered his dragon after her, and with the street clearing to make room for the rumbling contraption, he closed in on the woman until he was directly on top of her. Dragonite's speed easily matched that of the overheating motorcycle's, and he ordered his Pokémon to pick her up.

Reaching down, Dragonite made to pull the young woman up by the arms, but right before he could, she swerved, causing the orange creature to miss. Moving to his right, he tried again with the same result.

"Come on, Dragonite. I need you to focus!" Lance ordered as his Pokémon's arms came up empty once again.

Nodding, his Pokémon almost grasped her collar, but was surprised when she came to a screeching halt.

"Huh-whoa!" Lance was caught off-guard by the move, and before he could prepare, Dragonite abruptly stopped to turn around. The immediate halt bucked him off the back of his loyal battling partner and shot him several hundred feet forward.

As his body hit the street, his Pokémon cried out in worry and raced with all the speed he had to catch up. Though his body had already hit the cement hard, it was continuing to bounce and roll wildly down the road as people cried out in surprise and ran out of the way.

With a great cry, Dragonite shot to him and grabbed his collar, picking him off the street and preventing his crumpled figure from taking any more of a beating from the unforgiving pavement.

Embracing his bloodied and unconscious master close to his own chest, the Pokémon forgot about their target and shot off towards the sky, beginning to give low sobs of remorse. He knew of only one person in the area who could help his trainer, and he put that priority above all else.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

With another battle cry, Togekiss shot off a Water Pulse as Metagross tried, unsuccessfully, to lift Tyranitar into the air with its psychic powers.

"It's no use, Metagross," Steven warned. "He's too powerful a dark type to be stopped by your psychic attacks."

"Look out!" Cynthia warned as more light gathered within the great beast's jaw.

Steven rushed out of the way. "Shadow Ball!"

"Metagross!" His Pokémon jumped in the way of the attack and unleashed the dark type move at the same time as Tyranitar let off another beam of light energy. The two attacks collided, and Tyranitar was knocked back several feet, but appeared steady.

Cynthia narrowed her eyes, realizing that something about this entire situation wasn't right. She had never seen a rock type that could withstand so many water attacks in a row, and she couldn't comprehend how this particular dark type continued to fire Hyper Beam after Hyper Beam without needing to rest or recharge.

_Team Rocket must have altered this one._

"Meteor Mash!"

Metagross's fist glowed brightly as it rushed to meet its opponent. In response, Tyranitar gave a loud battle cry and lunged forward with its own fists suddenly ablaze.

"Fire Punch too?"

_It's been trained to prevent weakness to steel types, _Steven realized as the two attacks met, sending both Pokémon flying backwards. Unfortunately for his Pokémon, Metagross seemed to be weakening while Tyranitar simply gave another battle cry and prepared yet another Hyper Beam.

"I got him this time!" Cynthia assured, swooping back down and standing between the Pokémon and her comrade. "Aura Sphere!"

Togekiss opened her mouth and shot several small blue orbs to meet the normal type attack head-on. For a moment, the two attacks appeared equally matched, but the combat came to an abrupt halt when they were suddenly interrupted by the sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air.

"This is the Cerulean Police Department," announced an Officer Jenny through a speaker system as the helicopter approached the top of the building. "Desist this battling immediately!"

"What do you think we're trying to do?" Steven shouted in annoyance, the heavy wind of the blades beating down upon their impromptu battlefield and forcing him to raise his voice.

The Jenny didn't seem to hear him, however. "We have the area surrounded. Turn yourselves over-"

She was interrupted as Tyranitar seemed to grow irritated at the blades' noise. Turning his attention to the flying object of annoyance, he shot off another quick beam at the propellers, which in turn caused the vehicle to suddenly spin wildly as it headed for the ground. Thousands of screams could be heard from below as the pilot desperately tried to get the helo under control with only one remaining blade.

Steven was the first to take action. "Metagross, save them!" He jumped on top of his steel Pokémon and the two flew off the building's top and floated towards the ground, out-speeding Jenny and the pilot. "Psychic, now!"

"Meta!" The creature raised its head towards its target and suddenly the helicopter quit spinning as it was shrouded in a dark blue hue. After another moment, enough space had cleared in the street for the Pokémon to safely lower the two. As soon as it touched ground, Jenny and the pilot stumbled out, coughing and appearing near death from fear.

Steven approached the two on Metagross. "You two okay?"

Shakily, the officer nodded. "I-I think so. What's going on up there, though? And why are you here?"

"There's not enough time to explain, but the Tyranitar's from Team Rocket. We're trying to subdue it, but you need to get these people out of here. We can't use our Pokémon's full strength as long as we're worried someone will get hurt."

"No need for that," Jenny replied, reaching for her walkie-talkie. "I n-need someone to take out the Tyranitar. Use tranquilizers."

Steven shook his head. "That won't work, officer. Tyranitar's skin is tougher than rock. A needle won't do any good here."

She appeared thoughtful for a moment. "Would a bullet do any better?"

"Well, it would certainly aggravate him more," Steven answered sarcastically. "His hide's too thick, and the last thing we need is his anger getting more out of control. Right now he's just concerned with me and Cynthia, but if people start shooting at him, he's liable to take his anger out on all these buildings with a Hyper Beam."

"Do you think you can take care of him then?"

"Yeah. Like I said, get these people out of here, and we can finish him."

She stood quiet for a moment. It was certainly against protocol to leave a crime scene and allow civilians to take charge of the situation, but at the same time, Pokémon Champions were certainly not average civilians. Quickly weighing the possible consequences, she gave the steel trainer a nod. "Okay, then. We're counting on you." With a quick salute, she ran off to grab a megaphone to get everyone's attention, and Steven ordered his Pokémon back to the roof. More explosions were appearing from above, and he wondered how his friend was faring.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"We've almost caught up, Dragonite," Chris cautioned his Pokémon as the dark van suddenly came into view off in the distance. They had been very careful to stay out of the sight of the drivers in order to avoid suspicion, and at the statement, Dragonite decelerated once again. "Good girl." He smirked as he watched the vehicle slowly lead them to the hideout. Team Rocket was in for a rude surprise.

However, his thoughts of revenge were disrupted by the sound of a motor and a blaring siren coming from behind.

"What?" He turned around and saw a police motorcycle racing down the road. They were now out of the city, and he knew that the police's appearance couldn't have been a coincidence.

_How did they find Ash so quick?_ he wondered, almost impressed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_Is this some kind of cruel joke?_ Mallory almost refused to believe what she was seeing as a Dragonite began to lower next to her, with the blond agent from the gym riding atop the beast.

She hit the accelerator hard and began speeding past the orange dragon. However, as was the case with Lance, the Pokémon proved too quick and was soon beside her again.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"No way!" Chris shouted aloud as he recognized Mallory. "How did you get past them?"

She gave him a small smirk, still accelerating. "Your friends are easy to distract."

He narrowed his eyes, worried about what she had done to his friends from the League. "Well, you're not getting away from me!" He reached for one of his firearms tucked safely inside his short sleeve. Pulling it out, he fired a warning shot above the woman's head and she swerved.

_Whoa! He's serious! _She couldn't help but smile at the thought of a real challenge.

Skidding to a quick stop in the grass, she kicked her leg over the seat and reached for Nidoking's pokéball. "Go!"

"Huh?" Chris jumped off Dragonite and landed in front of the two, his weapon still at the ready. The Nidoking was _very_ large for its species, appearing well over ten feet in appearance, but Chris stood firm. "Hate to tell you, but not even a gigantic monster like that can stop me. Now return that thing and turn yourself over."

She gave another smirk as his Dragonite landed and took a protective step next to her master. Though the Nidoking was much larger, she could see the dragon was ready to fight anyway.

"You'll have to get through my Nidoking before you can get to me," she taunted from behind the behemoth. "Think you've got what it takes?"

_If I can't get to Giovanni, I can at least stop this guy from getting to him._

Chris narrowed his eyes as the wind blew across the empty field they found themselves in. He knew she was just trying to distract him.

Turning abruptly, he pointed the gun at the motorcycle. Before she could react, two holes were shot into the tires.

"I know I've got what it takes…I just don't want to waste the energy on scum like you." He gave her a cocky grin before climbing back atop Dragonite. "Good luck getting back to the hideout now!"

He began to laugh as his Pokémon's wings expanded and she started to take off.

"Ice Beam!" ordered the blond woman from behind. Before he could think of a counter, Chris felt Dragonite moan beneath him as the two instantly lost altitude and landed in the street. Looking behind, he saw that his dragon's tail had been frozen solid, weighing down her entire body.

Growling in frustration, Dragonite looked at her trainer with regretful eyes.

"It's alright." He reached for another pokéball as Nidoking looked down on him from a distance. Quickly creating a plan, he called back out his Blaziken. "Starfire, take care of Dragonite's tail while I battle this Nidoking, okay?"

"Blaze!"

He looked back across at the poison type, and realized he needed to call out a new battling partner fast before it decided to just attack him. Running back onto the grassy area, he reached for the nearest pokéball.

"Let's do it, Milotic!" The twenty-foot serpentine Pokémon raced forth from the capsule, eyeing his opponent immediately and beginning the fight with a Hydro Pump; no hesitation or fear in his eyes.

As the rush of water raced towards her Pokémon, Mallory ordered her Pokémon to stand firm. "Giga Impact!"

Giving a roar, the purple Pokémon smashed its fists together. As the water hit his body, it was deflected by a white and orange shield that surrounded his body.

"Go!"

Giving another cry, Nidoking practically flew off the ground as he rushed the water type, splitting the powerful stream of water in two as his body crashed into Chris's Pokémon's.

Milotic flew backward as he called his name in pain. Ending the attack, Nidoking remained on top of the water type, and Chris took advantage of the awkward positioning.

"Ice Beam!"

Suddenly a rush of bright white and blue light struck the poison and ground type directly in the chest, forcing him to move backward and slowly encrusting his body with ice.

"Keep it up!"

"Use Ice Beam too!" Mallory retaliated.

Opening his jaw, Nidoking released his own ice attack, which met and matched Milotic's in strength.

_How could a Nidoking have such a powerful Ice Beam attack? _Chris questioned within. The species was not known for its special attack stats, but this one seemed just as capable as his water type with the freezing move.

"Milotic, move out of the way and use a Blizzard instead!"

"Blaze!" Blaziken suddenly called out, grabbing his attention. It appeared as if all the ice on Dragonite's tail had thawed, and he grinned.

"Starfire, use Flare Blitz! Dragonite, Ice Punch!"

Milotic swerved out of the Ice Beam's range and approached Nidoking from the side, beginning to unleash a barrage of frozen fury. As he turned to face the powerful ice attack, Blaziken lined up to the Pokémon's left, and Dragonite flew to his right. Starfire's body glowed as fire consumed his appearance, and Dragonite's fist was instantly covered in frozen water particles. At once, the two charged the creature, but Mallory didn't seem worried.

"Seismic Toss!"

In the blink of an eye the Nidoking somehow managed to grab both charging Pokémon, Dragonite by the icy fist and Blaziken by the leg, with his massive claws, stopping both their assaults and causing them to cry in pain. It then threw them into the pestering Milotic and forced them backward with a victorious cry. As the three lay devastated before his towering form, Nidoking turned his attention away from them, and instead faced the blond G-Men agent.

Gritting his teeth, Chris reached for his remaining three Pokémon. Enlarging the pokéballs, he simultaneously threw them into the air.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"It looks like they've cleared out the street," Steven called out, looking down from above as his Skarmory tried his best to distract the Tyranitar.

"Then let's finish this!" Cynthia cried, dismounting and returning her tired Togekiss. "Garchomp, come out!"

"Garchomp!"

"Pick up Tyranitar and throw him over the edge," she commanded, pointing to the green monster.

Without a second wasted, the ground and dragon type rushed down to meet his opponent. Using all of his strength, he managed to grab a hold around the dark and rock type's torso, and he slowly used the grip to drag him near the edge of the roof.

Unfortunately, Tyranitar was still too healthy, and he began to thrash about.

"Weaken him with Toxic, Skarmory!" Steven commanded to his flying type.

Spewing out thick purple liquid, Tyranitar became even more irate as the attack hit him directly. Finally, after a lot of resistance, he finally found himself free of Garchomp's grip. Turning around, he fired off a quick Hyper Beam which hit Cynthia's Pokémon directly, prompting a cry as Garchomp was shot clear off the roof.

"Garchomp!" Cynthia cried, running to the edge of the building with her pokéball in tow. However, as she recalled her fighter, Tyranitar took her lack of awareness as his opportunity, and he slowly raised his right foot high into the air.

"Cynthia, watch out!" Steven cried, already too late as an Earthquake attack suddenly shook the entire structure. The building swayed dangerously from side to side, as if it were made of cards, and Cynthia fell off the side.

"Save her!" Steven cried, releasing Metagross again, who was beginning to tire after so much fighting. "Psychic!"

Seeing the blond woman's falling form, the steel and psychic type responded with a quick grunt and a blue aura, bringing her back to safety behind Steven, atop Skarmory.

"Why does it seem the only thing we've accomplished today is narrowly avoiding death?" she asked dryly as the two floated around the building, watching their green opponent's breathing grow steadily more labored. It looked like the Toxic was the secret to finally wearing him down.

Steven shook his head. "I know. This thing is way too powerful. You thinking what I am?"

"Genetic alteration? Of course. I mean, look at how tall he is!"

Steven noticed how close to the edge the dragon-like Pokémon was. "Maybe we had the wrong idea with Garchomp. Why waste energy trying to pick him up when he's already that close to the edge?"

Cynthia frowned, understanding her counterpart's logic. "I hate to do this, honestly. Hurting any Pokémon in such an abused and tormented state seems so wrong…"

"But if we don't he's gonna keep rampaging," he reminded, pointing to the corner of the building which had already been sliced off by one of the dark creature's Hyper Beams. "You saw how powerful that Earthquake was. He's only gonna get angrier the lower his health goes. It's the city or the Pokémon."

Hesitating, she sighed and relented. "I know you're right. Let's just make this quick."

She once again called out her Garchomp who, though thrown off the building only moments earlier, appeared ready for another shot at his rocky opponent.

"Garchomp, just use a Dragon Rush to push him off the edge," she ordered, still melancholy in her tone. The creature gave another roar and caused the building to sway even more from side-to-side as she gave the command. "And hurry!"

"Gar!" Turning around, the two appendages on the dragon type's head began to glow a dark blue. Positioning his body directly at the opponent, his entire body suddenly became surrounded in the same-colored light, and in a flash he was flying directly at the Tyranitar.

From a distance, it appeared that the Pokémon was surprised from the sudden intruder, and it even appeared ready to start another Hyper Beam, but before it had a chance, Garchomp made direct contact with the Pokémon's large chest. The sudden impact caused him to stumble backward before falling completely off the structure.

Cynthia's eyes widened as she watched the creature fall over the edge and out of sight. A moment later, an unbelievable "thud" reverberated throughout the city streets below, and continued echoing for several moments.

Both former champions were quiet for a moment. "…well, I guess that did it," Steven noted, no sign of joy in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess it did."

For another moment, the two stayed quiet. Steven was the first to jolt from his reverie.

"It had to be done. Let's go make sure the job is…finished, and then we'll catch up with Chris."

"Right."

Skarmory flew over the building, and slowly began to hover lower towards the ground. As the two trainers approached the mangled body of the rock type, Cynthia did her best to restrain a cry of regret which tried to force its way out.

The Pokémon was laying motionless, its arms and legs bent in impossible directions. Its skin, likened to stone, was cracked and completely split apart in several places, allowing crimson liquid to spill forth from the open wounds and onto the cement.

She felt her eyes tear up, and Steven couldn't help the pang of sadness he too felt for the creature.

"This is why I hate Team Rocket."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"You've gotta at least make this interesting," Chris taunted as his Sceptile deftly dodged another Ice Beam. "Leaf Blade, Scimitar!"

The leaves on his forearms glowing a light green and rapidly expanding, the Sceptile took one last step backward before springing forward and knocking back the poison and ground type with a blow to the shoulder.

"Lucario, follow it up with an Aura Sphere!"

Holding his arms in front, the fighting and steel type shot a large blue orb at the ground type as Sceptile backed away, knocking the Nidoking even further back and forcing Mallory to sidestep her stumbling monster.

Chris narrowed his gaze, seeing his chance.

"Starfire, grab her!" he commanded to his now-standing Blaziken. The fire type rushed Mallory and quickly tackled the woman to the ground.

Taking notice, Nidoking turned to help his master, but Chris's Luxray stepped up with a Giga Impact to the beast's side, forcing him to topple over, and shaking the very earth as he did so with his weight.

"Good job, guys!" he complimented, pumping his fist in the air. Blaziken stood up, but held a firm grip on the Rocket member's wrists as she writhed and struggled to free her hands from behind her back.

"Nidoking, help!" she cried. As her monster began to stand up though, he was brought back to his knees as Milotic suddenly interjected with another Ice Beam attack. The water type had appeared dazed from the damage taken earlier, but now seemed determined as he continued to spray lustrous icicles at the weakened Nidoking.

"Yes! Keep it up, Mil!" Chris commanded, watching as ice began to cover his enemy's Pokémon's left arm. Slowly, the encrustation of frozen water started to spread, and he shot Mallory a wicked grin. "Doesn't look good for you, does it?"

He beckoned his Dragonite, who instinctively hunched over to allow his master to jump aboard. Returning all but Milotic and Starfire, he hopped aboard. Before he ordered his dragon type to take flight, he assured the two Pokémon that he would return to take Mallory back to Cerulean, and ordered them to stay there.

Nodding, Milotic continued his work of freezing the now-despondent purple Pokémon, and Blaziken replied with a sharp "Blaze!" while holding onto Mallory's wrists.

Looking up at him, she surprised him with a malevolent smirk of her own. "You realize you're too late, right?"

* * *

Author's Notes: I liked it. Ha,ha. I mean, it was really fun to finally write some decent action scenes after having to do without for a while now. However, I know you're all mad because I really didn't cover Ash or Misty at all in this chapter except for those little blurbs at the beginning. Don't worry, though, since next chapter is going to cover nothing but those two. I had to have this chapter though to explain what happened to the champions and Chris and Mallory. Most of y'all already knew something was weird after last chapter when Mallory went down so fast, but I had to clarify in this chapter that she really wasn't as helpless as she seemed…and obviously our group's plan isn't exactly hashing out like they expected. Also, since I know this question is coming, I don't know if Lance is dead or not. I've planned almost every twist and turn in this story, but I've never been able to come to a decision concerning what happens to him, so any thoughts would definitely be appreciated. Just so you know, though, the heavy-handed stuff isn't anywhere near over yet, and we have plenty more heartbreak (honestly, I'm saddened even thinking about what I have to write in the next couple of chapters) before this whole ordeal is complete.

Also, for those of you who undoubtedly shouted "What the crap is he talking about Delia for? You can't seriously be adding another twist! Rawwwrr!", first: You should probably keep your voice down if you're reading this story indoors. But second: Yes, yes I am. You'll find out about our mystery woman (or man) before this is all over with, though, so stop roaring and be patient.

Alright, I better let you get back to your lives. Until two weeks from now, later days!


	46. Getting Out Alive

**Hey Everybody!** It is really late, and I'm super tired after a really full week, so I'm going to keep this short. First, I am still in the process of getting back to all of your reviews. Please know though that, if you reviewed last chapter or this one, you will indeed be getting a response from me in the near future. Second, this chapter is the last chapter that will be a week late in getting published for a while. Summer break has finally started, and my workload at home is finally finished too, so I've got plenty of free time over the next two or three months to focus on my story and get regular two week updates back up and running. Since the last three updates in a row have all been a week late, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear this. Third, please read and REVIEW!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

After what felt like an hour, the van came to a stop and Ash's body was thrown against the backseat. He again resisted the urge to groan at the dull ache in his head, and instead remained quiet as he heard the doors at his feet open.

Natural light instantly flooded the inside of the vehicle. There were a few quiet seconds as he felt someone's gaze prod his limp figure. "Whoa, do you know who this is Sam?" a gruff voice asked.

There was a pause as the clatter of footsteps made their way to the back of the van.

"I dunno. He looks kinda familiar, but you know how it is."

"Well, believe it or not, I think we got the Sinnoh Champion in our midst…s'posin' I'm not mistaken."

"Really?" Ash felt a hot exhale blow upon his face as one of the grunts moved in closer to examine. "Yeah Jim, I think you're right. I recognize that mug from one of those big League contests they have. And to think, we were told it was just some kid. They really _don't_ tell us anything."

"What do ya think the boss wants with him?"

"No idea, but it just goes to show ya how powerful he is, right? I mean, he can even kidnap the strongest trainers in the world with no problem!"

"He's definitely well-connected," the man who was apparently Jim replied. "How about you slug him over your shoulder and we'll take him into the room the boss has set up. I'd do it myself, but I'm still a little sore from that little fiasco at that power plant a few days ago."

"Yeah, that didn't look like any bird Pokémon I'd ever seen." Sam breathed again on Ash, this time leaning in to get a grip around his tied mid-section. The gun dug into the former champion's side, and once more Ash muffled a grunt as he was slung like a rag doll over the henchman's shoulder. He could tell the man was quite strong by how easily he'd been picked up. "Let's hurry and get this over with. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we can get outta this town."

"Why're you so excited to get outta here?" Jim asked as Ash was pulled from the back. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to risk being seen conscious by the thugs. "It's a pretty place, I think. I mean, it's the city of water, and I'm actually from Cerulean, originally."

"Huh, I didn't know that. I just don't like it much myself. The people are too friendly, and it's too clean for a big city. Gimme Viridian any day of the week, where people keep to themselves and it's got a little dirt to show for itself."

"Yeah, I guess it doesn't really feel like a big city," Jim agreed.

The whoosh of sliding doors sliced through the air, and Ash felt the cooling temperature of an air-conditioned building surround his body as the sound of dozens of boots stomping across metallic floors permeated his eardrums. Along with the idle noise of footsteps and chatter, he also made out the sound of dozens of keyboards being rapped upon, and even more papers being shuffled. If he hadn't known any better, in fact, he would have guessed he was in a normal office environment from what he heard.

"Is that the kid?" a female voice suddenly asked to his right.

"Sure is," Jim answered. "We're taking him to the room now."

"Good to see he's already tied up…I hate having to do that. Makes me feel like one of the bad guys in those old-timey movies or something."

"Well, we're not exactly the police here, hon."

"I know…I just don't like it, is all." There was a short pause, and though he couldn't see the woman, he got the feeling she was sympathizing with his pathetic present form. Nevertheless, the next words came from her. "The room's been all set up, so you can dump him in there. I'll tell the boss he's here."

"Thanks baby," Sam replied gruffly, suddenly shifting his position and presumably walking towards the aforementioned room.

The sound of buttons being pressed came to Ash's attention as another door slid open.

"Be careful, Sam. Remember what the boss said about hurting him…I don't think he'll be happy about seeing what Mallory did to him already, so let's not make it worse by dropping the kid."

Ash silently thanked the Rocket crook for his friendly advice as, instead of just dropping his body onto the hard steel floor, Sam instead carefully lifted him off of his shoulder and laid him across.

"Alright, lock up and let's sign out."

"Right." The next sound to follow was the closing of a strong metal door and the consequential clicking of locks reverberating throughout the small room.

Fluttering his eyes open, Ash was less than surprised to find that the room was nothing more than four metal walls with fluorescent lighting shining down with an annoying buzz from above. Before him he saw the door that had just closed. It surprised him to find that it had no handle from the inside, and almost blended completely in with the surrounding wall.

_Obviously don't want me getting out, _he mused with a small smirk. The fact that they were being so cautious almost appeared to be a good omen in his eyes. _Giovanni must be worried about me doing something._

Sliding himself backwards, he leaned back against one of the walls and began thinking. He knew the former champions and Chris were supposed to show up soon and get him and Misty out of here, but he couldn't help but wonder if they'd be able to carry through on their commitment. Though he had his eyes closed as he entered the facility, he knew Giovanni wouldn't leave this secret hideout unprotected, and the thought of any of his friends from the League getting hurt trying to get in caused him to grimace.

Despite the fact that the thought of others suffering to protect him made him feel ill, perhaps the only thought worse was the idea of what would happen to Misty if they didn't show up in time. Left to his own devices, he'd have to somehow rescue the two of them and successfully escape the hideout unscathed. While it's true he had an army of Pokémon at his disposal, the last thing he wanted to do was leave any of his battling partners in the clear for getting seriously injured by one of Team Rocket's goons.

_There's always _my _gun…_ He cringed at even the thought, though. He loved Misty and he knew it, but he was worried about how he'd act in such a situation. Would he really _kill_ _somebody_ to protect her? It just…wasn't who he was, was it?

However, the thought of the alternative – leaving Misty at the hands of Team Rocket in the name of his "morals" – suddenly caused him to shake his head in disbelief. How could he live with himself if he didn't do everything in his power to stop the nefarious villains?

_Yes, _he decided. _If it comes to it, I'll do anything to save her…even that._ That thought also made him feel sick to his stomach.

Meanwhile, just several dozens of feet away, Giovanni had reentered Misty's temporary abode.

"It's time to wake her up," he informed the agent, who immediately replied with a "yes, sir".

"Gengar, wake her up now," he commanded the ghost type. As the purple monster slowly began to force the water trainer awake, the grunt looked to his commander. "Sir, despite the previous, er, incident, her vitals are perfect."

The redhead stirred, and the boss grinned. "That's good to hear. I want her fully aware of what's going on."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chris quickly pulled out the locator, and to his distress found that Mallory was right. The dot on the screen was no longer moving, and that could only mean Ash had already arrived.

Giving a quick growl of frustration, he called Dragonite to his side. "Let's go!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Can you get a hold of him yet?" Cynthia asked Steven, the urgency of the situation rising with every second. They'd meant to take off the second after defeating the Tyranitar, but had been unable to get a hold of their G-Men operative or Lance as of yet.

The steel trainer shook his head. "I dunno what's up, but they're still not answering. Maybe they can't hear it over the wind as they're flying or something?"

"But how are we supposed to help Ash if we don't even know where he is?" the blond asked, clearly worried. "For all we know, he's already at the hideout, and no one's there to save him!"

"I'm sure Chris has it under control," Steven assured, though he couldn't quell the same feeling of despair his counterpart appeared to be struggling with at the moment. They were supposed to all stay in contact with each other so they would know where to rendezvous. "Like I said, he's done this plenty of times before. He'll probably answer as soon as he can hear his phone again. I'll leave him and Lance a text so they knows we're looking for them, but for now we can use Metagross and Togekiss to go in the same general direction that they took off in." He pointed down the road that he'd seen Lance follow in pursuit of Mallory about an hour earlier.

Sighing, Cynthia agreed. Calling out her flying type once more, she silently prayed for a returned call soon. _We let Ash do this…he can't get hurt on our watch!_

"Off we go!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

_Maybe we shoulda planned a little better, _Ash thought as he continued staring at the blank wall before him. There was no way for him to know if the others were just about to smash into the hideout, or if they'd all been captured by Team Rocket grunts, and as the moments ticked away, he felt himself grow more concerned.

Mulling over the situation, he decided to play it safe. Ever so slowly, he turned the knife blade within his right palm over so that the blade cut against his glove. Raising his wrist slightly, he began to make fast work on the bottom rung of the thin rope binding.

He laughed a little despite the situation as he watched the thin threads of twine break. _Chris was right…this is easier with an adrenaline rush._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Hm?" Misty's vision was temporarily blurred as she arose from her slumber. She felt as if she'd been out for days, and she slowly yawned and stretched, reaching over to pull Ash closer to herself. However, she was surprised when her hand grasped nothing but air. Rubbing her eyes hard, she slowly began to take in her surroundings. "Where-where am I?"

She sat up on the cold metal bed implanted into the floor. She first noticed the Gengar staring directly at her, which was scary enough, but was even more surprised by the sight of a man sitting behind a computer screen wearing a Rocket grunt uniform.

Jumping off the bed, she reached for her waist. "Who are you?" Her hand was once again thrown by the feel of nothing but air as she grabbed for Starmie.

Looking down, she suddenly remembered.

_I was in the gym, wasn't I? What-what were those sounds? Was that Team Rocket?_

The onslaught of incoming inquiries was suddenly silenced as she heard another man clear his throat from behind. Turning on her heel, and balling her fist in anticipation, she was surprised once more by what met her gaze: before her stood the most hated crime boss in all Kanto.

She was speechless for the first time in a long time.

"I'm glad to see you're fully awake Ms. Waterflower. This is why I prefer Pokémon to drugs in these situations. You can control a person's Circadian Rhythm with a psychic or ghost type, but drugs are always a hit and miss. What if this whole show had gone on and you were left blissfully unconscious throughout?"

She was so confused. Beginning to feel dizzy, she clenched the side of the metallic bed, and muttered out a quick thought. "What do you mean 'show'?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough Ms. Waterflower," assured the Rocket boss, giving the girl a grin. "Now if you wouldn't mind following me, we have an appointment to see your boyfriend."

Her head was clearing. "You have Ash?" She narrowed her gaze as Giovanni's smile only grew wider.

"Why, yes. I believe we all have some business to take care of."

She let go of the table and stood straight. This was all happening far too fast. A minute ago it felt like she was standing in the gym, and now she was instead standing in front of the man who'd somehow kidnapped both her and her boyfriend. Wracking her weary mind, she decided that she wasn't going to just heed the older man's orders blindly. "I'm not going with you anywhere until I get some answers! Now where are we?"

"For someone who just awoke from near-death, I find you surprisingly unthankful." His grin never left his face, and Misty felt her heartbeat speed. "However, I guess there's no harm in telling you that we're near your hometown; Cerulean. Now, can we get going?"

She shook her head. "I still have more questions." Honestly, she didn't know why she was stalling. After all, he wanted to take her to Ash, right? However, she couldn't shake the creeping feeling that something was beyond amiss here, and though her finger couldn't quite be put on it, he seemed just too eager to reintroduce the young couple.

"I'm afraid I'm not going to wait any longer," warned Giovanni, snapping his fingers.

Gengar floated behind the young woman and lifted her into the air.

"Hey! Let me go!" she commanded, to no avail. "I said let me go you stupid ghost!" She began to physically struggle, kicking backward as hard as she could muster. In spite of her best efforts though, the kicks simply went through the dual poison and ghost type.

"Follow me, Gengar," Giovanni ordered over the young woman's demands for freedom. He walked through the door and motioned for the ghost to stay close behind.

"You shouldn't be so dismissive of my commands, Waterflower. I just want you to see your boyfriend. You'd think you'd want to cherish the moment."

Her screaming died down as the last statement swam through her mind. "Why would you even want to bring me back to Ash?"

_That certainly shut her up, _Giovanni thought happily, continuing his stroll down the side of the building. Various Rocket grunts passed by the two as they made their way towards Ash's room.

"I think it's only fitting that the two lovebirds see each other one last time. I'm not completely heartless, after all."

"What are you talking about, Giovanni?" Misty inquired, narrowing her eyes.

He came to a stop outside of a number code-locked door. Turning to face her, he gave yet another smirk. "Like I said, this will be the last time to see you boyfriend, so you shouldn't spend it screaming at me…maybe try to think of something poetic to say."

For a moment she was numb. It almost felt as if the words that were leaving the crime boss's lips held no meaning. How could this be the last time she would see Ash? It was as if her brain refused to accept the now-pending darkness of the situation.

"I'm glad to see you're taking it so well," he mocked, giving a small laugh at her confused gaze.

The mystery of the brain is an ever-changing riddle, and Misty realized this as the words finally began to make sense. Why it didn't happen before was unknown to her, but as she floated there, looking down at Giovanni's hateful gaze, she physically felt the realization sink in; as if a cattle branding iron was slowly pressing into her consciousness, the searing heat of the truth burning away the callous skin of naivety.

And then, just as soon as it all became clear, her eyes went wide and she suddenly felt herself lose control.

It was all too much, and in a flash of rage, she hated everything with white-hot passion as she began screaming at a blood-curdling decibel; startling all of those around the two, and even temporarily wiping the smirk from the Rocket head's mouth.

"Let me go! Let me go!" she cried over and over again, kicking and punching the air with all the ferocity she could muster.

All the pain and turmoil she felt rushing through her veins; all the confusion and frustration pounding and competing for her attention throughout her rattled nerves; everything was causing her to go into panic. How did this happen? She didn't know. Why would he want to kill Ash? She didn't know. Were they going to live?

…she didn't know.

She felt tears suddenly come to the corners of her eyes, and she kicked harder and screamed louder. She was the little girl in the closet again; helpless as the adults made their decisions.

"What are you gonna do? Why are we here?" She went on and on, but to no avail.

Regaining his posture after the unexpected outburst, Giovanni only laughed in return as he turned his attention to the number lock.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ow!" That was the fourth cut. Four cuts and he'd only disabled two rungs of the rope tied around his midsection. Though his palm was bleeding quite a bit, and his glove was absolutely torn to pieces, he shrugged and focused again on the work.

"Let me go!"

"Huh?"

Though he couldn't be sure, Ash could have sworn that he'd just heard Misty's voice beyond the door. However, after another moment all was silent once again and he quickly shrugged it off as his imagination…at least, he prayed it was his imagination.

He turned his attention back to the rope.

Though only the bottom two rungs had been completely cut through, he already found the grip of the binds very loose. He knew that one more would completely free him.

"I said let me go!" Another horrible cry from just outside. His heart began to hammer in his chest, and he took a deep breath to calm his shaking hands as he rubbed the rigged blade against the rope.

_That definitely wasn't in my head. C'mon, Misty, please just give me a little more time, _he pleaded silently, watching piece after thin piece of twine break away.

It was obvious that Chris's plan hadn't worked. It was up to him now.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"There we are." Giovanni pushed one final button on the pad and a loud clicking sound could be heard from within the barrier. "Are you ready to meet our guest of the hour?" He flashed yet another large grin up at his hostage, and she felt her heart skip several beats, forcing her to calm down from her repeated cries for information.

Truth be told, she was finding the demure attitude with which he was handling the entire situation even more unsettling than the words he spoke. He reminded her of a game show host waiting to reveal the prize behind the "mystery door", and the fact that he was finding such joy as he caused others pain was nerve-rattling.

_Maybe it's just an act, _she reasoned in her frenzied state. Her mind was racing, trying to see some light at the end of this tunnel, and this seemed like the most reasonable plan for escape. _Maybe he's just hiding his guilt. No one can force someone to watch a loved one die and feel okay with it, right? He can't be serious._

In a desperate attempt to save Ash and herself from whatever it was he had planned, she looked directly into his dark eyes, searching for some hint of sympathy or humanity that she could cling to; some point from which she could proceed to melt the ice from this clearly-deranged and bitter man.

But all she could see was hate.

His eyes reflected no sympathy, no kindness, and certainly no degree of willingness to set her free from this literal nightmare. If anything, the only word she could describe the look with would be "mirth". She was trapped here.

"I'll take it from your silence that you are." He stepped forward and the motion-processor detected the movement, sliding the door open. "Didn't I tell you I just wanted to bring you to him? You shouldn't have fought so hard to stay away."

Taking a quick moment to compose himself, he straightened his tie. "Let's go say hello."

He took a step inside the medium-sized empty room and gave the seated former champion a glare from above. "If I were you, I'd be suspicious as to why my girlfriend was so hesitant to see me. She fought me from the second she awoke, but I finally got her here so we can get on with business." Snapping his fingers, Gengar levitated into the room.

"Thank you for your services, Gengar, but she's no longer a threat. Release her."

With a nod, the poison type let go of the girl's arms, allowing her to fall to her knees before her boyfriend. Her head was down, and her fists tightened into balls.

"Ash…"

"Misty, are you alright?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. With so much going on, she just wanted to fly into her boyfriend's reassuring embrace. She began to stand up to do just that, but as she did, she felt a hand on her shoulder push her back down.

"I'm allowing you to _see_ him, not touch, little girl," mocked Giovanni, the grin still eerily plastered to his lips like the Gengar behind him.

"Hey, you let her go!" Ash commanded, his voice going hoarse as he yelled with all the strength he could muster. "She didn't do anything wrong!"

Turning his attention back to the former Sinnoh Champion, Giovanni shook his head. "She _did_ do something wrong…she met _you_. Besides, this isn't the time for either of you to be disregarding my commands. Not with so much at stake, at least."

She tried to push against the strengthening grip anyway, but as she felt the ghost Pokémon's presence grow closer behind her, she knew Giovanni wouldn't allow it.

Steeling her determination and forcing the tears back where they came from, she looked up and at her best friend. She was a little surprised by the lack of worry etched in his features, but nevertheless she instantly felt better seeing that he was still alive and well for the moment.

"H-hey Ash."

It was so odd to start _this _conversation with a simple "hey", but in her distressed state, she could not think of anything more sincere. She felt like her brain was going into overdrive trying to think of ways out of the current situation, and all of her attention was required for the creation of an effective plan.

"Hey, Mist." It struck him too as bizarre to start their conversation with such generic pleasantries while so much remained at stake, but his mind was far too preoccupied with slowly slipping his now completely-loosened hand to his belt without Giovanni's notice to ponder this for long.

After a tense moment of silence, a confused look crossed Giovanni's smiling face. "As I told Ms. Waterflower, this is the last time you two will be seeing each other, so I suggest if you have something more interesting to say-" he took this moment to reach inside his sport jacket and pulled out a revolver, "-you say it now."

Slowly, the thoughts swimming through Misty's mind began to slow. From the moment she awoke, she'd been struggling to grasp with how she'd been captured and how she was going to escape, but as the boss nonchalantly polished the handle of the gun in front of her, the reality of what was going to happen suddenly dawned on her.

More tears suddenly threatened to flow as he cocked the gun.

…_he's pointing it at me._

At first, she thought it was some strange mistake. That he was going to slowly turn the gun towards her boyfriend instead. However, after he showed no intention of changing the target of his weapon, she started to put the pieces together. Suddenly, it all made sense. Why would Giovanni have brought her all the way out here to watch him kill her boyfriend? She was no threat to his organization. No, the only reason he'd bring her here was if he intended for her to never come back.

"I assume you were expecting this to be directed at your friend, correct?" Giovanni gave another short, chilling laugh at the silent, confused look on the girl's face. "It seems like the smart thing, to those who know nothing of strategy. But it makes far less sense to me. You see, I kill Ketchum here, and another young, naïve trainer takes his place in the League and challenges my authority foolishly just as your boyfriend did. However, if I scare enough sense into him now, I never have to worry about that happening again…a little trick mother taught me years ago using _your_ parents, actually."

_My parents? _Honestly, so much was going on as she stared down the barrel of the weapon, Misty couldn't completely tell if she was hearing the older man correctly, and her fuzzy mind was already too entangled with the present situation to care why Giovanni was doing this to her. All she could think of at this moment was how her life was literally coming to an end right before her eyes.

_I can't believe it's just going to end like this. After all that's happened, I'm just going to die here._ The bleakness of the situation caused more tears to fall freely, and she gave Ash one more sideward glance.

"H-he's right, Ash. W-we should s-say what we want to before…before it happens."

Ash shook his head, surprising Misty again by his lack of emotion. "Don't worry, Mist. This isn't the end."

"Ash, I know it's h-hard to accept," she began, choking on the sobs forming in her throat, "but it really is. We don't have any little tricks or f-friends who can b-bail us out this time. I-I'm just so-so glad that it's me who he chose-"

"Misty, don't start talking like that," Ash ordered, his hand creeping ever closer to its prize. He felt his index finger brush against the red and white orb.

"Don't interrupt m-me, Ash. J-just let me say what I need to say. I've been afraid to tell you for a while, but I-I-"

"Now!" roared Ash, his right arm shooting out of the rope entanglements, a grown-Pokéball at the ready. A flash of light temporarily blinded everyone in the room, and the sound of gunfire, along with two screams of terror, instantly pierced the air as one of the lights above flickered to darkness. As the luminescence of the pokéball disappeared, Ivysaur stepped forward and gave the boss a menacing growl.

As the pandemonium from the sudden unexpected outburst died down, Misty was the first to react with a clear head.

_Ash!_

She first checked to see if her boyfriend was okay. After a split-second examination, she was grateful beyond words to see that Ash didn't appear to be the recipient of the shot, though she did note that some blood was dripping from his right palm onto the floor.

…_was I hit?_

She quickly turned her attention to herself, wondering if she'd somehow avoided feeling the pain in all the panic of the moment. However, after another half-second of examination, she saw that she too was fine.

_But then, where did he shoot?_

She looked to Giovanni, and was pleasantly shocked to see that the boss had the gun pointed in the air. Realizing that he must have fired the weapon to retake control of the situation, relief temporarily flooded her veins and calmed her mile-a-minute heart. For the moment, they were all still here.

"Recall your Pokémon…now!" barked Giovanni; his voice echoing back and forth across the room. He still held the gun high, preparing to use another warning shot as the grin from earlier was suddenly nowhere to be seen.

_I'm not letting him take control of the situation. I've planned this perfectly, and I'm not gonna let some grass Pokémon get in the way of my revenge, _Giovanni thought, seething at the interruption.

Though his heart was hammering in his chest from the gunshot, Ash did his best to look confident and cool after he saw where the weapon had been fired.

"Yeah, right."

Ash gave the boss a smirk as he noted the irate look on Giovanni's face. The fact that he'd shot the gun into the ceiling was clear indication that he had no intention of hurting him or Misty until he had the situation back under control.

_He's so obsessed with his revenge that he's actually giving me a chance to win this!_

Taking advantage of his temporary luck, the trainer pointed at the Rocket head. "Take that gun out of his hand!" Ash ordered, standing and letting the rope, knife, and gun fall to the ground in a heap.

Ivysaur growled his acknowledgement of the command and shot his vines out from under the large flower on his back. However, as the long vines approached the boss, Gengar suddenly interfered, grabbing both ligaments and shooting Ivysaur backwards with a Night Shade from his eyes.

"Saur!"

"Ivysaur, are you okay?" Ash hurriedly reached for another Pokéball from the vast collection he now held on his belt.

_Scizor might be-_

"Whoa!"

He was surprised by the sudden feeling of the wind being knocked out of his lungs as he was somehow shot into the air and thrown against the back wall.

"Good job Gengar. Now take the belt away from him!" ordered Giovanni as the ghost Pokémon finished his Shadow Punch attack and allowed Ash to hit the ground with a hollow "thud". Reaching down, the Pokémon snapped the belt off the trainer's waist and threw his fighting partners away.

"Ugh," Ash groaned, looking up from his knees at the tall ghost and poison creature, who smiled down with a terrible grin adorning his features. However, the smile disappeared instantly as vines appeared around his torso from behind.

"Ivy-saur!" Ash's Pokémon threw Gengar back towards his master, who quickly ducked to dodge the incoming ghost. Gengar instead hit the wall and then fell to the ground.

"Saur!"

The grass type followed up with a Razor Leaf attack at Giovanni's right hand.

"Ah!" His hand began to bleed profusely as the razor-sharp edges dug into his skin, simultaneously forcing the gun to hit the ground.

"Gengar!" The ghost Pokémon suddenly reappeared in front of his master, creating a dark shield to protect him from further damage.

Misty hurriedly moved away from the two feuding creatures and against the right-side wall of the small room. Truthfully, there was no where she could hide in this dinky empty area, but she still felt safer watching the battle from a distance rather than being in the direct middle of it.

Taking account of all that was happening, Ash realized now was the time to escape.

Struggling with his breath, he stood back up and shouted to Misty. Though the attacks of the two Pokémon were too loud for him to be heard, he was able to successfully motion to his belt, which was in the corner nearest where she sat.

"Throw it over!" he yelled, as Ivysaur now prepared a Solarbeam attack, and Gengar shot another quick Night Shade.

She bent down to grab it, but was surprised as someone grabbed her wrist before she could get a grip. Turning her head, she saw Giovanni wearing a bizarre grin as he twisted her arm backward.

"Ash, help!" she yelled, trying to get away.

"I'm coming!" he responded, coming over to take care of the boss personally. However, as he turned, the sound of an explosion recaptured his attention.

_The Solarbeam attack! _he realized as light and smoke simultaneously filled the small room and fogged everyone's view. Despite the smoke though, through the haze Ash could make out new light filtering in from the opposite side. _He blew a hole through the wall!_

The beam attack had more than one effect. Surprised by the blast, Giovanni's grip loosened to a point that Misty successfully slipped through his fingers. Turning around, she quickly kneed the boss in the groin as he continued staring in the direction of the now-blasted open doorway, forcing him to moan loudly in pain as he fell over and scrunched into the fetal position. Looking up, she too saw the light and heard alarms ringing throughout the structure as the smoke began to lift.

"They'll be flooding this place any second!" Ash yelled above the noise of the alarm and the grunts approaching the room. "Send out my Pokémon!"

"Right!"

Misty bent down and grabbed the belt as Giovanni continued to writhe in pain. Gengar was nowhere to be seen, but she stayed alert as she ripped three pokéballs off and enlarged them, throwing them in the air. She did this a couple more times, and soon, ten of Ash's Pokémon were crowding out the small room and filtering into the outside main area of the building. The sound of Rocket shouts and orders being made forced Ash to act quickly.

He bent down and grabbed the gun, just in case. Standing back up, he addressed all of his loyal fighting creatures and friends, who seemed confused as to where they were and why. "Everyone, I don't have time to explain, but I need you to help me find a way out of here! Me and Misty are right behind you!"

Almost in unison, the Pokémon began running from the room and through the building at the order, and soon the sound of opposing Pokémon attacks filled the air as the building around them groaned from the sudden inward pressure.

Misty grabbed his hand and led the two out of the room and away from Giovanni. They were following close behind his Muk, who made quick work of a Raticate that suddenly appeared and tried to surprise him with a Bite attack.

"Be careful, you guys!" Ash commanded, his voice growing more worried as a few gunshots rang throughout the building.

Misty gripped his hand tighter. "Uh-oh."

"What-how is it that big?" Ash was almost tempted to reach for his Pokédex as he beheld the single largest Electivire he'd ever seen suddenly emerge from a dark room on the other side of the building. The enormous electric type stood at least twelve feet tall, and appeared ready to take on an army as he pounded his charged fists together repeatedly, sending off shocks in all directions.

"Guys, watch out!" he warned as his Sceptile and Noctowl both closed in on the electric type. They were charging straight ahead, with Sceptile preparing a Leaf Blade, and the crest atop Noctowl's head beginning to glow in preparation of a Confusion attack.

As they approached, dodging the random computers and desks that stood between them, Electivire simply continued punching his fists together. More energy continued to surge from his hands as he awaited the assault, and the second the two came within reach, he countered.

"Vire!" The monstrous creature shot his fists out and instantaneously shocked both of the Pokémon severely, sending them flying backward well over a hundred feet and into the wall.

Sceptile, though badly injured, stood back up after rebounding, but Noctowl appeared completely gone as his body laid limp on the ground. Electricity pulsed throughout his body for several seconds, and Ash looked to his girlfriend.

"Try out the pokéballs and figure out which one is his," he said, motioning to the silent and crumpled shiny Pokémon. "We just need to get outta here, not stick around for a Pokémon battle. I'm gonna look for the exit fast and then we can get all the Pokémon back in their pokéballs safely."

Though they had been thrown into a tumultuous situation, his Pokémon had quickly gathered that their opponents were the Pokémon belonging to the Team Rocket grunts, and they were all now engaged in their own battles with several Arbok, Raticate, and Weezing.

Misty nodded and handed him several of the shrunken capsules. "Let's hurry. Giovanni can't stay down forever."

"He might with how hard you hit him," Ash flashed the girl a grin for the first time in a while, but was interrupted from continuing as more grunts with their Pokémon appeared from another random room. In the distance, to his right, Ash saw two large doors that could have been the exits. Though he was carried in, he remembered the vague sensation of being brought to the left side of the building. However, as more grunts swarmed in with pokéballs in hand, he began to wonder how they were going to escape.

He gripped the gun in his hand tighter, knowing that it wouldn't be enough to handle this massive onslaught even if he did find the courage to use it. He needed help.

"Ash, watch out!" Misty commanded, as the raven-haired trainer turned just in time to see an angry Arbok leap towards him.

"Ah!" He covered his face, but was surprised when, a second later, he didn't feel his skin being punctured by the serpentine Pokémon's pointed fangs.

"Tile!" Sceptile cried victoriously, standing on top of the poison Pokémon after successfully taking him out with one hit.

Behind him, Tauros suddenly drew up on his hind legs and then brought his front ones down with enough force to shake the entire building. The floor around the bull-like Pokémon opened up many feet deep and swallowed several grunts and their Pokémon.

Turning around and feeling confident as Misty unleashed even more friends, he made a sprint towards his Torterra, who was finishing off several Raticate with an Energy Ball.

"Hey buddy," he said, kneeling on one knee and whispering loudly into the Pokémon's ear as battles continued to rage around them. "I need you to open those doors over there, okay?" He pointed in the direction of the two large metallic sheets.

"When you open them, if it's the outside, get out and look for people who might be coming to help until we make it out, okay?"

"Torterra!" cried the large Pokémon. He wasn't Ash's fastest, but he was certainly one of his toughest, and if he was going to cross this heated battle terrain relatively unscathed, he would need to be.

"Tile!"

Ash suddenly caught a side view of his other grass type being thrown across the main lobby area again as Electivire presumably picked up where the two had left off. Though there were several battles now raging, it appeared that the electric type was still interested in finishing off his original prey.

"Sceptile, look out!" he screamed as the behemoth ran up behind his weakened Hoenn friend with his fists charged once again.

Unfortunately for Sceptile, he heeded Ash's warning just too late. Getting up, he made to jump from beneath Electivire's shadow, but the charged fist came down too fast, and as his body was slammed into the floor, the entire building quaked again.

Cringing at what he'd just seen, Ash ran forward to protect the starter Pokémon from anymore harm, but was stopped by Misty, who grabbed his hand from behind. "You can't go out there yourself! That thing'll kill you!" she cried with wide eyes. "I'm not gonna lose you here!"

"But I have to do something!" he insisted, pointing back to his grass type, whose joints appeared severely misplaced and broken. Though he was passed out, it looked as if Electivire wasn't quite done yet as he prepared another Thunder Punch attack.

"Tauros, help him out!" Misty cried to her boyfriend's normal type, who was standing directly behind the large creature. "Use Fissure again!"

The bull Pokémon gave a loud bellow of understanding before rearing back up once again. However, right before he came down, another bullet rang out, and Ash's eyes went wide as he saw blood suddenly sputter from his Pokémon's rear right leg.

"Tauros!" he cried, completely aghast at the site as his Pokémon cried out in pain and fell over on his side. Blood spread beneath his fallen body, and Ash quickly enlarged several pokéballs, trying to return his brown Pokémon with three different ones before finding the right match. At the same time, Sceptile was left to be pulverized once more by the raging electric type before being left in a heap on the floor as the Thunderbolt Pokémon went off in search of stronger foes.

Looking up from the capsule, he saw several grunts ordering around their Pokémon, but none seemed to be holding guns. It was impossible to tell who had done it, but a moment later, he heard another shot whizz right by his head. Looking to his right, he saw that Giovanni had managed to stand back up, and was carrying a firearm in his left hand as he leaned against the wall for support.

"Him!" Ash hissed angrily as another shot rang out and struck the exoskeleton of his Heracross, who'd been too busy dealing with three Raticate and a Koffing in the center of the lobby to notice. Though no blood spilt, the bug Pokémon clutched his abdomen as he fell over in pain, his leg twitching badly.

"Heracross!"

Ash pulled away from Misty's grip this time, tears coming to his eyes as he dodged attacks and another bullet and came to his friend's side. Getting down on both knees, he lifted the horned creature's head up and looked into his fading eyes.

"Heracross, you're-you're gonna be okay. Just-just hang on, okay?" He fumbled with the small pokéballs he'd put in his pockets, enlarging one after the other, desperately trying to return his raspy-breathed fighter, who seemed to be completely unaware of what Ash was saying as he looked up at the ceiling and muttered his name in a hushed, pained whisper. "P-please hang on, Heracross. We're not done."

As he sat there in the middle of the building, with only broken computers and desks and papers surrounding him, it didn't take long for the grunts to notice their target. They started to close in on him from all sides, but Ash ignored them all as he continued to whisper reassurances to his good friend and partner from Johto.

Fortunately for the former champion, Misty and his Pokémon _did _notice what was happening. Seeing them begin to close in, she quickly ran to his side, and all his Pokémon formed a tight circle around their master and fallen comrade, continuing the fight as Electivire and dozens of poison and normal type Pokémon pounded their numbers with more and more assaults.

Leaning in close to her boyfriend, she saw the broken look in his eyes. He needed time to process what he was seeing, but there was no time for that now.

"Try this one," she suggested softly, handing him a pokéball she hadn't found a match for yet.

Sure enough, Ash enlarged it and Heracross was gone in a flash.

"We've got you two surrounded," announced one nameless henchman from outside the ever-tightening circle of Pokémon that surrounded the two trainers. "Hand over your weapon and your Pokémon, and we'll return you to the boss as was planned. You're clearly outnumbered, so don't be stupid trying to act like a hero."

For a moment, Ash was silent. Getting off his knees, he stood up and faced reality. He saw the giant Electivire before him, and the army of Team Rocket members behind, and he knew that the smug grunt was right. There was no plausible means of escape with the six good Pokémon he now had out.

"Maybe we should surrender," Misty suggested quietly, sounding completely deflated after all that struggle. "There's no safe way out for us."

"I guess you're right." His will to fight was all but completely zapped after seeing what had happened to Heracross and Sceptile. He didn't know if either of them were going to make it, and he couldn't bring himself to let any other friends get injured in a hopeless fight.

"Saur-Ivysaur!" The grass and poison type suddenly interrupted his thoughts with a series of growls and grunts.

Looking up, Ash was surprised to find that his grass type was taking slow, intimidating steps toward the group of grunts and their Pokémon. As he drew closer, despite their huge advantage in numbers, Ash noticed that they were slowly backing up, and he couldn't help the small swell of pride that overtook him in the stressful situation as his other Pokémon followed the same action, slowly approaching the grunts despite the overwhelming disadvantage they faced.

_They don't care if they get hurt…they just want me to be safe. _Though this was certainly not the time, Ash almost couldn't help but want to thank all of his Pokémon for their dedication. However, he knew that there was no hope with their current situation, and slowly he raised both hands.

"You're right," he conceded.

"Guys," he looked up and at his Pokémon who had stopped their large act of bravery and were now staring back at him. None of these creatures, his most loyal and the ones he'd had the longest, could believe what they were hearing. Was their master truly giving up a battle? "I know that you wanna fight, but there's no point. We'd lose. Just return to your pokéballs that Misty and I are holding…but thank you so much for wanting to help." He felt tears begin to well in his ducts for the third time that day, but he couldn't help it as his Pokémon continued to look confused. They'd been given many orders in their day, but never once "give up".

"You heard your master," spat the grunt, grinning widely. "Get back in your pokéballs before the Raticate and Arbok make you their lunch."

"Vire!" cried the great beast from behind Ash. He seemed to be warning the Pokémon too. However, they continued to stand there, now looking less confused, and more determined in their features. Slowly, Ivysaur turned his back on his master and continued his steady approach. One by one, Ash's other Pokémon soon followed suit.

"Guys, I said quit it!" Ash ordered, using the most commanding tone he could muster. He knew their hearts were in the right place, but this was no Pokémon battle. There was no way his team could win.

_And if any more of them gets hurt because of me…_ He clenched his fist, and muttered a curse under his breath.

"I said stop it!"

At that moment, a loud explosion could be heard from outside the building, and everyone turned to look at the exit door. Though it wasn't open, it was clear that something had gone wrong.

"What's happening?" asked the grunt who'd confronted Ash just moments before. "Did the boss mention any explosives?"

A woman shook her head. "I don't remember him saying anything about that. Do you think it's the police?"

"No way! There's no way the police could have found us here. Hardly anyone in all of Team Rocket knows where we are, much less the idiots at the police station in Ceurlean."

"But then, who is it?"

"You go find out what's going on," ordered Giovanni, suddenly appearing in front of the two teenagers as the grunts and Pokémon cleared out of their respected leader's way. "I want to deal with these two personally."

"Yes, sir," barked several members, giving a quick salute before they ran off with their Pokémon out the exit. Soon, the entire building was empty, save for the Electivire, Ash's Pokémon, Giovanni, Ash, and Misty. All around them, valuable-looking equipment and documents laid askew and destroyed on the building floor.

To insure that Ash and Misty didn't try to escape, the dark-eyed man kept the gun focused on Ash. "Make one wrong move and I'll end it for you right here. That goes for your Pokémon and girlfriend too."

Ash grit his teeth so hard that it began to hurt his temple. This was the man who was trying to take everything away from him, and here he was taking orders from him. He felt the weight of the gun grow heavier in his hand, and he suddenly remembered Chris's words.

"_It's already loaded. You just have to pull the trigger."_

Giovanni almost didn't seem to notice that he was holding it, and as subtly as he could, he moved his right arm behind his back, while still nodding in agreement to the boss's commands.

"Good. Now the two of you get on your knees right now." He used the gun to motion to the floor and the two once again complied without a reply.

Misty looked over sideways at her boyfriend, wondering what, if anything, he had planned.

"Well, you've successfully made a full nuisance of yourselves." His voice suddenly sounded more annoyed than angry as he eyed the totaled facility. "I should have known you were hiding something. This was all just going too easily for it to have worked right."

He turned his attention back to the two. "Cerulean was one of our premiere targets for drug activity. Did you know that? We've been working hard the last year to establish a reliable market in this region so that we could expand profits. Do you see those papers around your knees?"

The two took quick notice of the papers as he motioned once again.

"Those were all the documents we had to record what we'd done. Those computers kept track of every ounce of every chemical we'd sold. It was all done over a year, and it took just a couple of Pokémon battles to destroy all of that work in a few minutes."

For a moment, Ash didn't know where he was going with all of this. His tone had mellowed, and now he sounded more melancholy than annoyed. "However, all of this loss was actually worth it."

He shifted the gun away from Ash. "It was all worth it just so I could do this."

A gunshot rang throughout the hollow building. Ash cried, and Misty fell backward. All of the Pokémon screeched their names in disapproval of the noise, and for a moment all was still as the barrel continued to exhaust small wisps of smoke from its tip.

* * *

Author's Notes: Like I said above, I'm keeping this short tonight because, honestly, I'm just really, really beat. However, I want to say that I know a lot happened in this chapter. I told PokémonPrincess a week or so ago that this was becoming my favorite chapter as I wrote it because of all the action that happened, but slowly that love I felt for this installment turned to hate. This was, without a doubt, one of the biggest pains for me to write because trying to capture all of the emotions and actions that happened in these latest scenes while not bogging the reader down in too much detail was nearly impossible. However, I am definitely proud of the finished product (I wouldn't have published it if I wasn't), so don't think that I just shoveled this out to you guys to make up for being late. Despite my pride though, I know it can be tough to understand in some places because of all the different thoughts and feelings of the characters, and I'm _positive_ some of the action sequences will be hard to get (since I myself had to re-read a couple of them to get what was going on straight in my head). So yeah, if you have criticism, please let me know, because I need to know how to improve my skills. Also, for those of you wondering, this isn't the end of anything. We still have a bit more to go with this climactic scene, but I will caution you now that you should probably check for clues in this chapter if you want a guess at what's going to happen next. Also, for those of you who are inevitably going to ask if Misty, Giovanni, Heracross, Noctowl, or Sceptile are alive or dead…you'll just have to wait two weeks! Sorry, guys, but you know by now that cliffhangers are my style. Anyway, I better let you go. Later Days!


	47. It Should Be Raining

**Hey Everybody!** Okay, okay, I know I still haven't replied to some of you, and I'm really, really sorry about that. Honestly, since it's vacation, I know I should be having an easy time getting through these installments and getting back to your reviews, but time seems to disappear quicker than you'd imagine when you're doing nothing but having fun. However, over the next few days I'm devoting myself to doing nothing more than answering all of your reviews, so please, if you haven't received a reply already, look for one in the coming days. As for this chapter: it was another hard one to finish. I just don't know why, because I know exactly what I want to happen in each of these installments, but when I sit down and try to write it out, it never sounds as good on paper as it does in my head. However, I truly believe the chapter I'm presenting you with now is honestly really good (after all the hours of work I've put into tearing it down and building it back up), and I'm happy to finally have another** two week installment up as promised after four chapters in a row being a week late**! Anyway, that's all I've got to say, so please, read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

Silence rang in the ears of the powerful trainers as they followed the main road leading out of Cerulean City. Initially, the heavy street traffic beneath the two filled the now-empty air with the welcome noise of angered and frustrated late-afternoon rush hour traffic. Even though neither one had said so aloud, nor really thought it on a conscious level, the sound of honking horns and the screams of aggravated drivers was a nice distraction from their current situation. However, though the streets had been cluttered as they exited the growing city of water, the further into the countryside they flew, the emptier the roads beneath them became, eventually leaving them with nothing but their private thoughts and concerns.

Though it felt awkward as they soared above the sunlit country in relative quiet, neither Cynthia nor Steven felt as if they could muster the will to discuss what possibly lay ahead of them.

To Steven, who was flying directly behind his blond counterpart, this wasn't a time for conversation; it was a time for action, and he was missing out. None of this had been in his plans, and he felt the anger boiling in his blood as he thought of Chris, Ash, and Misty having to deal with this on their own after counting on the help of their friends.

Cynthia wasn't so much upset that they were missing the action as she was that Ash was involved in it at all. She wouldn't have even allowed him to come had she known Chris planned on roping the raven-haired teenager into his rescue plans. Though she knew it was silly, considering Ash was grown, she couldn't help the sense of responsibility she held towards his well-being. After all, she _was _the Champion directly before him, and she was the one who had set him on this Master journey.

Of course, aggravating the situation for both trainers was the fact that Chris and Lance were both continuing their joint ignorance of the former champions' calls and texts. Why neither would just pick up for a moment to give their location was causing the anxiety levels of both the man and woman to rise to unprecedented levels.

Sighing, Steven decided to check his phone again. Reaching into his breast pocket, he pulled out a sleek silver device and checked the screen. Unsurprised to find "no messages" blinking over and over across the top of the mechanism, he rolled his eyes and put back the phone. Cynthia looked back for a moment, a concerned look still etched across her face, and Steven simply shook his head in return.

"Oh," she replied, dejectedly looking back ahead.

Another moment passed, and Steven decided that for the good of their collective sanity, something needed to be said. They couldn't remain silent with their worries forever, or they'd be in an absolute panic by the time they arrived; meaning they'd be completely worthless in the effort to save Ketchum or Waterflower.

Calling ahead, he asked, "Do you see anything yet?"

"Not yet-wait, yeah!" The shock was evident in the woman's tone, and Steven excitedly looked up at her, amazed at the lucky timing of his question. "Look over there!" She pointed towards the horizon, and Skarmory dove beneath Togekiss so his master could have a better view.

In the distance, a plume of smoke was rising into the atmosphere. "What do you think's going on over there?" he asked, looking above to his counterpart.

The blond champion shook her head. "I have no idea, but I have a feeling Chris is involved."

"Then let's go!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Misty!"

For just a small window of existence, Ash felt all time come to a complete halt. Everyone but him seemed stuck in their respective positions. He saw the smoke rising from his barrel; he saw the surprised expression on Giovanni's face; he heard his fellow Pokémon companions cry out in surprise by the sudden noise infiltrating the building; but most importantly, he watched Misty, with her eyes closed, begin to fall gracefully backward from her sitting position.

As soon as it had stopped, time began again.

As the drop of her head against the metallic floor reverberated throughout the destroyed Rocket center, Ash called her name once more as he dropped the smoking weapon. Without hesitation of any kind, he jumped up and ran the few feet over to his girlfriend's side faster than anyone could blink. Getting back on his knees, he raised her head from off the ground as he examined her limp body, tears flowing down his cheeks as he tried to find where she'd been hit.

Behind him, he suddenly heard Giovanni groan and hit the floor.

"Huh?" He turned and saw blood flowing out of the Rocket leader's left thigh as the older man cried in pain from the hit.

_That wasn't his gun!_

He swung his head back around to Misty, causing pain in his neck with the lightning-quick reflex. He double-checked every part of her body – almost unable to believe what he was seeing – before feeling the greatest rush of relief he'd ever experienced surge through his body.

_She's okay…she's okay…she's okay… _He started mumbling the words to himself quietly, still feeling the tears fall from his cheeks as he tried to comprehend all that had just happened. The woman he loved wasn't dead; he was fine except for a few cuts and bruises.

His Pokémon gathered around him and Misty as he continued to hold her unconscious body close to his own while rocking back and forth gently on his knees.

This quiet moment didn't last long, though.

"Ahhh!" Giovanni cried, rolling onto his side, away from Ash, putting pressure on the bullet wound.

The cry instantly regained Ash's attention from his beautiful girlfriend. It was so weird to Ash, watching the man who had caused all of this pain and misery now in a state of torment himself. He'd turned one of the trainer's biggest achievements into a complete nightmare, and he'd almost taken away the person he cared for most.

However, even as these thoughts raced through his mind, he couldn't feel happy watching his hated enemy suffer.

_Regret? _No, it wasn't regret. He'd have done the same thing a million more times if it was necessary to save Misty…in fact, he would have done a lot worse to save her. But not regretting the action didn't translate to enjoying Giovanni's pain.

He felt as if he was watching a movie; he was on the outside looking in at this scene, wondering how the villain must feel now that his plans were ruined.

As Misty rested in his arms and Giovanni growled in pain, the Pokémon, including the gigantic Electivire, all seemed confused as to what they should do now. The fighting seemed over to them.

Slowly resting her head on the floor after giving his girlfriend one more hug to his chest, Ash stood back up on shaking legs and walked towards the boss.

"Vire!" The electric Pokémon took a step toward the former champion. However, he was stopped in his tracks as Ash's remaining six Pokémon jumped in front of their master, growling and protectively standing between the brute and their trainer. Though not at all frightened by his opponents, the large electric type stayed calm as Ash bent down and retrieved the weapon from Giovanni's side as the boss muttered a slew of curses in return.

Picking it up, Ash examined it for a moment before throwing it clear across the expansive room.

_That takes care of that problem._

"A-Ash?" Misty's voice suddenly floated to his ears and he spun around to find her sitting up, looking about with curiosity. "Did I get hit?"

She looked down and checked out her body, confusedly trying to find some hole or blood on her clothing.

Despite the fact that she'd asked a question, Ash didn't answer. He couldn't.

Instead, he ran back to her and, in one fell swoop, picked her up and off her feet. Feeling her breathing chest press against his own was the greatest reassurance he'd ever known. A few seconds after he picked her up, he felt her suddenly wrap her arms around him as well, finally realizing what was going on.

Feeling the reciprocation, he smiled. "You're fine, Misty…I promise," he whispered into her ear, through her thick and messy hair. After several seconds of standing there quietly, the relative peace of the scene was interrupted by another explosion right outside the front doors of the building.

Both trainers turned their attention away from each other to examine the direction of the noise. Outside shouts could be heard as attacks and weapons pierced the air.

"What could be going on out there?" Misty wondered aloud as Ash put her back down. She looked to her boyfriend who shrugged.

"I don't really care. Now that you're safe, all I'm worried about is getting Heracross and Tauros to a Pokémon Center as fast as I can."

Misty nodded. "What about Sceptile?"

Ash's eyes widened, remembering the hit his grass type had taken. "Where is he?"

Looking behind her boyfriend, Misty pointed to a pile of broken wood and computer parts. "O-over there, I think."

Ash gulped, expecting the worst as he slowly turned to see the damage caused by Electivire's excessive violence. Sure enough, he couldn't resist the gasp that escaped his throat as his eyes beheld a sickening scene.

Sceptile lay on top of the destroyed equipment, completely still. His right arm was completely twisted beneath his body, his neck appeared disjointed and bent, his left leg was turned completely backward, and the long leaf attached to his left forearm had been ripped off.

Unable to restrain himself, Ash sprinted again, new fear and worry blossoming in his chest as he hit his knees for the third time. He quickly examined his reptilian Pokémon and knew that the outlook wasn't good. He didn't see the stomach of his favored grass type rising or falling, and when he held his hand to the Pokémon's chest, he felt only the faintest sign of a heartbeat beneath the Pokémon's scaled-skin.

Misty rushed to her boyfriend's side, holding several pokéballs that had come from the belt and that had been dropped on the floor. Enlarging them, she tried several. For some reason, she just had to take the pathetic site away from their vision; as if by withdrawing the powerful Pokémon, the damage he took from the battle wouldn't be real.

After several failed attempts, one of the pokéball's beams struck the Hoenn starter head-on, and dissolved him into a red light.

"Ash…I'm so sorry, Ash," she muttered after putting the hurt Pokémon out of sight. "I can't believe-I just don't know-I-I've never seen something like this before." Though the hurt Pokémon were back in their respective pokéballs, the images were still fresh in each of the trainers' minds.

Noctowl being shot backward by a severe electrical jolt; Tauros, rising up just as he was shot in the leg; Heracross being shot through the chest; Sceptile being pummeled into the ground without mercy. The images repeated themselves dozens of times in a matter of seconds as Ash remained seated on his knees and Misty stood with her hand attached to his shoulder. Neither of them had been ready for this.

And then, the worst thought of all hit Ash. What if something had happened to Pikachu too?

He shook his head. He wanted to cry again, but suddenly he felt his body refuse the comfort. His eyes remained dry as he continued to shake his head, wondering what happened, what he had done to deserve all of this heartbreak.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Is this all you've got, seriously?" Chris mocked as his Sceptile took out three more Arbok with a single Night Slash attack. The darkened leaf upon his forearm lightened as the grass Pokémon landed and looked behind to find a Weezing approaching fast, spouting poison smoke in every direction.

"Pikachu, they're right through those doors," Chris whispered to the yellow Pokémon still perched upon his shoulder. Chris had refused to order Pikachu into any of these fights or the fight against the Nidoking from earlier in spite of his obvious strength out of principle. He couldn't imagine the look on Ash's face if he had to tell him that he'd gotten his starter and best friend hurt. As he looked ahead and saw the large steel doors in the distance, though, he knew Pikachu could make it back to his trainer safely.

"I think we've got their entire army out here." Raising his voice, he pointed towards the entrance. "Go through those doors and find Ash!"

"Pika!" nodded the small yellow Pokémon, eagerly bouncing off the blond-haired G-Men member. Landing on all fours, the thought of being back with Misty and Ash flashed through his mind, and he sparked his cheeks as he charged ahead.

Several Pokémon tried to get in his way as he approached the large entrance doors, but he quickly protected himself by covering his entire body with an electrical charge in a powerful Volt Tackle as he got closer. Several Raticate were blown backward after trying to get near the mouse Pokémon, and within a few short milliseconds, the electric type was within striking distance of his target.

"Chu!" With a burst of energy, Ash's first Pokémon rammed through the large doors, blowing them backward as he continued to run forward.

He instantly noticed that it was different in here. The air reeked of a foul stench, and many of the above lights were damaged or gone completely, meaning it was much darker inside the large building than it was just outside. Despite the sudden ambiance shift, he continued rushing forward, dodging pieces of loose furniture or broken computers as he searched for his best friend and master.

At the sound of the doors being brought down, both Ash and Misty turned to see what was going on. For a moment, all they could make out was a yellow blur, but as the blur got closer, Ash gave another rare smile.

"Pikachu!" he cried happily running towards his Pokémon and holding his arms wide open.

"Pika-pi!" exclaimed the mouse excitedly at the site of his master. He sped up even more as he dropped the electrical charge surrounding his body. Running into Ash's arms, he forced his master to the ground as he rubbed his head into his friend's chest. For the moment, he was just savoring the reunion after worrying he would never see his best friend again.

"I'm so glad to see you too, buddy," Ash commented, hugging his original Pokémon as tightly as he could. Though the moment immediately before the yellow creature's entrance had been one of solemn remorse and depression, seeing that Pikachu was still okay immediately made Ash feel a lot better.

"Wait a minute," Ash said after another moment of hugging. He turned to Misty, who had joined the two in a group hug. "If Pikachu's here, then that must mean that the others finally made it too!"

"That would explain the noise!" Misty realized suddenly. "They must be fighting to get inside and the Rockets are trying to keep them out!"

"Well then, let's get outta here quick! The sooner we get out, the sooner we can all leave and get the Pokémon the help they need!"

"Right!"

He stood alongside his girlfriend, Pikachu still in his arms. Looking over to his Pokémon who were still left out, he motioned them towards the exit. "Come on you guys! Let's leave!"

Nodding, the Pokémon waited for Misty and Ash to pass before they followed after in a mad dash. However, the group of eleven was stopped by the sound of another gunshot ringing through the air.

Turning around in a panic, Ash saw Giovanni sitting up and smiling as another pistol was pointed towards the ceiling. "How do you have that thing?" he asked bitterly, taking a bold step towards the crime boss as he examined the gun. "I threw yours all the way over there!" He pointed in the former gun's general direction.

"You don't think I wouldn't remember to carry a spare, would you?" he asked, somehow managing a sarcastic grin through the pain as his leg continued to stew in a puddle of its own blood. "I'm not stupid, you know. Did you think just a little shot in the leg would cause me to give up my plans?"

Ash and Misty continued to stare blankly at the older man. Neither was able to believe what they were seeing. They could actually see the open exit doors, just teasing them with freedom from this hellish nightmare, yet here they were, still stuck and forced under the will of this deranged criminal.

Slowly, Ash put Pikachu down and brought his arms up, out of ideas as his Pokémon growled at Giovanni once again. Unfortunately for Ash, the large Electivire had also returned to his former self, punching his fists together menacingly and threatening all of the Pokémon about the danger they faced if they tried to approach his master.

Misty followed her boyfriend's lead, putting her hands back in the air, apparently too surprised to even utter a discouraged word at this point.

His heart racing, Ash tried to think of something, anything, to get himself, Misty, and the Pokémon all out safely. In the corner of his eye, he saw Misty's hands up, and to Giovanni's right, he saw the gun he'd dropped just a few minutes before.

For the rest of his life, no matter what happened from here on out, he knew he would never be able to forgive himself for dropping his weapon so hastily.

Turning to see his girlfriend one last time, a final strategy flashed in his mind. He felt the same light bulb that normally only went off during difficult battles flash as he looked at his surroundings.

_Maybe it'll work…_

"Just let her go," he requested, facing Misty as she turned her head in surprise. "No matter what you do, I'm never going to do what you want, so you may as well let her live and just take me out now."

"Ash, no, don't do that." She looked back at Giovanni with clear eyes and a suddenly-strong voice. "Keep me here and let him go, Giovanni," she requested, lowering her hands.

"I'm the one you wanted to take out anyway, so why keep us both hostage? Ash will learn his lesson, and I promise that he won't ever interfere in your plans again."

"Misty!" Ash cried, panicking. "What are you talking about? I'll never give into him."

He shot Giovanni the most hate-filled stare he could muster. "If you touch her, I won't rest until I take you down, I swear! Just take me out now and leave her alone and you'll be rid of your greatest enemy forever!"

Giovanni gave the former champion a forced smirk, obviously still in a tumult of pain from the gushing wound in his thigh.

"That's so sweet. The two young lovers trying to sacrifice themselves for the other's sake. It's very poetic, if I do say so m-myself." He stopped to take a quick breath. Ash noticed large droplets of sweat beginning to form on his brow. "You-you'd like that, wouldn't you Ketchum? Have one witness so that after this is all over someone can try to take me to court again, hm? Well, I can assure you that will not happen under my watch! I'm changing my plans…I'll risk a new champion taking your place, but first I want to see you suffer."

As he hissed the final words of his small monologue, he pointed the gun forward, and Ash felt his body, as if of its own accord, jump in front of Misty's.

"Pika!"

"Oomph!"

Sensing the impending danger, Pikachu suddenly latched onto his friend's chest as he stood, arms out, in front of his girlfriend. The small Pokémon spread his body across his master's torso, trying his best to cover him from the incoming bullet as his small claws gripped the fabric of his shirt.

As they stood there, waiting for fate to arrive, Ash's Pokémon were doing their best to get to Giovanni from all angles. Unfortunately for them, Electivire was simply too powerful as he released tens of thousands of volts in their general direction every time they drew near. Torterra and Glalie both tried shooting off Energy Balls and Ice Beams, but both attacks were quickly nullified by a Light Screen produced by the large Pokémon. It seemed that the creature was simply invincible, making his master just as untouchable.

Giovanni's smile remained as all three braced for the impact. "I guess you want this done the hard way. V-very well then." He pressed his finger down on the trigger and the sound of a bullet being released from its chamber echoed throughout the facility. Ash, Misty, and Pikachu all felt their bodies instinctively tense at the noise, expecting the worst as the bullet presumably raced towards them.

"Saur!"

"Huh?" For several seconds, he was simply too nervous to open his eyes, but slowly, he managed to force apart his clenched right eyelids just enough to see Ivysaur standing in front of them.

Though by itself this was surprising enough, what was even more astounding was the blue shield that had appeared in front if his grass type as he took his ground between the criminal and his master.

"What's going on?" Misty whispered a moment later, looking over the shoulder of her boyfriend. Pikachu was silently turned around and staring at the half-poison type too, apparently amazed at their last-minute savior's action.

"I-I think Ivysaur learned Protect," Ash muttered, pleasantly surprised by the intrusion. Ivysaur continued muttering its name at Giovanni as the Rocket boss looked on in surprise for a moment.

Shaking his head, he turned to Electivire. "Take care of that pest!"

"Vire!" agreed his Pokémon, charging his fists once more as he headed towards the Kanto starter.

"Ivysaur, watch out!" Ash cried, holding onto Pikachu as the electric mouse tried to jump from his arms to intervene in the battle.

Before the large electric Pokémon could reach out and grab Ivysaur, Donphan suddenly appeared using his signature Rollout attack to push Electivire out of the way. The ground type had apparently been waiting for an opening, and as the electric Pokémon stumbled to the side, he gave a quick victory cry. Despite the swift rock type attack though, the massive Rocket Pokémon managed to quickly regain his balance. Pivoting on his left foot, he landed a direct punch on Donphan's trunk and sent the elephantine Pokémon flying backward.

Turning back to Ivysaur, he recharged his fist and growled his name at the grass Kanto Pokémon.

Incensed by whatever it was Electivire said, Ivysaur replied with a gruff "Saur!" and began to glow bright white.

Though it took a moment in all the confusion to understand, Misty looked on in wonder as she processed what was happening. "I-is he evolving?"

"I said get him!" spat Giovanni, furious as Ivysaur's form began to grow before their eyes.

"Ivysaur, way to go!" Ash complimented, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. Pikachu mirrored his action as he cheered for his longtime friend.

Misty jumped out from behind Ash, shaking her head. "Crawdaunt use Crabhammer!"

Though Ash was at first confused as to her command, he realized its purpose when he realized Electivire was preparing to charge his Pokémon again.

"Craw!" cried Ash's Pokémon. He had been standing directly behind Giovanni's Pokémon, and at Misty's order, he used his bottom four appendages to leap high enough into the air to bring down his water-logged claw on top of his the electric Pokémon's head.

Electivire cried out his name and swerved back and forth in a dizzying pain as Ivysaur completed his transformation.

"Venusaur," grumbled the large Pokémon, looking over at his opponent. The second the two locked eyes, his body began to glow green, and suddenly spiked vines emerged from beneath the metallic flooring, surrounding Electivire completely.

Enraged, the electric type pounded his fists against the vines, but to no avail. The roots were extremely thick, and the electric type seemed absolutely helpless as his master continued to give unheeded orders.

"That's awesome!" Ash cried happily. "Now take the gun away from Giovanni, Venusaur!"

"Saur!" A dozen vines shot out from beneath the large grass type's flower at once, all racing towards the crime boss.

"No you don't!" he shouted, letting out another screaming bullet at one of the vines.

"Venusaur!" cried Ash and Misty simultaneously, as Pikachu called out to him in his native tongue. Unfortunately for Ash's Pokémon, the crying was to no avail as one of the vines was shot off his body completely. A green liquid oozed out of the vine's tip, and the Pokémon retreated his precious appendages quickly.

"Misty, find his pokéball!" Ash ordered, rummaging through his own, trying to find the one that belonged to his previous-Ivysaur. "Hurry! He looks hurt!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Misty replied, pointing capsule after capsule at Ash's creature, trying to force him into a withdrawal. "I can't find the right one!"

"I've had enough of this foolishness!" Giovanni yelled, regaining the trainers' attention.

To their surprise, the remaining Pokémon that Ash had out had all rushed to their friend's aid, forming a wall between the older man and Venusaur.

"Take this!" He began shooting off randomly into the crowd of Pokémon and they all cried at once, along with Ash and Misty, who'd given up looking for Venusaur's pokéball and were instead just randomly pointing each of the capsules toward the army of creatures before them, hoping desperately that the beams would latch on to their assigned animal.

"Saur!" bellowed the grass and poison type again. Suddenly, another blue shield appeared, but this time it was much larger and covered all the Pokémon standing in front of him.

"Found one!" Misty cried happily as Torterra returned to his respective pokéball.

"Me too!" Ash cheered, bringing Donphan back. "Keep up the good work, Bulba-I mean-Venusaur!"

Pikachu too grabbed a random pokéball from off the ground and pointed it at the group, successfully recalling Crawdaunt.

"There goes Glalie and Gabite!" Ash announced. "But where's Venusaur's?" He looked around, unable to find the Pokémon's ball anywhere.

Misty quickly got on her knees in search of the missing sphere. Giovanni just shot his fourth bullet, and the Protect looked like it was weakening.

"Vire!" To their left, the large electric type made a sudden reappearance, finally finding a weak spot in the spiked vines. Breaking out, he instantly rushed Venusaur's protective shield with a massive Giga Impact attack.

"Venusaur, stay strong!" Ash encouraged as the grass type was knocked several feet backward. The Protect remained, but its luminescent blue was quickly fading. Venusaur grunted again as he heard Ash's encouragement. Using all the strength he had, he pushed against the Impact, forcing Electivire backward.

Another gunshot rang out, and the shield finally disappeared from view altogether.

"Finally," Giovanni declared, still seated due to his bum leg. "I'll take care of you first!"

"Venusaur!" Ash called running towards his Pokémon with Pikachu by his side. However, before either of them could make the short run to their friend, they, along with Misty were suddenly picked up by the ankle and held upside down by the grass type's vines.

Venusaur turned around, looking at his three friends as a dim blue shield appeared behind him. Elecitivire quickly began punching the shield once more, and the grass and poison type grimaced as his attack faltered.

"Venusaur, quick! Come with us!" Ash invited, motioning to the exit while hanging upside down.

"C'mon Venusaur, hurry!" Misty urged.

"Pikachu-pika!"

Slowly, and still flinching from the assaults on his shield, Venusaur shook his head.

"Saur," he drawled slowly, expanding his vines and pushing his friends towards the doorway. Outside, the sounds of battle continued to ring out.

"No, Venusaur!" Ash cried, suddenly realizing what his Pokémon was trying to do. "We're not leaving you here alone! I command you to put me down!" He began struggling; tugging and pulling at the green plant wrapped around his leg.

It was no use, though. The vines continued to lengthen, slowly dragging their unwilling passengers closer to safety as the blue shield dimmed once again.

Pikachu began sobbing loudly. "Pika!"

"Venusaur, don't do this!" Misty cried out, her eyes watering as she watched the Seed Pokémon's own eyes begin to well with tears. Whether they were from pain or sorrow, she didn't know, but the scene as Ash tried relentlessly to get out of his Pokémon's strong grip was heart-breaking.

Finally, the three were all at the entranceway. With a final grunt of exertion, Venusaur threw all of them out at once onto the dirt road. Stopping the trio from reentering with his vines, the last Ash saw of his beloved first grass type was the blue shield disappearing completely, and the sound of Giovanni unloading one final bullet.

"No!" Ash screamed, pressing against the vines that sealed the doorway shut. "No, you can't!" He beat and kicked the thick plant appendages, but to no avail. Even in death, his loyal Pokémon was too stubborn to be moved.

He didn't stop, though. Ignoring the ongoing battles behind him, he put all his focus on screaming his Pokémon's name repeatedly through the thick vines; as if maybe he could yell loud enough to reach him on the other side.

As his voice grew hoarse, another one caught the three of them by surprise.

"Ash! It's him, you guys!" Cynthia announced over the fighting that was raging.

Misty turned to see Cynthia, Steven, and Chris all fighting dwindling numbers of Rocket grunts. Only a few Pokémon remained, and Cynthia hurriedly defeated a small herd of Raticate that challenged her Garchomp before rushing forward. She turned Ash around, and was less than surprised to find tears streaming down his cheeks.

"What happened in there?" she asked, gripping Ash's arms as tightly as she could. "Are you hurt?"

Ash just continued crying, now unable to find the strength to explain what had taken place. He couldn't do it, and so he just lowered his hat and cried silently; feeling more and more pathetic with every teardrop that cascaded.

Seeing her boyfriend's state, the water trainer tried to intervene on his behalf.

"Giovanni just…" However, Misty didn't even know how to explain what had taken place. Giovanni hadn't "just" done anything. He'd taken away Pokémon, companions, and most importantly, friends. He had kidnapped her, and threatened all of their lives. She was forced to leave Cynthia hanging mid-sentence as her eyes filled up too.

"It's okay," Cynthia consoled, bringing the two in for a hug, feeling herself get sentimental as she thought about all that had transpired without her being there. She felt guilt beyond anything she'd felt before as the two teens sobbed quietly into her coat. Pikachu too, she noticed, had walked silently up to her leg and began weeping as he hugged her pant leg.

Steven soon came up behind the others, tapping Cynthia gently on the shoulder. "I know this is a bad time, but we've almost completely finished off these grunts. We need to get you and your Pokémon to a hospital quickly."

Looking up, Ash took a shaky breath before wiping his eyes. He was tired of crying and feeling helpless. Looking at Misty, he gave a solemn nod. "I-I think he's right, Mist. There's nothing more we can do." He looked to Steven. "Giovanni is inside that building…please take care of him for me."

Steven looked up and at the large building before giving Ash a nod. Chris came up behind him, giving the former Sinnoh Champion a small, sad smile. "It'll be alright from here on out. I know it wasn't exactly as we planned, but I promised we'd get her back in one piece, and at least we pulled through on that."

"Chris, you and Cynthia take care of Giovanni," Steven said, pointing towards the blocked doorway. "He's inside, according to Ash."

"Probably too afraid of what he's going to face out here," reasoned Cynthia. "Otherwise he would've come out already."

"Actually," Misty interjected, wiping tears away, but still allowing more to take their place, "Ash took care of that. He shot him before he could hurt m-me."

For a moment, the former champions and Chris all looked too surprised to speak as their eyes and mouths remained wide open at the announcement. Finally, Chris found his voice.

"Is he, uh, you know, dead?"

Ash quickly shook his head as Pikachu sadly climbed back on his shoulder. "I just shot him in the leg."

Chris gave a quick nod before looking at Cynthia. "You ready?"

"Be careful," Ash warned as she answered. "He has a huge Electivire in there. I'm not sure how it's so big, but I've never seen anything like it before."

"We'll get by," Chris assured. He looked to Steven. "Get these two to help as fast as you can. If any police stop you for breaking the limit, tell them it's a League emergency or something."

Steven nodded before motioning over to a sitting white van; the same Ash had been carried away in only a few hours earlier. "You guys ready to go?"

"I guess so," Ash answered, feeling oddly emotionless as he grabbed Misty's hand and led the three over to the vehicle. She quickly opened the back and allowed them to grab a piece of the backseat for themselves. After Steven entered the driver's seat, he turned the ignition. Ash looked back one last time, watching as Cynthia and Chris discussed their entrance strategy.

As the van sped down the highway, gaining speed by the minute, Ash found himself still without feeling any longer. In one moment, he'd been bawling his eyes out in sorrow from losing one of his best friends, and in the next he was completely and totally numb to what had happened.

He could see it as if he were still there: Venusaur shoving him out the door and calling out his name one last time before the shot was fired. One of his first Pokémon…gone.

He looked down at his hands, which he realized for the first time in a while were currently holding the other members of his party. In Misty's hands were the other pokéballs and the other twenty that had never been opened attached to his ripped belt. He couldn't believe he was coming back with twenty-nine in tow after leaving with thirty.

Next to him, Misty was no better off. She continued crying as they sped towards the hospital without trying to stop. Normally she hated crying. To her, it was a weak female stereotype to cry when something upset you, and throughout her life she'd done her best to avoid such a girly response to danger and sad situations, but this was different. This wasn't some dumb movie her sisters had tricked her into watching where everyone has heart attacks and dies, and it wasn't like she fell off her bike and scraped her knee.

No. This was real pain. This was the kind of pain she hadn't experienced in years.

Ash looked out the window as the silent trip continued. It struck him as odd that it was so sunny outside, given the situation. In books and movies, he remembered realizing a long time ago, the weather usually reflected the characters' mood or predicament.

_It should be raining._

Noticing the clock on the radio, he saw that it was only a quarter before six. He almost wanted to laugh as he thought back to how the day had begun for him. He'd awoken in Lance's mansion, walked down the stairs fully-prepared to fly back to Sinnoh to meet back up with Misty, and had been shaken from his cozy world of minor inconveniences with an earth-shattering announcement by the red-headed former champion.

He suddenly sat up, realizing something.

"Steven?" he called from the back. His voice startled everyone in the vehicle. They were apparently all transfixed on their own thoughts.

"Uh, yeah Ash?" he answered, looking into the small rear-view mirror to catch the raven-haired trainer's brown eyes. "What is it?"

"Where's Lance?"

"…I don't know," the steel trainer answered honestly. "He'd gone after Mallory after she left us to deal with a gigantic Tyranitar, but Chris said he saw her later on as he was catching up to your van, and he had to stop to fight her so she wouldn't get to Giovanni and warn him about our plans. Something happened between the time that he went after her and Chris found her, but we don't know what yet."

Ash's stomach sank even further than he knew possible as he sat back in his seat quietly. Did Lance die too after all of this? Exactly how many of his friends had given up their lives so they could save his pathetic self?

Steven looked back at the trainer again using the mirror, but this time Ash refused to meet his gaze. "Ash, I know what you're thinking, and it's not your fault. It's true that Giovanni was going after you, but if you weren't here, he would have found someone else to pick on. You weren't their target, you see…the Pokémon League was. And the best way they have to damage the Pokémon League is to hurt the members within it."

"Then why did he wait until now to start terrorizing the League?" Ash asked, his fists balled tightly as he thought of all the trouble his presence as a champion had caused.

_Maybe it's good that Goodshow took away my title before anyone else got hurt._

In spite of all that had happened, Steven gave a quick laugh. "You honestly think you're the first one to be hurt by the Rockets in the League? Master Red himself had a run-in with Team Rocket about fifteen years ago that has caused him to never mess with Giovanni again. Before you guys were even born, Red was known around the world for his adventures against the Rocket Syndicate. Taking down an evil organization at eleven isn't a common occurrence, I guess. But one day over a dozen years ago, he just came to me and said that he was retiring from the G-Men and that he didn't want to have anything else to do with Team Rocket…he didn't go into specifics, but from what I can tell, Giovanni gave him good reason to be afraid."

"Wow, even Master Red?" Misty asked quietly, finding her voice again.

Steven nodded. "I know, right? So Ash, like I said, you weren't the target here…the League was. If it hadn't been you it would have been one of us, but eventually Giovanni was gonna choose someone to take out as a warning to the rest of us. And honestly, I'm glad you were here because I can't think of many people, including myself, who'd have survived everything that's just happened."

"I didn't survive it," Ash responded quietly, still staring at the outside. "I didn't do anything. Everyone just bailed me out and made up for my stupid mistakes."

"Ash, don't say that," Misty consoled, grabbing her boyfriend's hand. Though he didn't pull away, he didn't grip her hand in return, either. "You saved me. If you hadn't acted when you did in that room…well, I wouldn't be here right now."

All was quiet as those words sunk in.

"But then what happened?" he asked, even more quiet than before.

"What?"

"But what happened next?" he asked through clenched teeth, turning to face the redhead. There were no tears in his eyes, but the pain was easy to identify. "I saved you in that second, then got us caught in the middle of a fight with a thousand other grunts."

"You held them off with all of your Pokémon, though," she replied, worried at the guilty expression on his face. "You and your team held off an _army_ by yourselves."

"We were gonna lose that battle until Chris arrived and caused that huge explosion," Ash reasoned, his voice growing more edgy and loud. "I was just buying time until someone could save me because I couldn't save myself."

Steven cleared his throat. "Ash, that's all anyone in your position could have done. You weren't exactly expecting to win the fight, were you?"

Ash ignored him. "And then, even after that all happens, what did I do?"

"You saved me again," Misty answered softly, gripping his hand tighter. "You saved me from getting killed, Ash."

"…but I didn't have the strength to finish the job," he answered, finally letting his voice drop again as the true source of his anger revealed itself. "I had the power to end it all. I coulda killed him, Mist, and made all of our problems go away, but instead I showed mercy."

For a second, she didn't answer, and Ash wondered if she couldn't help but agree with him. However, any doubts he had were suddenly erased as he felt her soft lips press gently against his dirty and bloodied cheek.

"You didn't kill him because that's who you are. You're a savior, not a killer, and _that's_ why you shot him in the leg, and _that's_ why you jumped in front of me when he surprised you with the second gun. I know you think you would have killed him if you could do it over again, but I'm glad you didn't because it wouldn't have proven anything. Today you showed me that you're even braver than I knew…and you showed how much you care about me."

The words were sweet, but Ash couldn't ignore the guilt that continued to eat at him from the inside as she hugged him from the side, along with Pikachu.

_She's right…if I could do it over again, I wouldn't have shown mercy. I should have ended it before he could do anymore, but I didn't and now Venusaur's gone and Lance is missing._

He stared out the window, unresponsive to his girlfriend's attention.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Alright, Mr. Ketchum, everything looks good." The doctor gave him a small smile as he got off the examination table. "Though I would suggest that maybe you quit training so much. I've never seen anyone with quite this many cuts and bruises after a Pokémon battle!"

Ash gave the older woman a small smile. "Thank you. I'll remember that from now on."

"You can go check out in the lobby and then you're free to go," she responded, patting him on the back as he left the office. In the office, he was unsurprised to find Misty and Steven already waiting for him.

"What did the doctor tell you?" he asked worriedly as she got up and gave him another hug.

"He said that I'm fine…though he did say I didn't seem very well-rested for someone who just slept away twenty hours." She laughed lightly at her own joke, and Ash gave another small smile. Truthfully, he felt like he'd never manage to give a real smile again.

"You wanna go to the Pokémon Center?" Steven asked, standing up as Ash went over to the secretary's desk to fill out the exit papers. "Chris told me he and Cynthia would meet us there after they finished getting the police to the hideout and turning Mallory in."

Ash nodded quickly. "I just wanna find out how the others are doing."

"C'mon then," Steven motioned towards the exit.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The three sat in the relatively-empty waiting room for thirty minutes before Nurse Joy finally stepped out of the E.R.; though the light above the room remained on, as did her surgical mask and gloves.

Pulling down the mask, she walked over to the three trainers. "The doctor and I are doing our best for your Heracross, but it's not looking good," she informed Ash, who felt the small amount of hope he held out for his old friend quickly vanish. "I don't want to give any false hope…I'd say it'd take a miracle at this point to save him."

Taking a deep breath, he looked up at her after a quiet thought to himself. "What about Sceptile, Noctowl, and Tauros?"

"Sceptile also isn't looking very good at the moment," she warned. "The doctor says he's a little better off than Heracross, but we still only give him about a twenty percent chance of making it through the night. Tauros' leg is terribly damaged, but he'll definitely live. I think reparation surgery for him can wait until tomorrow, but I must warn you that it will be expensive."

"I don't care about price at all," Ash informed, holding his hand up to stop the nurse. "Just do whatever it takes to make my Pokémon feel better, okay?"

She nodded. "Right. As for Noctowl, he'll need a night here with us, but I think he'll be up and flying within a day or two."

_Two up and two down,_ Ash thought bitterly as he remembered the damage they all took on his behalf.

"Please tell the doctor to do everything she can to save Sceptile and Heracross," Misty urged as the nurse lifted back up her mask. "Those are some of our best friends in there."

"I understand," Joy answered, nodding before slipping back into the room.

Misty looked over at Ash. "It'll be alright. Your Pokémon are tough enough to handle anything that's thrown at them."

He gave her a weak grin before turning back and staring at the linoleum floor. Even Pikachu's sympathetic pats on the back went unnoticed as the former champion tried to justify all that had happened.

* * *

Author's Notes: It was another dramatic, and rather dark, chapter, but at least you all know that Misty lived, right? That nullifies like three death threats that people sent me, so I know I'm relieved, haha. Like I said above, I am pretty happy with this chapter after all the work I poured into it. Honestly, the original version of this chapter was longer, but I cut out the last couple of scenes because I felt like I was cramming too much into one chapter. Even though this one's a little shorter than the last few (which were over 9000 words by themselves) I think it makes up for it in substance, and the last thing I wanted was to include extra scenes just for the sake of having my word count higher, you know? However, the parts that I cut out will, of course, be the beginning pages for the next chapter, so you'll see them in a couple of weeks. Again, as I said earlier, I plan on getting back to all reviews over the next few days, so please don't let my lack of response stop you from giving me your input and thoughts on this chapter if you're on the fence about whether or not I'll ever respond to your comments. I appreciate all of you so much, and we've all been going on this journey together, so I need to know what y'all think.

Alright, I think it's time for me to hit the hay. Until two weeks from now, later days!


	48. No More Tears

**Hey Everybody!** I know, I know, you all thought that I was dead. Well, I'm not, so you're not getting any of my stuff! haha. But seriously, I'm sorry for the hiccup in time. This chapter was originally over 13,000 words, but I was still working on it tonight, and I realized that I couldn't go another week without an update, so I've just decided to put the first half of this chapter up for now, and will hopefully get the next chapter out even quicker since I'm already about 4,000 words into it. In addition to its length, I had a terrible time writing this because of writer's block, so it's just been a crappy time trying to create this altogether. However, I really enjoy the final version you see below, and I hope you do too. If you do, PLEASE REVIEW! Speaking of reviews, I think I got to all but a few people now who reviewed last chapter, and I'm getting to them over the next few days, so please KEEP THEM COMING! Your encouraging words are really propelling this story towards its final arc, and I need all of your support as the toughest (to write) chapters still lie ahead for this dang story. Anyway, I better let you get to the fun now. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

Seconds passed like hours as he sat there waiting...just waiting. He didn't know what else to do in this situation. Thoughts drifted effortlessly through his mind as he stared down at the diamond-patterned floor, his hands cradling his head.

Beside him, Misty and Pikachu sat silent as well, thinking back to their own experiences of the day and desperately trying to process all that had happened independent of each other.

For much of the late afternoon and early evening Steven had sat with them too. However, after a few hours he left, saying that he needed to go and search for Lance around the city.

Why time was passing so slowly was a mystery to Ash. Every once in a while he would shake himself from his reverie to check the Pidgey clock hung directly in front of the trio, only to find that what had felt like days had actually been spans of twenty or thirty minutes since the last time he had checked.

He wanted to feel angry as he sat there; contemplating everything, yet not fully grasping anything. He knew he should be. Beyond those flimsy yellow doors, some of his best friends were being operated on, and at least two of them had uncertain futures in the eyes of the nurse assisting the doctor. However, he simply couldn't muster the strength to have any more emotion today. He felt as if the entire ordeal had left him completely drained of both tears and feelings.

All he could experience now was a perpetual state of numbness as he absentmindedly tapped his foot and once again checked the clock as the small, robotic bird Pokémon jumped out from its wooden clock confines.

It was eleven P.M. now, and he was still sitting here. He looked briefly at the doors before looking down again. What could he do, anyway?

_I could at least _act _angry, couldn't I? _his weary mind questioned as he blinked for the first time in a full minute. _I should be aggravated and upset that no one's come out of that stupid room in over four hours...but I'm not._

In addition to draining him emotionally, he was slowly coming to grips with how physically exhausting the entire day had been. His muscles, though now accustomed to great exertion, nevertheless ached and stiffened as he waited in the chair. His head pounded furiously as the night grew longer, and his stomach turned on itself as he slowly realized he hadn't eaten in about twenty-seven hours.

Sighing, he finally looked up again to examine the clock.

Eleven-thirty P.M.

Looking to his left, he was surprised to find that his girlfriend had, at some point in the last half-hour, left his side.

He couldn't blame her, really. These weren't her Pokémon in the operating room, and he was both silently impressed and humbled that she'd maintained her seat for so long despite all she'd been put through herself.

_Probably went to eat or sleep, _he assumed as he looked to his right. Unsurprisingly, Pikachu remained seated next to his master and best friend, staring straight ahead while seated on his hind legs. Ash could tell his small Pokémon was in deep thought as his black eyes burned a hole through the wall opposite them.

_Those were his friends and family too,_ Ash realized sadly. He'd been focusing so much on how this loss affected him personally that he'd yet to think about how Pikachu and his other Pokémon must have been taking the news about their friends.

He looked back down, now twiddling his thumbs as he sat there.

His right palm was still covered in dry blood, and he noticed a rip in the left knee of his jeans where he'd landed after Venusaur had thrown them out. He didn't notice until now that he'd bled quite a bit there as well.

_Venusaur..._

Inevitably, his seemingly random assortment of thoughts brought him back to his first grass type. It was unreal to him as he sat there, trying to imagine going the rest of his life without one of his Pokémon.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"_Now, Ash honey, you realize that no one lives forever, right?"_

_Nine year old Ash Ketchum rolled his eyes as his mom lectured him in front of their house. He'd just finished another summer course on Pokémon training and safety at the Oak lab, and he was eager to get home and study more of what he'd learned._

"_I know that, Ma! Everyone has to die. I'm not a baby or anything like that."_

_His mother gave him a sad smile at the statement._

_Sure, it was bleak, but death was something far away from now...like when he was thirty or something. No one he knew had died or was anywhere near it._

"_I know you're not a baby...in fact, in less than a year you'll be starting your own Pokémon journey."_

_His heart leapt as she mentioned his upcoming adventures. Everything was slowly falling into place as the big date drew nearer. His mom was signing all the release forms, and was going to her own classes on how to use the Pokédex tracking system to insure the safety of her child while he was away from home. While she took those courses, he was quickly advancing through the summertime classes that Oak's assistants had created to teach the soon-to-be-trainers under the age of sixteen all they needed to know about going into the world and safely capturing wild animals._

"_And because you'll be starting that journey soon, I think it's important that you learn this lesson now...though I really wish you didn't have to."_

_He was suddenly confused as her tone grew more melancholy. "Whaddya mean?"_

"_You know the goldfish that you won at the town fair a few days ago?"_

_He remembered. It had taken him five tries, but eventually he'd successfully knocked over all six stacked milk bottles and earned a prize; his goldfish he'd victoriously named Squirtle, after the Pokémon he intended on starting with when he finally left home...well, he was pretty sure that was the one he wanted, anyway._

"_What about 'im?"_

"_Well honey...he's gone. I'm so sorry."_

_The words stung as Ash felt a pang of remorse. "Was-was it because I didn't feed him enough?"_

_She shook her head._

"_There was nothing you could have done to make him live longer, honey. Goldfish just aren't built to last very long, unfortunately...but I think this is important to learn about sooner rather than later."_

_His eyes began to swell a little. He quickly wiped away the forming tears and cleared his throat._

Men don't cry, _he scolded himself inwardly._

"_What should I learn from this?" he asked, his voice still cracking a little under the pressure._

_Delia gave him another sad smile before getting down on her knees so she could eye him face-to-face. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she pulled him closer to herself._

"_Nothing and nobody lives forever. You said it a minute ago yourself, but it's important that you realize this isn't something that will never happen."_

"_But why do I need to know it now?" he asked, still confused at her words. "Why is this a lesson?"_

"_You're leaving soon, and I already know that you'll be one of the greatest trainers around...but I also know how attached you can and will become to the Pokémon you capture. You're instantly everyone's best friend when you meet them, and that will carry over to your Pokémon."_

_He gave her a quizzical look, still unsure of where this monologue was going._

_Seeing the look, Delia rushed forward to her meaning. "My point is that you have to be prepared for this kind of thing to happen on your travels. Pokémon, like everyone else, have to die eventually, and I just don't want you being crushed when the time comes for one of them to leave you."_

_Still fighting back the tears from the loss of a goldfish he'd only had a few days, he felt himself pushed over the edge at the thought of losing one of his future battling companions._

"_It's not fair, Ma," he cried, leaning into her embrace as she wrapped her hands around his head and pulled him in. "W-why do people have to die?"_

_His mother was notably silent for a moment, and he wondered if she even knew the answer._

"_...I guess they just have to, hun."_

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ash?" Misty nudged her boyfriend, jerking him awake.

"Hm?" He sat quietly for a moment, trying to remember where he was.

His vision was blurred momentarily as his retinas adjusted to the brightness of the fluorescent lights overhead. Blinking rapidly, he made out his girlfriend's figure before him.

_The Pokémon._

No sooner had the thought entered his mind than he'd bolted out of his seat. Grabbing Misty by the arm, he looked her directly in the eyes with frantic appeal. "Are they done?"

Shaking her head, she pointed to her right. "No it's not that."

Following the path of her pointed finger, he was quickly disappointed by the still-lit red sign that hung above the operating room.

"Oh..." He slowly released his grip on her arm and fell back into the chair. He resumed his staring match with his wispy and blurred reflection in the white hospital floor. "What time is it?"

"Half past midnight," she replied, taking her seat next to him once again. "Ash, the others are back, and they say there's something they need to tell us."

Looking up, for the first time he noticed that Cynthia, Chris, and Steven were all standing at the doorway. Pikachu looked at the others confusedly along with his master.

"What's going on?"

Steven took a step forward.

"We have some unfortunate news about Lance."

Ash felt another lump begin to swell in his throat. He didn't know how much more bad news he could handle in a single twenty-four hour period, but he was sure he was reaching his limit.

After a few seconds, he found the strength to speak through the fear permeating his gut instinct. With a rapidly-increasing heartbeat and a croaking voice, he looked up at the former Hoenn Champion. "What's wrong?"

"Cynthia got a call from Bill a few hours ago. Apparently Lance's Dragonite showed up at his lighthouse north of here carrying Lance in his arms."

"Carrying him?"

Cynthia nodded and stepped forward. Her normally calm and composed demeanor was betrayed by layers of dirt and lacerations that surrounded her body. "Yeah, I was told he's in pretty bad shape. Bill called the paramedics and they've taken him into intensive care back here in Cerulean. After we got Mallory handed over to the authorities, we went to go see him, but they said he's still being observed carefully right now."

"Was he-was he shot?" Misty asked nervously as she noted the despair in Ash's counterparts' eyes. She knew it was a blunt question, but all three seemed reluctant in their willingness to divulge information, and neither she nor her boyfriend wanted to be left in the dark about their friend and comrade.

"No, nothing like that...but it doesn't sound much better. From what the doctors could tell, it looked like he fell off of Dragonite or something and hit the pavement really hard over and over again. Bill said he was bleeding profusely in Dragonite's arms, and he...he almost couldn't recognize him because of it all..." Cynthia's voice began to fade at the last few words, and Ash noticed her sniff a little.

Steven put a hand on her shoulder as he walked up next to her. "I'm sure he'll be okay. You wouldn't believe some of the crazy stunts Lance has pulled off in the past. Falling from Dragonite's a tame experience for that man." Even as he consoled his League friend, though, Ash could see the same worry he felt for his Pokémon reflected in the steel trainer's eyes.

_Great, someone else hurt because of me..._

A lull penetrated the small waiting room for several moments as everyone quietly meditated on the news.

"There's something else we have to tell you guys," Chris reminded the pair of teens, stepping up next to his friends. "The news about Lance is very sad, and it affects me on a very personal level, but I do think you need to hear this."

"Oh-oh yeah," Steven said, snapping back to reality and brushing back a single tear with the back of his palm. "There was apparently something that happened when Chris and Cynthia went in to get Giovanni out. They haven't really explained it to me yet either."

Ash's muscles tensed at the announcement."Did he escape?" he asked, eyes wide in worry as he wondered if after all that had happened the boss still managed to find a way out.

Cynthia shook her head. "No, nothing like that...but what _did_ happen is gonna sound a little weird."

"What was it?" Despite himself, Ash leaned forward in curiosity at the expression on his friends' faces.

"Well..."

Chris picked up the sentence for the blond woman. "Well, we finally managed to get past the vines blocking the doorway, but as soon as we did, that Electivire was waiting for us like you had warned us about. We were ready for it, though, and it only took Dragonite, Garchomp, and Lucario a few minutes to get him out of the way."

"Then," Cynthia continued, "right as we were about to nab Giovanni, Red appeared and the building just...blew up."

For several seconds, everyone stayed silent as Ash, Misty, and Steven tried to make sense of what had just been said.

"...the building...blew up?" Misty finally muttered.

"Red showed up?" Ash asked.

"Like I said, it sounds really weird, but it's hard to explain," Chris repeated.

Cynthia looked at the bewildered expressions showing on her friends' faces and nodded. "I think we can be a little more detailed, but it's still going to sound strange."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"_Dragonite, meet it head on with an Outrage!" Chris commanded as Electivire stormed his Pokémon with a Giga Impact attack._

_Her eyes glowing dark violet, Dragonite's body became shrouded in bright energy as she flew straight into the electric Pokémon, knocking both of them backward as Giovanni continued to call for help over his cell phone._

"_What are you, a complete idiot?" he hissed at the incompetent clerk at his main headquarters in Viridian City. "Just get a helicopter here quickly with another squad of troops!"_

"_But sir, you brought three platoons with you, and the others are scattered at separate operations in the Orange Archipelago and southern Johto. We only have management grunts here right now."_

_It wasn't looking good for the Rocket boss's chance of escape._

"_Well get someone to the Cerulean hideout as soon as possible. I'm stranded out here!"_

_He looked past the battling Pokémon and their trainers to the bright light emanating from the doorway. Beyond it was his entire army that had filled this headquarters the last several weeks._

These two really took them all out? _he wondered in astonishment, growing more concerned about his chances of escape with every passing moment. Not even Mallory was answering his calls anymore, and his leg was too hurt to allow him a chance to run._

"_Vire!" roared the electric type as it rushed Lucario. His fist began to glow brightly as he prepared another Thunderpunch attack for his steel and fighting type foe._

_Cynthia cried out to her Pokémon. "Aura Sphere!"_

_Lucario, though he had already taken a strong bruising, looked ready for more as the space between his two outstretched paws filled with a luminescent blue orb. As Electivire drew too close, the strong creature shot off the light ball, sending the yellow Pokémon flying backwards and crying his name in pain._

"_Meet it with an Aqua Tail!" Chris ordered, as his Dragonite sped after the still stumbling electric type._

_Dragonite twisted her body around, her long yellow tail becoming completely ensnared in liquid, and made to hit Electivire directly in the chest. Unfortunately for the dragon type, though, the strong Pokémon was still too healthy to be handled so easily just yet. Grabbing her tail with an electrically charged fist, he sent thousands of volts surging through her tall frame before throwing the dragon's limp body clear across the room._

"_Dragonite!" Chris yelled, searching frantically for her pokéball around his waist._

"_Vire!" The electric type still seemed intent on finishing his prey as he began to march towards Dragonite's hunched body._

"_Lucario, stop him from getting to Dragonite!" Cynthia ordered. However, before her Pokémon had a chance to form another Aura Sphere, Chris jumped in front of the ten foot tall behemoth._

_He gave the tall Pokémon a small smirk. "My Pokémon are a little tired, so you'll just have to deal with me instead."_

_Though it was unlikely the electric Pokémon understood what was being said, he took no time in recognizing the face of his enemy. Rearing back a fist, electricity began pouring forth through his appendage once again._

"_Chris!" Cynthia cried, in simultaneous time with the booming sound of electrical energy pounding against a metallic floor._

_Covering her ears briefly, she looked up and saw that Chris had narrowly dodged the attack._

"_Hyah!" With a cry, the blond man seemed to momentarily dispel the laws of gravity as he flipped backward, kicking in the Pokémon's jaw from beneath and sending the yellow creature back in writhing pain._

_Though a little shocked at the display of extreme athleticism, she took no time to stand in wonder as she recognized her time to strike. Calling out Garchomp, she pointed in her enemy's direction._

"_Get it out of here with a Dragon Rush!"_

"_Garchomp!" replied her Pokémon. Though he'd already been used extensively several times that day, he was far from being worn out. Glowing a light blue, he rushed the disoriented electric Pokémon as he tried to regain his footing._

"_Gar," mumbled the ground creature. He gripped Electivire's abdomen as tightly as he could and shot out of the building at lightning speed._

"_That takes care of that," Cynthia concluded, knowing that any electric attack Electivire would try to use against her dragon would be rendered useless thanks to his strength and typing. "Which only leaves us with one true problem."_

_There, sitting next to the still corpse of Ash's Venusaur, sat the Rocket boss. For the first time in his life, he felt authentically scared as Cynthia, Chris, and Lucario all bore into his image with stone-cold eyes._

"_Looks like you had a little accident," Chris noted, making the first move by walking towards the boss. "That leg's worthless, I'm sure...but that's the least of your problems now that I'm here."_

_He bent over and grabbed the crime boss by the collar, pulling his body into the air single-handedly._

"_You've caused me more pain than you'll ever know, Giovanni."_

_Cynthia wondered what her comrade was talking about as, for a moment, he stood in silence just staring directly into the Rocket man's eyes._

"_And now you're trying to do the same thing to Ash...I'm not letting that happen."_

_With that, he let go of the older man's collar and sprung out his right leg._

"_Hyah!"_

_With one kick to the gut, Giovanni was shot backward, doing a backflip before falling flat on his stomach._

_He'd never been in this position before. He was always the one standing above others...causing the pain, never enduring it himself. Slowly, he looked back up, only to find a boot flying towards his face._

_He cried in pain, but no one cared. Cynthia winced at the sight, but she couldn't bring herself to stop her partner just yet. She knew revenge shouldn't be theirs...but it was just too enticing to relent._

"_Now you've got a bum leg and nose," Chris commented, in an eerily nonchalant tone. He was about to pick the man up again, but was stopped by a bright light and sudden gasp from behind._

"_What's going-?" Words suddenly got caught in his throat as surprise gripped his mind._

"_What-is it...you?" Cynthia managed after a moment. Between the two G-Men members a solitary figure formed: a dark-haired, tall man dressed in a red jacket with short white sleeves, a black shirt, jeans, and a lowered red and white baseball cap. Without saying a word, he instantly absorbed all attention in the room as eyes were involuntarily glued to his looming figure._

_Needing to reaffirm his suspicions, and completely ignoring the bleeding man behind him, Chris fought the impossibility of the situation and fought out a single-word question. __"...Red?"_

_The man didn't respond. His back was turned to Cynthia, and Chris was unable to even see his eyes due to the positioning of his cap. For a moment, the blond G-Men members wondered if what was happening was some kind of joke or trick on Giovanni's part._

_Slowly, Chris lifted his left leg and brought it forward, narrowing the gap between himself and the Pokémon Master. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he was becoming increasingly skeptical that this was the real Red. He was just standing there, completely quiet._

An illusion by a psychic Pokémon, _he thought, taking another step and drawing closer._

_However, as if reading his mind at that exact moment, the Pokémon Master suddenly lifted his hand, signaling for Chris to stop. Then, just as quick, he moved the hand and pointed it toward the exit._

"_You want us to leave?" Chris asked, unsure. "Why don't you say something?"_

"_No, please don't do that!" Giovanni finally cried from behind the agent. His voice was trembling, and when Chris turned around, he saw real fear in the crime boss's eyes. "Please don't leave me alone with him! I'm begging you!"_

"_What's going on?" Cynthia suddenly demanded, walking up to Red from behind. She grabbed him by the shoulder, trying to turn him around, but his sedentary body refused to turn away from Giovanni's direction._

"_Why is he so scared?" Chris asked, looking back to Red as Giovanni continued to shamelessly plead with the two G-Men. "What're you gonna do?"_

_Still nothing._

_Chris suddenly felt very angry. Who was this jerk to suddenly appear from nowhere? And why wouldn't he answer even the simplest questions? "I said, why are you here?" he demanded, raising his voice with every word. Spit flew from his mouth, and his fist began to shake in aggravation._

"_..."_

"_Fine, don't answer then!" He lunged forward, arm pulled backwards in preparation of a blow to the Pokémon Master's jaw, but just as he made his motion, he suddenly felt his body rise from the ground. He was weightless, and in another instant he was completely surrounded by white light._

_Blinking hard, images began to reemerge. He looked around, still blinking, to find Cynthia sitting next to him and looking just as confused._

"_Where-where are we?"_

_Chris looked around frantically. "Where did he put us?" Worried that they'd been stranded in the wilderness, he was soon relieved to find the Rocket hideout not too far away. "There it is!"_

_Cynthia stood up, along with her comrade. "We need to get back there. What was Red doing sending us off like-"_

_She was interrupted as fire suddenly blew through the open doors of the building, rushing out of the structure at hundreds of miles per hour. Even from a safe distance of over a thousand feet away, the two felt the heat instantly engulf their bodies._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Misty looked confused. "I thought you said it exploded?"

"Well, I'm not sure if it actually exploded, but something happened in there that caused a massive fireball. We could see the flames making holes in the metal walls all that distance away."

"Do you think he used his Charizard?" Steven questioned, wonder permeating his voice in spite of all that had been happened and been said. "I've heard stories about that thing."

Cynthia shook her head. "I have no idea, honestly. All I know is when we looked over, the building was an inferno one second, and then the next the fire was completely gone."

"We ran back to find out what had happened," Chris continued. "But when we got there, all we found was a completely smoldered building...and this."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. Despite his claim that it had come from within the burnt structure, Ash noticed there were no marks on its surface.

"There was a clear spot in the middle of the building, where Red and Giovanni must have been standing. This envelope was just lying there, so it kinda stood out when I was looking around for clues as to what had happened."

"Ash, it has your name on it," Cynthia continued, pointing to the piece of paper in Chris's hand. "I think it's from Red."

"My name's on it?" Ash repeated. "Why would he wanna write to me?"

"I dunno," Chris answered with a shrug. "Honestly, I was tempted to open it and read it for you, but Cynthia thought you should be the first one to see what he said since it might be private."

Ash shook his head. "I don't think it _could_ be private. After all, I've never met Red."

"Me neither, but I guess he knew we'd be coming back, so he left this there for you. Here, see what it says." He thrust the letter into Ash's hands as he and the others watched on with wide eyes; wondering what the rarely-talkative Master had to say about their situation.

Opening it, Ash quickly scanned the page. It took a minute, and after he read it once, he went over it one more time before looking back up.

"So what's it say?" Misty asked in a hushed voice.

Ash looked up at her. "I'll read it to you guys and you can see if it makes sense...I think I'm too tired to understand right now.

Misty nodded him on eagerly. "Okay, go ahead."

"It says: 'Ash, As I write this, I'm preparing to leave for Giovanni's hideout. An old friend of mine was able to get your coordinates, and I know about the danger you and Misty face. Unfortunately, this is extremely short notice, and I don't know if I'll make it before Giovanni puts his plans into action. If I don't make it in time, though, I know from your past that you'll find a way out of the situation. Either way, I'm writing this letter not to discuss what's just happened by the time you read this message, but rather to inform you of my whereabouts. I know you'll have plenty of questions coming out of this, and I think I can supply at least some of the answers. When you are ready, I will be waiting near the top of Mount Silver, at the ledge overlooking western Kanto. Only I have access to the area, but I've granted you permission to come. Bring your strongest Pokémon, and I'll see you soon. Respectfully, Red.'"

"So he somehow found out where we were," Misty concluded as Ash looked back up at his friends, "and he decided to write this in case he didn't get to see you in person."

Steven narrowed his eyes. "Why would Red take time away from that precious mountain of his to come help Misty?"

"Stop it, Steven. You're sounding just like Lance now," Cynthia scolded, looking at the steel trainer.

"Well, I mean, Lance knows Red better than most people after having battled him. And honestly, think of how many times we've requested Red's help in the past for missions and he's never replied. Why does he suddenly wanna rescue Misty after not once responding to our calls before?"

Cynthia shrugged. "Maybe he knew it was something we couldn't do alone."

"But we did, didn't we?" Chris reminded, taking the paper from Ash's hands and rereading the scribbled handwriting. "I've personally messaged Red with far more dangerous and less-sure missions in the past and he's never come out to help."

"I don't think the Pokémon Master's the kind of man who has no method to his actions," Cynthia reasoned. "Whatever his motivation, he decided to come out and help this time."

"How exactly did he help, though?" Steven asked, his temper starting to flare a little. "If he'd just responded to our call before we left for Cerulean, he coulda actually been useful, and maybe we wouldn't be at a Pokémon Center with several critical conditions and a friend in the hospital."

"But we're forgetting the bigger question," Misty added, standing up and taking the letter from Chris. "Why would he take the time to write this at all? If he was coming to help out, wouldn't he have saved the letter writing for later?"

"And I don't get why he invited me to Mount Silver," Ash added, tiredly rubbing his eyes. "Why would I want to go all that way?"

"Both of your questions have the same answer," Cynthia replied. "He said it right there in the message. He wanted to give you answers to questions...probably the questions we're asking right now."

Steven shook his head. "I don't get why you have so much faith in this guy, Cynthia. He's never done anything for us in the past other than stay quiet."

"I just think that maybe we don't understand the whole picture. He wouldn't have done all that work to become Master unless he really cared about the League...it's just that his mind works differently than ours because he has more pieces of the puzzle than we do."

The former Hoenn Champion gave a low sigh. "I don't think that's it at all. I think he became Master because he just wanted the power and money, and now he never comes down from that stupid hiding spot of his because he's afraid to go into the real world, like Lance said all along."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "To each his own, then."

"Either way, the point is he found Misty's abduction especially upsetting, and he decided to come help us out for the first time," Chris continued. "He also found it necessary to get this message to Ash so he knew that we'd have questions...but my biggest concern hasn't been addressed yet."

"What is it?" Misty asked.

"What did he do with Giovanni?"

There was a pause as everyone considered the inquiry.

"He's got a point," Steven remarked. "I mean, we were about to finally have the man behind bars, and he just goes and snatches him away at the last second."

Chris shot Steven a dark look. "Steven, you don't think..."

For a moment, the grey-haired trainer perplexedly glanced back at his associate. The two seemed to be having a small staring contest in Ash's eyes, but after a few seconds, Steven seemed to suddenly understand Chris's inference.

"Red has business with Giovanni?"

Chris shrugged. "We don't have anything concrete to prove it, but why else would he have taken him away in the last second?"

"It'd also explain why he's never helped us in our past missions against the different syndicates," Steven muttered, more to himself than his friends.

"You're not serious about this, are you?" Cynthia asked, looking from Chris to Steven, and then back to Chris. "You realize this is the Pokémon Master we're talking about here, right? The man whose sole responsibility is to insure the welfare of the Pokémon League."

Steven raised an eyebrow. "You think that just because he holds a respected position he couldn't be corrupt? How do you explain every politician on Earth?"

"That's different. The title of Pokémon Master is an esteemed rank. No one would just throw it away."

"I hate to disagree with you Cynthia," remarked Chris, regaining the blond woman's attention, "but I think you're being a bit too idealistic for reality. I mean, you were there. We _had him_, and Red just appeared and disappeared."

Cynthia shook her head again. "I refuse to accept that the highest levels of the Pokémon League have been infiltrated by Team Rocket. There's just no way that it could happen."

"Why not? They tried to bribe Ash, remember?" Misty reminded. She felt overwhelmed by what she was hearing; never before had she ever heard anyone doubt the loyalty or strength of Master Red as long as he'd reigned, but the more Steven and Chris spoke, the more sense their arguments made.

_Why would he just let such an evil man leave?_

"You're right, Misty, they did try to bribe Ash," Cynthia agreed. "But if Red was a member of the organization, then why would they want Ash to take his place?"

"Maybe they were unhappy with something he's done recently," reasoned Chris.

"Or they could have been preparing a new reign with a younger Master to buy themselves more time. They were probably afraid someone would come along that was too strong and dethrone Red before they could make an adequate replacement, so they tried to rush in Ash. And when that didn't work, they put all their efforts on Paul instead."

"You say that I'm being idealistic for thinking that Red has our backs, but as idealistic as you may think I am, it's nowhere near the level of paranoia you're expressing right now," Cynthia replied. "Let's not forget that he's our boss."

"_Was_ our boss, actually," Steven reminded. "Don't you think it's weird that Goodshow decides to get rid of us immediately after Ash stops Team Rocket from acquiring the majority stock of the Sinnoh League?"

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "So now Goodshow's in on your little conspiracy too? Who's next? Nurse Joy?"

"Listen, Cynthia." Steven grabbed her shoulder and narrowed his gaze into her grey eyes. "I was with you until today. Lance has always had problems with Red's odd behavior, but I always just shrugged it off like you're doing now. I figured he had to have some good reason for not wanting to get involved, and we just weren't smart enough to figure it out. But now Lance's life is hanging by a thread, and we almost lost Ash and Misty in one day. Do you think that a responsible Master would have allowed that to happen?"

"I-I..." She seemed lost for a moment as Steven's grip silently urged her to accept his view. "I don't know, okay? However, there's a way we _can_ know, and that's by taking advantage of the invitation in that note." She pointed back to the now-folded piece of paper.

"He's given us a chance to ask our questions through Ash, and we shouldn't rush to any decisions until he gets a chance to ask them."

Now all eyes turned to Ash, who had remained mysteriously quiet throughout the discourse. He looked back up at them all in return, slowly turning his attention from one counterpart to the other until his eyes rested back on Misty.

"I don't have time to worry about this right now, okay?" he muttered, shaking his head. "This wasn't what being a champion was supposed to be about. I was supposed to help my region and win battles...that's what I was always told the job of a champion was. Now my Pokémon are dying, and so is one of my human friends and..."

He shook his head and looked back down.

"...and I don't have time for this. Maybe when all of this is over and I get some answers from doctors, but until then I don't want to talk about this note or conspiracies or anything else."

There were no tears, but Misty could physically feel the pain inside her best friend, and she quickly retook her seat beside him; hugging him from the side once more in consolation.

"You're right, Ash. We shouldn't be bugging you with this yet. There's still too much up in the air for you to be able to focus."

Steven and Chris cast each other a sideways glance before Steven took a step forward, holding out his hand. "I'm sorry too, Ash. It's just...I guess emotions are high right now. I shouldn't just go accusing anyone of anything without real proof, and I get that your mind isn't really on this right now."

Ash reached up and briefly shook his hand. "Thanks, Steven."

"We're gonna get, uh, cleaned up and then get something to eat," Chris informed, motioning to his tattered clothes. "Do you want us to bring something?"

The former Sinnoh Champion shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm good."

"We understand. Misty, do you need anything?"

"I'm good too, but I appreciate it."

"Okay then, we'll see you in a little while. Please call us if you hear anything."

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "I actually left my phone in Lance's house."

"And they took mine," Misty added. "But we'll use the videophones if something comes up."

"Right."

With that, the two former champions and Chris walked out of the room, leaving the couple alone once again with Pikachu.

Soon after their entrance, the yellow Pokémon had lost interest in their conversation and by now he had already resumed his blank stare ahead as he thought sadly back to old times with each of the Pokémon that were now gone or in danger of leaving.

"Pika..." he cried softly, his ears drooping even lower.

"Aw, Pikachu, it's gonna be okay," Misty assured, picking up the Pokémon and cradling his small body in her arms. He looked up at her with blurry eyes, and her heart ached even more for the little yellow creature. "Things will be good, really." Even as she said it, though, she felt her own mind reject that reality.

Another couple of hours passed, and still neither trainer heard anything from the doctors nor the champions. However, a little after three, Ash was awoken once again by someone prodding his arm.

"Chansey-chans," muttered the round, pink Pokémon softly.

"What's the matter Chansey?" Ash asked, noticing immediately that the red light was still on.

_They're not done yet._

"Chans-chansey," the Pokémon replied, pointing to the doors leading to the main lobby of the Pokémon Center. She began pulling on his sleeve, and slowly he got up and found the strength in his sore muscles to follow after her.

Walking through the doors, he was surprised to find on one of the videophones on the wall opposite him, the image of his mother nervously staring ahead.

Finding a leap of strength suddenly abound from within, he ran over to the phone and picked up the receiver. "Ma? Are you okay?"

"Ash?" Tears were already streaming down her face, and she sobbed for a full minute before being able to say another word. "Thank God you're alright! You-you are okay, aren't you?" She worriedly tried to see any lacerations or bruises through the screen.

Ash gave his mother a sad smile. "Yeah Ma, I'm okay. How did you know I was in trouble?"

"Red stopped by earlier today, telling me that you and Misty were being held by Team Rocket. At first I thought it was just those weird kids and Meowth that used to follow you around, but as it got later, I realized he wouldn't have gone to help if it were only them, so I started to wonder what must have happened. It kept getting later, and I kept getting more worried, so I tried calling you and Misty like a million times, but neither one of you picked up your phones, so I used the location chip on your Pokédex to find out where you were. I called the Center about a hundred times before I finally got that Chansey to answer."

"I'm sorry it took so long for you to hear from me...we lost our phones earlier, and we've been in the waiting room for a while."

"It's okay, but why are you in the waiting room? Were your Pokémon battling?"

He grimaced a little at the question. "They-they were really hurt, Ma."

A concerned look crossed the older woman's face. "What happened?"

He took a deep breath...and then unloaded all that had happened over the last twenty-four hours to his mother. He told her the entire story, from finding out that Misty had been taken to receiving the letter from Red.

Throughout, she gasped, cried, and even cursed; but never once did she interrupt.

"So now we're here, waiting to see if my friends make it out of this or not and...and I'm scared, Ma. I-I don't think they're all gonna pull through, and it's just terrible, because I can't even cry anymore. I'm just-just so...broken-feeling."

Tears continued to pour down his mother's face. She was so overwhelmed by what had been said that she almost couldn't find words to comfort her son. All the time he'd been gone traveling, she would worry and stress over his well-being, but he always seemed to placate her fears with a quick phone call from a Pokémon Center or a letter. Now, though, he was hundreds of miles away and not okay at all. She felt helpless as she watched her dispirited only child on the monitor.

_If only I could be there to hold him now..._

She wasn't though, and so she comforted him the best way she could, given the situation; with her words.

"It's okay to feel like that honey. There's nothing wrong with feeling broken after all that's happened to you today. The fact that you're still awake shows how much you love and care for your Pokémon."

He nodded and forced a small grin, feeling frustrated despite himself. He knew she was doing her best to console his troubled spirit, but the words just weren't enough. He felt completely alone in his misery, and the one person he could always turn to in a crisis was just as ineffective as everyone else at this point in making him feel better.

"I know it doesn't mean much now, but I promise that after some rest you'll feel at least a little better," she continued, apparently picking up from his physical cues that he was dissatisfied.

She was right...it didn't mean much to him now. However, after thinking it over for a moment, he realized she was definitely right. The reason he felt so disheveled was at least, in part, due to his exhaustion.

Without warning, an image of Pallet Town suddenly flashed in his mind. He was thrown, but immediately comforted by the thought.

Pallet Town: where the sun rose over the hilly valley every morning and set behind Mount Silver every evening. Where even the air hinted of an adventure about to begin. Where his closest friends, family, and Pokémon were always eagerly awaiting his return.

"Hey Ma," he began, breaking from his brief mental imagery, "do you think we could maybe come home for a little while after this is over?" He thought it probably seemed like a random question after what she had just said, and this notion was reinforced in his mind as Delia's eyes widened.

Instead of looking surprised, though, her frown grew deeper and she gave him a hard look. "Did you think I was gonna let you stay out there by yourself after all that's happened? Of course you're coming home!"

Despite himself, he smiled at the determination in her voice.

_Just like Mist._

"What you need to do now is get some rest, though, like I was saying," she advised.

"But Ma-"

"I know that you think it's not right for you to sleep while your Pokémon are in this condition, but trust me, staying up all night is not going to make their chances of living any better, and it decreases yours a lot. I love those Pokémon just as much as you do, but I can already tell you that they wouldn't want you to suffer waiting for the doctors and nurses to be done."

"I don't think I can sleep anyway, though," he replied.

She shook her head. "Those dark circles under your eyes beg to differ. Just take a room out in the Center and nap until they're done. When they tell you your Pokémon are all going to be fine, you wanna be wide awake to celebrate, after all!"

Ash gave another small smile at the words.

_Maybe she's right, _he realized as he felt his back begin to ache along with his head.

"Alright, I'll think about taking a small nap, but only so I can celebrate in a little while."

"Good. Tell Misty that I'm so happy she's okay too, and I can't wait for the two of you to get here. You both need a nice, relaxing vacation after all you've been put through, and no place is more relaxing than Pallet."

He nodded. She was right, after all. He could almost smell the scent of the rolling hills and plush forests that surrounded his hometown.

_A simpler time, _he realized sadly as he thought back to his childhood in the small, but growing town in southern Kanto.

"We'll be there as soon as they're finished here."

"Okay. Honey, I love you sooo much." He blushed as he saw her wipe some more tears from the corners of her eyes. "Please be careful and get here as soon as you can, okay? Tell Misty to be very cautious on the road too."

"I will, and I love you too, Ma."

With that, the display zapped and disappeared. Slowly, Ash got up and walked back towards the waiting room. He was unsurprised when the red light met his gaze upon entry, and he quickly averted his gaze; instead turning it upon the redhead and yellow Pokémon that were now asleep in one of the chairs. Misty still held Pikachu cradled in her arms, but her head was back against the wall and the Pokémon lightly snored as they got some well-deserved rest.

"Misty," he whispered gently, slowly prodding her and Pikachu awake.

"Hm?"

"I'm gonna get a room. Wanna sleep on a bed instead of this chair?"

She nodded tiredly. Standing up with Pikachu still in her arms like an infant, the three slowly shuffled out of the room and walked down a hallway to the right. Only one other room was taken, so they were free to choose from a variety.

As soon as they reached the last dwelling in the row, Ash opened the door and Misty stepped inside, placing Pikachu on the foot of the bed. Without thinking, she lifted off her shirt, and Ash followed suit with his jeans. Within moments, but were completely stripped to their undergarments, but neither was alert enough to care; nor was either awake enough to note or worry about the various bumps and bruises that had been hidden by the clothing just moments before.

Instead, all attention was being paid to the soft mattress before the two teens.

"After you," Ash mumbled, drawing closer to slumber with every passing moment. He felt himself stumble to the right as he began to lose consciousness, and Misty almost didn't hear him as her eyes continued to fall involuntarily.

"Thanks," she yawned, climbing onto the full-size mattress.

Barely able to keep his eyes open, Ash climbed in after her and pulled her warm body closer to his as the two instantly hit a wall of sleep that was deeper and heavier than either had ever before experienced in their lives.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

In the morning, Ash was awoken by Cynthia's calm voice echoing through his dreamworld.

"Ash, are you up? Ash?" she repeated several times. Knocking followed her questioning every time, and finally the former Sinnoh Champion shook himself awake. Turning around on his side to face the door, he wondered what the blond woman could have wanted for a brief moment before remembering once more where they were and why.

"Are they okay?" he asked, still sounding groggy, but listening with more attention than he'd ever exerted before. "What happened to the Pokémon?"

For a minute there was silence, and Ash prepared himself for the inevitable.

"...Heracross didn't make it either."

His mom was right. He was so tired last night that he'd lost the ability to feel sad. But now, as he laid there on his side with Misty and Pikachu still slumbering away behind him, he felt reenergized and ready to cry again.

* * *

Author's Notes: Well, like I said, this is actually part one of a two part chapter, technically, but I hope you appreciate the fact that I didn't leave you in suspense over which of his Pokémon survived and which didn't. After ending the last like five chapters with cliffhangers of some sort, I couldn't bring myself to do it again. Next chapter we'll pick up in Pallet Town, so be prepared for that because I'm not dragging out the Center scene any longer for the good of the story. There's only so much depressing any story that isn't written by Charlotte Bronte can have, and I'm close to exceeding my limit. All the depression you've read is definitely necessary to help you relate better with the characters, but I don't want my story identified as some "sad story for a rainy day". It's supposed to be eclectic in emotion and action, so next chapter really begins the healing for our beloved hero...along with many new, unexpected twists now that the dust has settled from the Rocket plot climax. Also, I'm sure many of you are wondering why Ash didn't make a bigger deal out of it when Delia mentioned that Red had asked her about his location, but rest assured that will be covered next chapter (though the truth is pretty boring...he was just too exhausted to notice what she said at that exact moment...you know how it is when you're tired). So, until two weeks from now, Later Days and REVIEW PLEASE!


	49. The Only Solution

**Hey Everybody!** Well, most of you probably saw my latest "chapter" where I explained my being late, so I won't go into it again here. All I'll say is, at least I was only two days late this time instead of a week, right?...right? Anyway, I can't give anything away, but I do feel confident in saying that this chapter is definitely a good one, as was the last one. As I mentioned in my previous notes, chapters 46 and 47 did not impress me much and I'm actually going to re-edit those over the next few days so that they meet my expectations, but I don't think I'll ever need to do that with this chapter. Also, I'll mention again that this chapter is really just a continuation of last chapter (which had become too long to finish), so keep that in mind as you read it at the beginning.

Anyway, I truly appreciate your patience and commitment with this story, so thank you so much! I'm still getting back to all of your reviews (there are a lot!), but I know most of you have gotten replies by now, and so you know how committed I am to keeping you and your reviews throughout the remainder of this story. Again, thank you for your patronage, and when you finish here, REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

Ash ate and drank the bare minimum to keep himself alive and alert. He'd never felt his appetite so suppressed before, and Misty worried as she watched him continually pick at the food on his plate; deep in perpetual thought.

In fact, he appeared uninterested in almost everything. Besides waiting for further updates and visits, the only thing that still seemed to garner his attention was sleep. For the following two days in the Center, he'd get up at ten in the morning and then sit around until nine at night, when he'd hit the mattress hard for a solid twelve hours. He continued to ache from various bruises lining his body, and every time he closed his eyes, he felt exhaustion creep out from the corners of his mind. Misty explained it as his body still feeling stressed by all that had happened, but he couldn't shake the guilt he felt for being so tired while his Pokémon went on with their struggling.

Ultimately, Sceptile was left in Cerulean for the time being. There was little hope for his future as a battler, Nurse Joy informed, but little-by-little his chances of survival were growing. The same seemed true for Tauros, the surgeon later explained. The largest advantage of Tauros as a battle partner was his speed, and with his back leg shot up as it was, the idea that he'd ever be a valuable asset to the raven-haired trainer's team again was simply unwarranted. Fortunately, Noctowl appeared fine and didn't require any special attention, allowing Ash to send him back to the Professor's ranch.

Heracross was returned into a specialized medical pokéball that allowed for the conservation of his now-lifeless body.

All of this was hashed out in the succeeding forty-eight hours following their great escape, but to Misty it felt as if they'd been trapped in the pearly-white Pokémon Center waiting room for years.

After paying the extensive fees for the specialized operations, the pair decided that it was finally time to leave. Ash gave a lengthy goodbye to Sceptile, promising to see him again soon, and he rushed Tauros back to Professor Oak for observation and additional care.

Though it felt as if the world had come to a complete standstill as he awaited the recuperation of his friends, he was quickly reminded of the truth as he took his first step in days out of the Pokémon Center. The newsstand across the street was completely mired in headlines shouting out the "End of an Era for Hoenn, Kanto, and Johto". Apparently, news about the falling out of the longtime champions from the League had spread like wildfire without relent. From his vantage point, he also noticed several publications with his own picture on the front page, asking what had happened that caused Sinnoh's newest champion, and the most promising trainer to climb the ranks of the League in years, to quit?

_Nothing about Team Rocket, _he noted silently. This wasn't altogether that surprising to him. Lance had mentioned to Goodshow a few days earlier that the G-Men never released information unless it was full-proof and guaranteed to warrant arrest. Since only grunts had been captured or injured, and because Red had mysteriously allowed Giovanni to escape once again, Ash was sure they decided against telling the press.

_Still, wouldn't someone have noticed a giant lab in the countryside blowing up?_

He made a mental note to mention this to Steven later. For now, though, he simply pulled down the bill of his cap and followed behind his sunhat-adorned girlfriend as they quickly strode through the busy streets of midday Cerulean. There was plenty of congestion as people went on about their day, and Ash was relieved to find that no one seemed to recognize him or Misty amongst the throng.

In the distance, he saw construction underway as sizable chunks of building that had been cut off by the Rocket Tyranitar were moved by cranes off of the street and away from the public eye. Overhead, construction workers yelled obscenities as they went about the daily grind of restoring the large structure's appearance.

They walked for several minutes, taking a few turns and keeping chit-chat to an absolute minimum. To avoid detection, Pikachu walked next to his master, dodging pedestrians' feet, and allowing Ash to go down the sidewalk without garnering attention due to the electric type's unprecedented fame. He too was silent, strolling along quietly and feeling as depressed as ever.

Several blocks later, they came to a stop in front of Cerulean Medical. Here, Chris had said, Lance was resting; still unconscious since the accident. Silently, the three stepped through the automatic glass doors.

They didn't go to the front desk, having already been informed of visiting hours and the room number by Steven. Instead, they walked directly past it with their heads down and quickly strode towards the elevators. Walking in, Ash pressed for the fifth floor and waited for the doors to open again.

When they did, the three hurriedly walked down the hallway. To their left and right various people came in and out of rooms. Some smiled and released great sighs of relief, and others seemed completely heartbroken as they sobbed into the bosoms of their friends and family.

Ash kept his head down and picked up a quicker pace down the corridor.

The last room on the left was Lance's. Slowly, Ash pushed the thick wooden door inward, and allowed Misty and Pikachu to walk in before releasing his grip on the spring-loaded entryway.

Misty decided to stay behind with Pikachu after they entered. She knew this wasn't her time to see Lance, though she owed him just as much as her boyfriend did. Ash had a lot going on in his mind, and she wanted to give him all the time he needed to process what had happened.

So, alone, Ash stepped up to the dragon trainer's bedside. Looking down, he was surprised to find Lance's head completely shaven. Cynthia had said that she and Chris had been told by the doctors - because she was one of his emergency contacts - that he had apparently rolled on his head several times after his violent fall, and that he'd bled quite a bit from the cuts and open wounds produced. Ash examined his scalp to find that there were indeed many scars running along the top of his cranium, though they all appeared closed now.

In fact, the young trainer realized, much of the damage didn't appear that bad any longer. Bill had said the former Kanto Champion had been almost unrecognizable when his Dragonite had brought his body to the Pokémon researcher's house. Now though, the only real change in his physical appearance seemed to be the lacerations that covered his bare arms and top of his head. His right cheek, too, bore a single deep tear in flesh. But after a moment of examination Ash felt himself tempted to shake his comrade awake.

_It looks like he's just asleep, _he thought. He appeared to be breathing regularly as tubes that ended in a mask on the redhead's face shot compressed oxygen through his lungs and kept him alive. Even the heart monitor seemed to indicate that everything was okay as it kept track of the former champion's steadily-beating arterial walls.

Ash shook his head. Yesterday, as he imagined what his visit to the hospital would be like, he imagined to find the dragon trainer on the bed, barely breathing, and severely bloodied up. That was the sight he expected from what many presumed to be a borderline dead man.

Despite his preconceived notions, though, here before him laid a slumbering figure. The slumbering figure of a true friend and partner. Resisting the urge once more to simply tap him on the shoulder, Ash took his hat off for a moment of respect.

All remained quiet in the small hospital room as Misty and Pikachu watched the back of their best friend. He was still, and for a moment she wondered if he needed her.

Before she could say a word, though, he spoke up and managed a single phrase that encompassed what they all wanted to utter, and what they prayed Lance knew.

"I'm so sorry."

His voice cracked, but he didn't cry. He didn't cry because he knew he didn't deserve to.

_Lance should be the one crying here, _he reminded himself fiercely. _He risked his life to save me and Misty. I'm not gonna cry like some baby after all he did for us._

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Though it took about fifteen more minutes of walking, Ash was surprised how fast time seemed to pass when he looked up to find the Cerulean Gym in the distance. The city clutter thinned out progressively as the two neared the goofy-looking structure with a Dewgong sign stapled to the front, and as the quiet enwrapped the duo, both began feeling uneasy. Noise kept thoughts at bay, but silence allowed them back in without welcome.

They didn't bother going in. Misty had taken care of her stuff yesterday; or at least picked back up her suitcase. Honestly, there wasn't much to take care of, so she'd simply re-zipped her luggage and put it in the car.

Walking around the side of the old gym building, they made an immediate bee-line for the vehicle. Climbing in, the three remained quiet as the familiar roar of the engine filled the air. Within seconds, they were on their way back to Pallet.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The birds and bird Pokémon chirped alike as the window pane cast its shadow along the wall of Ash's bedroom that morning. His room faced the east, so as a child he'd always been the first one awoken by the sun's early-morning luminescence.

Yawning, he looked down the foot of his bed to find Pikachu still fast asleep. All was quiet within the house.

_Too quiet, _he realized suddenly. He felt as if life had recently been put on mute, and he was growing sick of it.

He instantly had an urge. An urge to do something.

Kicking the covers off his body, he quickly pounced his dresser and found what he was looking for. With an air of urgency, he threw on a pair of basketball shorts, socks, and shoes, and left the room alone.

Taking a step outside, he was greeted by a rush of warm air. Though the day was just beginning, the September morning had apparently decided to devote itself to one last hurrah of summer before quietly allowing fall to take its place in the cycle. Already hot, Ash stepped out of his house and began running hard.

He didn't know where he was running or why, but he just kept going. Normally, he ran on certain days of the week with certain Pokémon to keep them trained. Each run was carefully recorded so that he could go back to it later and see how much he and his fighters had developed.

This morning, though, he wasn't running for fitness or higher speed stats. He was just running for running's sake.

He'd never run from a fight before, he realized. As he passed Oak's lab, where he'd yet to greet his old Pokémon, and continued on to the open countryside that led to Route One, he remembered growing up with Gary Oak. The two had been deep-seated rivals after a series of events that diverted what was originally a strong friendship, and the rivalry forced both participants to unseen heights of arrogance and determination.

"_You can't climb that tree."_

"_Yes I can!"_

"_You can't run as fast as me!"_

"_I can run faster!"_

"_My Pokémon will be way better than yours!"_

"_Never!"_

The arguing had never ceased. And though at the time it certainly appeared to their parents and grandparents that it was simply a boyhood competition for respect, Ash began to realize its impact on his life. He was never allowed to say "no", or run away from a challenge that Gary issued. He'd been forced and egged on to face his fears and prove his rival wrong no matter what; or otherwise face the impossible task of being labeled a "chicken" the rest of his life.

He'd never run away as a child, and that's why it was so easy for him to jump into Giovanni's challenge.

Had he been more careful, or more thoughtful upon receiving the news of Misty's capture, he probably wouldn't have lost those Pokémon, he realized. Instead of calling Oak and simply withdrawing every reliable battler he'd ever captured, he could have focused on the needs of the mission and prepared adequately. When Chris asked for his assistance, he could have asked what the job entailed before shaking his eager head. When his Pokémon refused to back down as they were surrounded, he could have - scratch that - _should _have withdrawn his team with or without their consent.

But instead, he'd remained headstrong and arrogant. He liked to think that he'd grown over the years; that he was infinitely more mature now than he was in the days of his early training. However, as he reflected back to his poor decision-making that led to the demise of two friends and the demise of another two friends' careers, he suddenly came to terms with how little maturity he possessed.

_A real Pokémon Master would've thought the operation through, _he scolded as he pumped his legs with even more ferocity up a hill._ A true Pokémon Master would've never let anything happen to one of his first Pokémon._

He grit his teeth and continued the climb. He was still sore, and every step caused a new bead of sweat to break out upon his sun-beaten brow.

_A real Pokémon Master would never have been so immature._

He reached the top of the hill, and as he did, he let out a growl of frustration at the barrage of self-inflicting thoughts that swam through his head. Looking around, he was surprised to find himself a few miles out of town now. At the rate he was going, he could hit Viridian by nightfall.

"I could just run away," he muttered to himself.

He certainly had the means to pull such an escape off. His bank account was loaded to the extent that most people could only dream of, and he could easily disappear into the crowd if he wanted.

The thought was surprisingly sweet. After all that had happened since he'd become Sinnoh Champion, the idea of just letting go of this life altogether and starting a new one was attractive.

_But what about Misty?_

Yes, what about Misty? And Pikachu? And Ma? They all needed him...though for varying reasons.

He ground his teeth hard against each other. How could he have just considered leaving them all? That wasn't the kind of man he wanted to be, was it? The old man that ended up regretting his entire life as he died alone? That wasn't the life he was _destined_ to lead.

He shook his head. Everything was just overwhelming, and he was beginning to grow sick of it. Being continually confused and perplexed had to end, and he determined, as he stood atop that hill, that he was through with it. He was no longer going to feel angered or frustrated by his situation. Venusaur and Heracross were gone, yes. Lance was in the hospital, yes. Giovanni had gotten away...unfortunate, but yes.

Then what was the point in fighting it? Feeling sad was okay, of course. There was no way not to be upset by all that had happened. But that wasn't the problem. The conflict that tormented his soul laid in the fact that he wanted to go back and change what had happened. The words "time machine" had popped into his thoughts and dreams more times than he'd ever admit over the past seventy-two hours, and he knew that needed to stop.

There was no way he could keep living like this. Silent almost all the time, he just sat there thinking about what had happened and what he could have done different.

No, he couldn't run away from his problems; he needed to face them head-on.

...and now he realized the first problem he needed to deal with.

Off in the distance, Mount Silver loomed like a giant. Its peak was well-hidden by thick layers of clouds, and even from his distant vantage point, Ash could see the thick rolls of snow that thinned as they were distanced from the top.

It was a beautiful sight, and as he took in a deep breath of Pallet's clean country air, he slowly exhaled and allowed his stiffened shoulders to drop.

_I can't change the past._

He needed to accept this fact. He knew that just because the realization had been made, it didn't mean all of his problems were going to instantly vanish. Over the next few months, his mind would surely wander back to what he could have done differently, but this was a first step.

From this point forward, he determined, when he began to imagine what could have happened differently, he would force himself to stop and just let it go. Being sad was fine, but forever looking back and wondering what could have been would drive him insane.

No person can live like that.

Then, for the first time in what felt like forever, with his eyes still on the mountain ahead, he gave a small smile.

_I'm going to be alright. _The sun's glare suddenly intensified as some passing clouds drifted away, and Ash took the new lighting as a good sign.

Second, he realized, he needed to learn from what had happened.

Though it probably should have been more upsetting, or taken more time to realize, it didn't. The moment he tried to glean a lesson from what had taken place, the moral of the last few days seemed to hit him like a train.

_I can't battle anymore._

Again, the thought brought a strange smile to his lips. Had the idea come to him four days ago, he wouldn't have been able to stop laughing at the prospect. Give up battling? It was his entire life!

But now, as he looked towards the mountain Red had specifically called him to, he knew in his heart this was the right choice. He felt at peace with the decision.

_After all, battling is what put me and my Pokémon in such danger in the first place. If I learned anything from all of this, it has to be that nothing good comes from being a Pokémon trainer._

Sure, he was a little saddened and humbled by the prospect of divorcing himself from seven years' worth of work and toil, but that was insignificant compared to how elated he felt to be away from this mess.

_No more having to worry about Team Rocket or saving the world, _he realized gladly. _Me and Misty can focus on our relationship and school, and I can have fun with my Pokémon without having to hurt them!_

It seemed so obvious now. All of his pain had been due to his position as a champion of Pokémon battling. If he quit battling, then all problems related to it had to stop!

Smiling even broader, he shook his head at the mountain.

Red had given him special permission to enter Silver for a reason. No one other than Pokémon Masters were allowed inside the mountain. Not even champions. The ferocious creatures that dwelled within its walls were rumored far too powerful and numerous to be handled by anyone other than the most skilled of trainers.

Ash knew that in order to reach Red he would have to battle his way through the maze of rock and dirt; but now he couldn't.

It was true that his mind was still riddled with questions about what had happened, and why. But he refused to let those inquiries invade his mind as he watched the renowned natural structure. Those were simply nagging doubts and regrets hiding under the guise of curiosity. He wouldn't let them bug him any longer.

"I'm...free."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ash, there you are!" Delia cried, relief etched in her tone as she wrapped her baby boy up in a tight hug. He smelt strongly of dry sweat, but she didn't seem to care as she held onto him almost as long as she had the night before when they arrived. "I didn't know what had happened to you!"

He stood there quietly for another moment, feeling comforted by the presence of a woman who'd always managed to be there for him. As she pulled back to examine his sweat-stricken shirt and reddened face, she noticed something unexpected.

Her baby boy was smiling.

"Hey Ma," he greeted cheerfully. Walking out of her embrace, he went into the kitchen for a glass of water. "Sorry for not telling you where I was going. I just needed to grab some air, I guess."

Filling the glass at the tap, he looked over at his mother, who wore a smile of her own now.

"You seem to be in awfully good spirits today, honey," she remarked. Inside, she was relieved beyond words to see her son finally crack a smile after talking to Misty the night before. The redhead had explained how depressed he'd been, and Delia had prepared for the worst. She still remembered the goldfish incident, after all.

"It's a beautiful day," he remarked, pointing to the kitchen door's window. "I just noticed while I was out running, you know?"

She nodded, smiling even bigger now. "It really is."

They stood there in silence for a few seconds, taking in the scenery of the rising sun before them. It was a new day, filled with promise and hope for everyone in the Ketchum household.

"Are you hungry, dear?" Delia finally piped.

Grabbing his stomach, Ash nodded happily. "More than I've ever been."

She laughed, enjoying the warmth of his humor after his six month leave of absence. Walking to the stove, she reached for a high pantry.

"You go get showered, and I'll make some pancakes. Sound good?"

Ash answered with a happy "yeah!", and quickly ran out of the room. Bounding up the stairs, he ran into the bathroom and quickly turned on the hot water faucet.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Well it's no surprise Ash is taking this so hard. He loves his Pokémon more than anyone I've ever met."

Misty agreed, holding the cell phone close so she could keep her voice down. "I don't know how he'll be able to recover. I know it's only been a few days, but it's hard to believe he'll ever be the same again."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Misty. He's definitely taking this harder than many might, but you have to remember that people and Pokémon die everyday. Ash is just grieving right now, but he'll feel better...maybe not tomorrow, but soon, I'm sure."

Misty smiled. Her big brother always knew what to say.

"Thanks, Brock."

"No problem. I'm just so happy that you and Ash are okay! That story almost gave me a heart attack!"

She laughed. "Well, I'm sorry for scaring you so bad."

"Just promise you won't ever get in trouble again, and I'll feel a lot better."

The laughter continued. "As long as I'm with Ash, you know I can't keep that promise."

Now it was Brock's turn. "He does seem to get into more than his fair share, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's always been like that."

"...so you two are really together then, huh?"

The laughter died down on both ends. "Yeah. We have been since about the time Ash beat Paul."

"I'm really happy for the two of you...it just seems so weird."

"You think it's weird for you? Try being me!" Brock snickered a little, but Misty could tell the tone of the conversation had changed. "Is everything okay, Brock?"

"Yeah! Yeah, definitely..."

"You kinda got quieter."

Brock sighed. "It's just...we haven't talked much at all since I left. The last time I heard from Ash was almost a year ago after he won that Eevee, and you and I haven't spoken since his birthday when you asked me for Suzy's salon address."

"Oh, Brock, I'm so sorry!"

"No, don't be. I'm not trying to guilt you into calling more often. I mean, it just feels weird to have seen you guys last like a year ago, but now things have become so different. It seems like everyday I open the newspaper to find out about Ash and Dawn, or you and Ash, or Ash is fighting for the gym leaders, or you're competing for a scholarship. The tabloids really keep a close eye on you guys, but I guess I feel a little sad being away while all this happens."

"You know we miss you, right?" A sad smile crossed Misty's lips. She could hear the regret clear across the receiver. "Not a day goes by where we don't mention or think of you in some way."

Brock chuckled lightly on his end. "I don't need to be coddled, Misty, but thank you."

"Brock, you know I never coddle."

He chuckled even more. "Well, I guess that's true. Thanks."

"...hey Brock?"

"Yeah?"

"You said you've been working for that company for over a year now, didn't you?"

"Uh, yeah, sure have! In fact, it's been about fourteen months."

"Don't you have some time off stored away by now?"

He paused, considering the question. "Well, I _have_ been given a full-time job here now that I'm certified, and they said it came with two weeks paid vacation. Why?"

"You know why. Why don't you come and visit us in Pallet Town?"

Another pause. "Do you think that's really for the best? I mean, with Ash feeling so down and all?"

"Are you kidding? I think seeing you could be the thing that helps break Ash out of this quiet streak he's been on! He'll need all the friends he's made to help him out of this funk."

"Well, I _am_ done breeding his Eeveelution line, so I'd certainly have something to cheer him up with."

"You being here would cheer him up by itself."

"And there's not much going on right now besides basic maintenance. Contest season doesn't really pick up for a couple more months, so it's kinda quiet around here."

"See? C'mon, Brock!"

"...okay, I'll do it!" She could hear him stand as he made the declaration. "I'll be there-whoa!"

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, nothing. I, uh, I just tripped over my new coffee table. Now that they're paying me full-time I've been able to buy furniture, but I keep forgetting it's here."

Misty laughed. "Thank you so much for this conversation."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Down at the breakfast table, Misty was astonished to find her boyfriend already working on his second helping of pancakes as she strode into the kitchen. Even more surprising, when he turned to face her, she saw him smile.

"Hey Mist! You're a little late, since I already finished the pancakes. Pikachu left some ketchup in the fridge if you want that, though."

Normally the small joke would not have gone unanswered, but for the moment, she was too surprised to think of some snarky remark.

"What? Nothing for that?"

"Um, I guess not," she replied, her eyebrows furrowing. "You, uh, you seem...different this morning."

"Isn't it wonderful?" Delia asked from the stove. She casually flipped another pancake while beaming at Misty. "He says he's feeling a lot better today!"

"It's true," he affirmed.

"Really?" It was hard to believe after how he'd been acting the last few days. "Are you sure you're not just, you know, pretending?"

He shook his head. "Ma asked the same thing, but I promise that I feel a lot better. I mean, I'm still really sad about what I've lost, and I think I always will be...I mean, Bulbasaur and Heracross were practically family to me. But, I guess I'm just starting to accept what happened. There's nothing we can do to change it, is there?"

Now it was Misty's turn to smile. "That's a healthy way of looking at it."

"And we're here if you need a shoulder to cry on," Delia reminded as she scooped up a hotcake. "Just because you feel better now doesn't mean you will tomorrow...or even a few hours from now. Grief is a difficult thing to get over."

"That's right," Misty nodded. "But if you're feeling better, even for just now, I'm happy to hear it." She sat down and Delia put a couple of pancakes on a plate before her.

"Thank you, Mrs. Ketchum." She drizzled syrup over the entree. "Since you're feeling better, you won't believe who I talked to this morning."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Brock! We actually talked for a few hours this morning."

The trainer's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow! Really? How's he doing?"

"Really good, according to him. He said they hired him full-time, and he's making some money now. He even said they're considering him for higher positions already!"

"Well that's not surprising. He got a lot of practice taking care of us when we were younger." Ash laughed, and Delia and Misty joined in. "We were definitely more difficult to feed and groom than any Pokémon."

"Well you were, anyway," Misty retorted, sticking her tongue out.

"Did you, uh, tell him about what happened to us?"

Misty nodded as Delia sat down with her own plate now. "That took up the first hour. He kept interrupting asking if we were okay...as if I could be talking to him if we didn't survive."

Ash gave his own nod and a sad smile formed on his lips. "He was probably really upset we got into all this trouble."

"Yeah, that's the feeling I got from him. I think he still kinda feels responsible for us. Every once in a while he'd start raising his voice like he was gonna yell or something, but then he dropped it."

"He always promised me he'd make sure you two stayed safe," Delia mentioned thoughtfully as she cut through her stack. "Every time you three would come home, we'd talk here in the kitchen about everything going on while you two were asleep upstairs...we'd even discuss how long it would take the two of you to realize your feelings for each other."

This caused both Ash and Misty to stare at each other in shock.

"And I'd always tell him how worried I was about you kids. I know we've got all these safety measures to keep children safe when they leave home, but that doesn't mean a lot to a mother when she watches her little boy head into a forest with a grumpy Pikachu. But every time I'd say how worried I felt, he'd reassure me. He promised he would never let anything happen to any of you or your Pokémon, and I trusted him completely."

"...wow, I didn't know you two were so close," Misty mentioned, still looking shocked. "You really talked about us?"

Delia laughed. "Of course! Ash and his friends are my whole life, and I needed constant assurance that he and you both were in good hands."

"Well, that explains why he always fed us and made sure we didn't do anything stupid," Ash said.

"Well, nothing _too_ stupid, anyway."

"I imagine he must've been worried sick when you told him about what happened with Team Rocket."

"He said he was," Misty answered. "And he really sounded like he was. The only reason he didn't completely panic I think was because I was talking to him, so he knew they hadn't succeeded."

"Well, after you got through all that, what else did you talk about?"

"Like I said, we talked about his job and how everything's going. We also talked about my attempt to get the scholarship and how that...went. He told me not to worry and that I'd get it next time." She smiled, thinking back to the older man's helpful words. "He sounded a lot like you, Ash."

Ash smiled. "We're both right, you know. You'll definitely get it in the spring with a little training!"

"Well anyway," Misty continued, not wanting to focus on her latest failure, "we talked about that and the gym leader bill you got passed, and then he told me some great news!"

"What is it?" Ash asked excitedly at the change in her melancholy tone.

"He told me he's got some vacation time, so he's gonna come see us in a few days!"

"Really? That's awesome!" Ash exclaimed. "I haven't seen him since we talked last year!"

"And we haven't seen him in person since he left," Misty reminded. "We thought it might be good for him to come down so we can all kinda recover together. It'll be just like old times!"

Grinning from ear to ear, Ash agreed.

"That's a good idea, Misty," Delia said, smiling broadly too. "It's always easier to grieve when you're surrounded by loved ones than by yourself."

"So when does he come?"

Misty thought back for a moment. "He said he could make it out in two days, so he should be here Wednesday."

"That's perfect! I can't wait to see him."

"I get the feeling he can't wait to see us either. He sounded really excited on the phone after I prodded him a little."

Ash stood up from the table and stretched lazily. "Well if Brock's gonna be here in a couple days, that means we have a little time to relax together." He looked down at his girlfriend. "You wanna go for a walk or something?"

"Well, yeah, but let's help your mom with the dishes first."

Delia shook her head. "That's sweet, Misty, but don't worry about that. I'm going to give Ash a break from his dishes duty today...I think he deserves it." With a smile, she stacked Misty's and Ash's plates on top of her own and walked them to the sink.

"Do you wanna get Pikachu to come with us?"

Ash pointed to the couch. Pikachu was sleeping peacefully on the soft cushion. "He hasn't been sleeping very much, for obvious reasons. I think we'll just let him rest."

Misty nodded. "Let's go get our shoes on."

The two retrieved their sneakers from next to the front door, and after slipping into them, they bid Delia farewell before stepping out into the hot late-summer sun.

"Sure is warm, huh?"

Ash nodded. "When I was running this morning, it was already really hot."

For a few minutes, the two walked in silence down the sunny road. Behind them, Oak's lab rested with the windmill atop his tower peacefully turning in the light breeze. Before them, the road continued expanding until it reached the center of Pallet Town, where the shops and various offices of the townspeople were located. As they continued their walk, Misty noticed how quiet it was.

"Where are all the people?"

Ash looked at the large clock tower that loomed in the center of the town square. "Well, it's ten, so I guess they're all at work and school."

It was almost eery to Misty; save for a few busy mothers handling their toddlers, and the occasional car chugging down the street, all was quiet and deserted.

They walked by some storefronts that surrounded the town square. Occasionally the pair would stop to admire something in the window displays, and at some point they clasped each others' hands while strolling.

"Do you wanna look at anything in particular?" Misty asked as they passed a jewelry store.

Ash shrugged. "I dunno. I was kinda just wanting to get out and look around some. It's been a while since I've come down here, even though it's so close to home."

"Has anything changed since you left on your journeys?"

"Not a thing," he laughed, amazed at the very fact. "It's like time has been standing still or something."

They walked a little longer, and after they'd successfully passed every office and store in the small square, Misty suggested they take a seat. There were several white benches in the middle of the shopping area surrounding the small clock tower, so, still hand-in-hand, the two sat.

"Do your sisters know what happened?"

"I don't think so. They're still at that island with Wallace. It's only been about a week, so they've got some work to do before they come back. Hopefully they'll never find out. I don't think I could deal with all the terrified looks. They'd probably try to stop me from traveling with you."

Ash laughed. "That might not be a bad idea."

"Yes it is," she assured. "What happened wasn't your fault. You know that, right?"

Ash looked over, taking a deep breath. "I guess it wasn't all of my fault, but you hafta admit that if it weren't for me you wouldn't have ever been kidnapped, and none of that stuff woulda happened."

"But you didn't expect or want it. Bad things happen in life...that's just how it is sometimes."

"It doesn't have to be, though...there's a way out of it. It came to me this morning when I was running."

Misty gave her boyfriend a concerned look. "What are you talking about?"

"Just think about what I'm about to say before you say no, okay?"

Hesitating at the preface, she reluctantly nodded. "Go ahead."

"What if I quit training?"

True to her word, she restrained the first words that came to mind. _What if you quit training? What does that even mean?_

"What if I just quit? I mean, I've already technically quit with Goodshow, and I could tell the others that I don't wanna do this stuff anymore. Cynthia could probably take my spot after I left and once Goodshow calmed down. What do you think?"

_I think it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!_

She bit her tongue. "Um, why do you wanna do this?"

"You saw what being champion brings. As long as I hold onto that position, I'm a target for Team Rocket and the other syndicates, and so are you and my Pokémon. This is the way out, though. They won't want anything to do with me if I don't have any power!"

Misty contemplated his words for a moment. "But you'd be giving up all of this work that we've done! You do realize we've been traveling around the world over a year now just to fill out your pokédex, right?"

"So I'm gonna keep trying to be a Master even though I don't want to just because we've worked on it for a few months?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, no, but, uh-"

"The only real reason I'm worried about this is because I'm not sure you'll still want me if I quit. I mean, I know it'd be a huge disappointment to have a boyfriend who started as a regional champion, but ended up as just a normal guy."

She shook her head. "Of course I wouldn't care about that, Ash! I'll stay with you no matter what...this is just a lot to absorb. You're one of the most Pokémon-obsessed people I know, and here you're telling me you just wanna quit like it's nothing!"

"Just because I quit training doesn't mean I'll quit caring about Pokémon, you know. I still have plenty of money to get through college, and I think I wanna study Pokémon Biology. I'd still be with them...just not fighting 'em."

"Does your mom know about this plan of yours?"

"Not yet. I wanted to hear what you think first. If it really bothers you, then I'll stay, but...after seeing all the pain my Pokémon were put through there in Giovanni's hideout, I just don't think I have what it takes to send them into battle where they could be hurt again, you know? Every time I'd send Pikachu out to fight, I wouldn't be able to stop from thinking about what could happen if I don't give him the right command, or if he isn't fast enough."

Misty bit her lower lip, thinking. This was a really weird position for her to be in. On the one hand, she _did_ love Ash no matter what, and she wanted him to be happy more than anything. On the other hand, this was such an absolute abrupt change in his personality, and she couldn't help but wonder if this is what he really wanted. His brown eyes, though always earnest when they met hers, betrayed a small glint of sadness that failed to appear in his voice.

"I think you need to give this some time before you tell anyone, Ash." She gripped his hand a little tighter in reassurance. "I don't think you're thinking completely clear right now after all that's happened."

In less than a second, Ash's mood turned from inquisitive to hostile. Narrowing his eyes, he glared at her. "So you don't want me quitting, then?"

She shook her head, refusing to take the bait. "Ash, I love you no matter what. I don't care if you ever battle again...and maybe you're right about it being safer for us if you don't. But I don't care about what's safer. I want you to be happy...and I just don't think making a rash decision like this is smart while you're still recovering from such a big loss in your Pokémon family."

His features softened, and he gripped her hand tighter in return. "You-you love me?"

Misty couldn't help but jolt a little as she relayed her small speech. _Well, no taking it back now._

Smiling as a blush crossed her cheeks, she nodded in the affirmative.

It took Ash a moment to respond. Misty noted that his jaw was slightly ajar as he seemed to struggle for words.

"I-I love you too, Mist."

Hearing those words struck an unexpected chord in the young woman, and a huge grin replaced the embarrassed half-smile. Letting go of his hand, she reached around and pulled him into her embrace. Quickly reciprocating, the two let their words hang in the air for a few long moments.

"I guess I knew that, already, but I'm happy to hear you say it," Ash whispered, mindlessly stroking her back. "Thank you for saying it."

The smile remained. "No, thank you."

He pulled back. Slowly, he lifted his right hand from her mid-back until it reached the back of her neck. She shuddered slightly at the seemingly long-absent touch, and felt completely helpless as he pulled her into a deep kiss.

For several minutes the two teenagers sat there, exactly like that. Taking the minimum amount of time necessary to breath, they kissed repeatedly, softly whispering "I love you" variations back and forth.

"You're beautiful."

"I love you."

"I love you."

"I never wanna leave you."

"Me neither."

It went on and on, but neither teen cared. Some mothers and harried business people took brief glances at the couple. They were so entrenched in the pool of their own emotions and hormones, though, that Misty didn't even mind becoming, for only a brief time, the kind of teenage couple that normally sickened her.

The random passerby who muttered "get a room" or "no one wants to see that" didn't faze Ash in the least either as he cupped his girlfriend's face in his hands. Pulling away to catch another quick breath, he took in every feature of his love, running his thumb softly along her right cheek.

Then, like vipers, the two pulled back in with amazing speed.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Hormones finally subdued after having waited so long, and the teenagers took deep breaths as they leaned against the tree they'd claimed as their own in the small Pallet park. No one was around here, and it allowed them the little privacy they desired.

The sun was still beating down all around them, but its withering blows were masked by the thick foliage above. Here it was cool, and they could talk without fear of being noticed or interrupted.

"That..." Ash took another breath. "Was very, very good."

Misty smiled and hummed a low "mmhmm".

The glow lasted a little longer, and the two allowed themselves a small break from talk as they recollected themselves there beneath the tree.

Finally, Misty turned back to Ash. "This isn't something we can ignore, you know. You quitting training, I mean."

"I know," he responded with a nod. "I've already told you what I think, though. This just isn't what I'm meant to do. It's sad, but it's not like I don't have a future or something. There's plenty of time to figure out what else I might wanna do."

It was still there, though, and she could see it. That small, almost microscopic hint of pain in his eyes. No matter how confident he sounded, she could tell something was holding him back.

"I stick by what I said earlier. You need to give yourself a little more time to grieve before you make any big decisions. After you think about this some more, if you still wanna quit, then I'll support your decision one hundred percent, okay?"

Nodding again, Ash gave locked eyes with the redhead. "Thanks, Misty. I'm glad I can count on ya."

"Well of course you can, dummy." She rolled her eyes. "What kinda girlfriend would I be if I didn't?"

He paused. "Well, yeah, I guess you're right."

Standing up, the two held hands again as they headed back to the Ketchum household.

"I've been thinking about a funeral...you know, for Venusaur and Heracross. What do you think?"

The smile fled Misty's lips as reality reared back in its ugly head. For a few moments, she'd been able to forget about all that had happened, but she was forced to again remember.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up," Ash muttered quietly, noticing the shift in countenance.

Perking up at the statement, she quickly shook her head. "No, no. I was just thinking about what happened again, but it's not your fault...yeah, I think a funeral's a good idea. It's definitely a good way to get some closure."

"I think the Pokémon might need it more than I do," he added thoughtfully. "I haven't been to the professor's yet to tell them, but when I do, I know it won't go well."

"You're right. A funeral is probably what everyone needs right now."

"Nothing fancy," he added, after a moment of thought. "I mean, I know there are real people who die everyday, and I don't want people thinking I think my Pokémon deserve nicer funerals than them, but I _do_ want something nice. Maybe Oak will let me put a couple of headstones on his ranch."

"That'd be nice," Mist answered gently. "Some place where the Pokémon can visit their old friends anytime they want."

Ash's tone grew heavier. "Some place I can visit them too, when I need to."

The sun continued beating on the back of their necks as they walked towards the house. With every step, Ash felt his determination rise; he would never put his Pokémon in harm's way again. It was the least he could do.

* * *

Author's Notes: This one was another chapter that had begun to spiral out of control, so keep that in mind with the ending. Next chapter will basically pick up where this one left off, so if you have questions about why certain things weren't addressed in this one, just know that they will be next installment (Sunday after next!). Truthfully, I don't have much else to say down here except I'd really appreciate a review if you have the time, and if you left one for last chapter but never heard back from me, know that you WILL here back within the next day, so don't be discouraged from leaving your thoughts because of that.

Anyway, until two Sundays from now...later days!


	50. Information Overload

**Hey Everybody!** It's been almost five weeks, so I guess I should explain. I had my best friend in the whole world (and my own version of Gary Oak since I was eight) come visit me a few weeks ago for a week, so no writing was done then. After he left, I wrote a few thousand words, but then had to get ready to go back to school. Then, I went back to school, and am now living back in Austin and started class this last week. Oddly, this last week was the first time I've had enough time to really sit and think out the rest of this chapter. Anyway, I also haven't gotten to all of your reviews, but I will over the next few days. I also plan on drawing out a timeline for all that's happened in this story, and **I'll personally send it to every person that reviews this chapter**, so please stick with me and give me your thoughts on this installment. It's a longer one, so hopefully that somewhat makes up for its delay. Well, that's all for now. Read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

There was no hesitation on Oak's part. The moment Ash concluded his short speech, the elderly professor led the way out the back of his lab. The two walked towards a fenced corner in the older man's three hundred acre property, where a large oak tree rested; its branches spread wide in every direction.

Ash agreed. This would be the perfect spot for a funeral.

He thanked the professor. He knew it was unorthodox for a Pokémon researcher to agree to a burial on their land - given the large amount of space needed to care for so many creatures - but somehow he'd already known Oak wouldn't turn him down. After all, these Pokémon hadn't died of natural causes, or from some harsh battle. They'd died defending their master and best friend.

So it was here, in the spot that the pair had decided upon two days ago, that the service took place.

Ash still felt better after making his decision, but the funeral was certainly more than enough to temporarily damper his spirits. The service took place at noon, with the sun in full eminence, and he was grateful, as Oak spoke highly of both creatures, that Brock had made it in time to pay his respects.

The service itself was exactly what Ash wanted. Low-toned, with few bells and whistles. Heracross remained in the Medical Ball provided by Nurse Joy. Venusaur's body, according to Lance over the phone, had been reported as completely gone after the confrontation between Red and Giovanni.

After they had decided on the plot of land to use, Oak explained that during their time together, Ash and May's Bulbasaur had bred three eggs. These eggs had hatched, and all three grass and poison types had been distributed, but nevertheless the professor asked Ash if he should contact the trainers for a possible trade.

The former Sinnoh Champion quickly turned him down. No one could replace Venusaur, and honestly, it brought a smile to his lips to think of some ten year old boy out in the woods right now with his Pokémon's child, winning battles and climbing the ranks as he'd once done.

"I think it would be appropriate now, if it's not too much, for Ash to come up and say a few words about Venusaur and Heracross," Oak concluded, stepping away from the shallow hole Heracross's pokéball had been placed in, and snapping Ash back to the present.

He nodded. Stepping up, he looked down at the white pokéball with a red cross etched across its upper-half. "I knew both of these Pokémon for a long time," he began suddenly. He didn't look up, but his voice was clear and steady. "When I caught both of them, I really just thought of them as friends that would help me become a Master...but as I've grown up, and as we battled together across Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, I've realized how much more they mean to me. Friends isn't strong enough...they were - and are - my family. I love them so much."

It was short, but no one cared or seemed to notice. All of the Pokémon, and most of the humans, had tears in their eyes as they watched Ash step away.

For his part, Ash really didn't feel as if more needed to be said. He wasn't giving the speech so much for those in the audience, but rather for himself. He needed the closure this ceremony was meant to provide, and a short speech was all that he needed to hear himself say. Honestly, what hadn't already been said or thought over the last week?

Charizard, who'd flown in from the Charicific Valley, seemed to be the only one of the Pokémon managing to grasp some control of his emotion, though even his eyes were glossy as one of Oak's assistants slowly covered the Medical Ball with shovel-full after shovel-full of dirt.

With shaky breath, Ash took one last glance at the gleaming white reflecting from the sun's rays atop the pokéball before it was completely smothered. Two small wooden crosses stood in the dirt. As the assistant wiped the sweat from his forehead and backed away, Misty placed a bouquet of mixed flowers before each.

The rest of his time on the ranch was spent hugging and crying right alongside his loyal partners.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

A couple of hours later, the trio of friends found themselves back at the Ketchum residence. Ash sat alone in the kitchen, talking through the video screen to Chris.

"I'm sorry we couldn't make it for your Pokémon funeral," Chris apologized over the phone. "We honestly wanted to, but early this morning, Lance began muttering, and we think he's starting to regain consciousness."

"Really?" Ash's heart leapt a bit at the news. "Does that mean he's gonna be okay?"

The blond shook his head. "It's still too early to tell according to the doctor, but I think he will. Lance is a tough old guy, you know?"

Smiling, Ash agreed. "I'll come and visit him soon, then. And it's no problem...Lance needs you all there to help him when he wakes up."

"Thanks. By the way, who ended up making it out there?"

"We didn't invite many people. My mom and Professor Oak were there, of course, and so were all of my Pokémon who knew Bulba- I mean, Venusaur and Heracross, but besides them and Misty and Brock, no one else came."

"I know you probably feel really bad right now...trust me, I know what it feels like to lose some of your best friends to Team Rocket, but I'm glad to hear that you did this. It's actually a good way to help you move on and heal some."

"Thanks, Chris."

The G-Men agent shook his head. "Don't thank me. I'm still mad that we didn't get there earlier. I don't know why I underestimated Team Rocket so badly, but I promise we won't let that happen again."

"Again?"

"Well yeah. Just because Giovanni's temporarily missing, it doesn't mean Team Rocket's finished, obviously."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"That's not how crime works. Several decades ago, Red finished off Giovanni's dad - the original Giovanni, you know - and supposedly 'shut down' Team Rocket forever. But after a few years, Giovanni's wife regained control over the whole organization and revitalized it. She made it even stronger than it had been under her husband's rule, and now that Red's taken away her son, I'm sure someone else will come along and try to do the same thing she did."

Ash's fist tightened. "Why don't they just give up already? We won and they lost. Can't they just quit?"

"Like I said, crime doesn't work like that, Ash. Team Rocket will exist as long as the drug and illegal Pokémon selling industries continue to make a profit. All we can do is stop them as often as we can and hope for the best." He moved a strand of hair away from his eye.

"Yeah, I guess..." Ash sighed. So there really was no happily ever after.

"Anyway, I think we've at least delayed their plans by a couple of years. We destroyed a ton of information in that hideout, and having their leader kidnapped has to slow them down somewhat."

"Speaking of the hideout," Ash mentioned, remembering a question that had plagued him earlier, "why isn't there more news out about what happened? All I've seen was a small article talking about a drug bust the police did east of Cerulean."

"That would be us, Ash. We're the ones who busted the drug ring, remember?"

"But they didn't mention us at all! And they didn't talk about the lab blowing up or anything like that."

Chris shook his head. "You haven't learned how it works yet, but you will soon enough. The police never give the credit to anyone if they can help it, and we're not exactly jumping at the opportunity to tell the Rockets that we're the ones who destroyed their most valuable drug cartel. It's better for everyone if the police just take the credit."

"But it didn't even mention all of the battling or anything! It was like four sentences about how Jenny had arrested over twenty members."

"That's how it goes. Drug busts happen all the time now, and as far as the press is concerned, this one was nothing more or less special than the previous ones. I can tell you seem disappointed, though."

"I'm just a little upset that the Pokémon didn't get the credit they deserve for all of this," Ash explained, saddened that the world would remain ignorant of all that had happened. "It seems disrespectful to just act like we didn't do anything."

"Trust me, Ash. The Rockets might be down, but the second a new leader takes charge, their first priority will be to take out whoever took out Giovanni. It's not disrespectful; it's smart."

The last statement led Ash to another question that had been bugging him. "Do you think Giovanni's really...you know, gone?"

"There's no way to tell right now. I'm not really sure why Red took him, but I've been hearing some weird rumors recently between Cynthia and Steven. They quit talking the second I'm in the room, but I get the feeling they may know something they're not telling us."

"That's odd..."

"Yeah, but whatever. If I find out anything important, I'll be sure to call you back and let you know. You're gonna be taking the next couple of weeks off, is that right?"

_More like the rest of my life._

"Uh, yeah, that's right."

"Alright, you relax and enjoy for a while. When you get ready to climb Mount Silver, let us know so we can give you our questions for Red." He paused and gave a small laugh. "It's almost unreal that he's letting you come up, so we need to take advantage of the time you'll have with him. Who knows when Mr. Reclusive will pop out of hiding again?"

"Right."

The video screen blacked out, and Ash hung up the kitchen receiver.

"You done in there?" Misty asked, tapping on the kitchen door as she walked in. Ash looked over his shoulder and gave a weak smile. He was tired after the long day, and it wasn't even three yet.

"Why? Were you listening?"

She stuck her tongue out playfully. "Don't think so much of yourself, Ketchum."

The two pecked on the lips as Ash stood. Though they were still recovering from all that happened, hormones had successfully retaken their hold over the teenagers, and the two often found it difficult to go any period of time without some intimate contact.

Reaching down, she grabbed her boyfriend's hand between her own and looked him in the eye. "So what did they have to say?"

"Chris answered and told me that Lance seems to be doing better. They said he was talking earlier today."

"That's great news!" Misty cried excitedly. It was nice to have something pleasant happen after the gloominess of the funeral. "Do they think he's going to recover?"

"Chris does. He also thinks I'm still going to Mount Silver."

The gym leader narrowed her gaze at her boyfriend. "Ash, we already talked about this. You're not going to make up your mind just yet, remember?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right."

Misty gripped his hand a little tighter. "Ash, you have to listen to me about this. This isn't giving up a hobby...Pokémon training is your life! You can't just walk away from it as if it's nothing!"

"After what's happened, I think it's pretty easy to walk away, actually," Ash answered, a clear sharpness reverberating through his tone.

Misty took a second to calm herself. The last thing either teen needed was to start an argument while feelings were still so raw. "The funeral was just a few hours ago. You still need more time so you can look at this from a less emotional standpoint."

"Look at what?" Brock suddenly asked, walking in and joining the others. "What're you guys doing in here leaving me by myself? I just fly in and you're already ditching me?" He gave a small playful smile, hoping to ease whatever was causing the obviously tense conversation in the small suburban cooking quarters.

"It's nothing, Brock," Ash lied. "Sorry for keeping you waiting." He forced a smile that the older man instantly recognized as fake.

Misty looked to Brock with pleading eyes. "Actually, Brock, you'd be the perfect person for Ash to talk to about this." She looked over to her boyfriend. "Explain to him what you wanna do and why."

Ash gave Misty a rather obvious glare in return to her request, but Brock's curiosity was now piqued. "Yeah, Ash, why don't you guys tell me what's going on? Let's go into the den."

After a tense moment of quiet, Ash slowly nodded his head and released a small "okay".

Sitting down on the chair, Brock faced the two teens from across the coffee table, where they sat on the couch.

"So what's going on? I could tell something's been bugging you since I got here, Misty."

"I'll tell you what's happening," Ash injected suddenly, looking across at his longtime friend. "I've decided to quit battling. I don't want to be the Sinnoh Champion anymore."

For a second, Brock appeared too stunned to talk. His mouth remained slightly ajar as he appeared to struggle for words. Finally, after what seemed to be great mental exertion, he managed to mutter, "W-what do you mean?"

"I don't want to battle anymore. Is that really so hard for everyone to understand?" Ash sat back and crossed his arms indignantly. "It's not like this is out of the blue or something."

That was news to Brock, since this seemed _completely_ out of the blue. "Um, why, uh, do you wanna quit training, Ash?"

"Because of what's happened. I put Misty and my other Pokémon in danger just because I was a champion. I can't do that again, and the only way to get Team Rocket off my back is to quit my position."

Another pause.

"Wow...um, I really never thought I'd hear you say something like that, Ash...I mean, it's _really_ unexpected." Brock still looked a little lost, and Misty began to grow impatient with his floundering.

"So what do you think, Brock? Do you think he should make this _major_ decision now, just a few hours after the funeral took place, or do you think he should wait a couple of weeks before he makes up his mind?"

Brock's shocked expression slowly melted away as he thought through the question. "I dunno...it's definitely Ash's decision to make, but Misty has a really good point. It's normally smart to give these kinds of big choices a few weeks before making up your mind."

"There's nothing to think about, Brock," Ash explained, feeling his blood pressure instantly rise. "I already told you, like I've told Misty, that I'm not putting anyone else in danger ever again for my job. That's just stupid."

"Well, it might be," Brock conceded, leaning back and rubbing his chin in quiet thought, "but you're still looking at this through the lens of someone who's just lost some good friends. You need to give yourself time to heal before you think about it. If you come out now and tell the world you're no longer going to battle, what happens if you change your mind after you start feeling better? You can't go back to the League and just beg them to take you back."

"I'm not even in the League right now, though," Ash contested. "You've seen the papers. I quit when Lance and Steven were fired."

"But Misty told me over the phone that they're pretty positive you'll be getting your job back in the next few days after all that's happened. They won't want to keep the League without champions for too long."

"I don't even know if that's true," Ash replied. "Chris told me that Goodshow's started to look for temporary replacements for all four regions; including Sinnoh. I might not even have to make the announcement if he replaces me."

"So then you'll just quit? What about Lance and Steven? They'll still want their jobs, and they'll need your support in order to get them back!" Misty reminded.

"I'll give them my support, Mist...I'm just not gonna join the League again."

"You know what I mean, Ash. Unless you agree to join back too, Goodshow might not take them seriously."

"And you have to think about all the people that look up to you," Brock reminded. "I can't walk anywhere without seeing your face on a magazine or newspaper. A lot of kids idolize you...how would you have felt if Lance had quit when you were a kid?"

"They're just kids, Brock. They'll find a new hero in no time."

"Then what about the next person who takes your job?" Misty chimed in. "You want to leave this position, but it's gonna have to be filled by someone. If you leave, you're just letting someone else clean up your mess...and what if they're not as strong as you? What if Team Galactic or Rocket bribe them and get control over the League like they did with you...or what if they're kidnapped too and don't make it out like we did."

"That's a good point," Brock agreed. "What if everyone did what you're doing now and didn't do their job because of the risks? We'd have no Officer Jenny's or soldiers or anything!"

"What's your point?" Ash asked with wide skepticism. "Officer Jennys know what they're getting into when they sign up. I was never told that being a Pokémon trainer might mean I'd have to shoot a crime boss in the leg someday!"

"Our point is that your job has a lot of responsibilities, and you need to think about them before you ditch it. Just because a job has risks doesn't mean you shouldn't take it. You didn't know about all the dangers of the job before you joined, and that's true, but you've loved Pokémon and training them your whole life! Giving up that kind of passion is going to be harder than it sounds right now, even if it does mean risking your life."

"You guys don't get it!" Ash yelled back at the two friends suddenly, startling both further into their seats a little. "I don't care about the risk to me, but I'm _not_ going to risk my friends getting hurt! If it was just me getting in trouble, then I'd battle forever, but why would I continue doing a job where everyday I'll wonder if my friends are still alright? I'll come home and worry whether or not they took you again, Mist...you too, Brock. No one I know is safe!"

"But Red took Giovanni away," Misty reminded, "so that shouldn't be a concern. Besides, it's not like me and Brock are harmless...we can take care of ourselves if it comes down to it."

"That's right, Ash. You shouldn't let your fears about us effect your decision."

"Chris reminded me of how Red had beaten Team Rocket before years ago," Ash answered, his voice lower but still dripping with impatience, "and how everyone thought they were gone forever...but then they came back. He's right. Crime never goes away. Just because Giovanni's gone, it doesn't mean Team Rocket suddenly disappears!"

Misty gripped his left knee tightly. "Then we'll just be ready for them when they come back. We've made it through once, and if we need to we'll make it through again!" The determination in her tone threw Ash a little. After his small outburst, he half-expected her to scream him out in return.

He could see the concern in both of his friends' eyes as a hush fell across the living room. He was grateful Delia was at the flower shop, so she wasn't let in on his plans just yet.

"I - and I think Misty too - am just saying that you need to think through the consequences of your decision. If you decide to leave in a few weeks, after you've calmed down some, then go ahead. I won't stop you."

"Neither will I," assured the redhead, giving her boyfriend a small smile. "But you need to give it time, like we discussed."

Ash sighed. "I'll wait a few more weeks, okay? I can't imagine anything will change my mind, but I'll do it so you two feel okay about it."

"Good," Brock answered, sounding relieved at the compromise. "Now, I didn't fly all this way and sign off on two weeks of vacation to just sit around. Let's do something!"

"You guys go on ahead," Ash said, with a half-smile. "I think I wanna take the rest of the day off to...you know, kinda think about what's happened."

"Oh, right. Sorry Ash," Brock muttered, realizing the poor timing of his request. Heracross had just been put in the ground, and here he was demanding fun.

Ash's smile grew. "No worries, Brock-o! Tomorrow we'll hang out and go do something really fun! You're right, you didn't come all this way just to be sad for two weeks!"

"Well, if that's what it takes to make my best friend feel better, than I'll be more than happy to be...sad." He laughed at the odd statement, and Misty and Ash joined in. "But yeah, if you feel up to it, then we can go to the beach or something tomorrow."

"Yeah. Today we can go around the city square. They've expanded a lot since we were kids, Brock," Misty informed. "We can go visit Ms. Ketchum, do some window shopping-"

"Check out the Pallet girls..." Brock added dreamily.

"Don't make me go upstairs and grab the mallet, Brock."

"Oh, uh, right! Sorry about that." Without thinking, he rubbed the back of his head where Misty's toy mallet regularly smacked him back when they traveled together. "No need for that."

"Good. Let's get our shoes and we can go!"

The pair hurriedly laced their sneakers and bid Ash farewell. As they closed the door, Ash leaned back in the sofa and grabbed the remote.

As the television blared some sitcom, Ash thought of how weird it felt to be alone in his house. He hadn't had a second to himself, it seemed, in a long time. With Ma and Mr. Mime at the shop, Misty and Brock browsing Pallet, and Pikachu back with his friends in mourning their losses, he had temporary solitude.

With a grunt, he pushed the power button. If this was all the time he was going to get to himself, he didn't want to waste it zoning out in front of the television.

Taking off his socks, he stepped out the back door and into the yard. The Ketchum backyard wasn't nearly as floral as the front appeared; mostly because Delia didn't have extra time to grow a new garden where no one would see it anyway. Instead, the backend of the property consisted of a small patio with an umbrella table and three plastic chairs on it, and a patch of grass that went wide and deep thanks to the white picket fence's border. Beyond the yard lay miles upon miles of soft, windswept plains, and beyond those was a speck that represented the mountainous border which separated Johto from its neighbor to the east.

There was no breeze today, though the sun had mercifully begun to lower itself, allowing the temperature to fall somewhere between warm and just right. The humidity was significantly lower from where it was just days before, and from the sparse trees within view, Ash could feel fall begin to take its first steps upon one of Kanto's smaller towns.

He walked to the edge of the property where he leaned against the fence and watched as the sun stood above the silhouette of the distant mountains. He looked down the right a little, knowing what waited for him. Mount Silver was actually really not all that distinct from the other earthy structures surrounding it, but Ash had known about its legacy for being the Pokémon Master's home for years, and had thus long ago memorized its location and distinctions.

He'd read that years before there were even more mountains between Route One and Mt. Silver. These made it basically impossible to view Red's hideout without first passing over them, but from the time he could remember onwards, those mountains never existed; having been flattened by armies of Machamp over two decades earlier to make easier passage for vehicular travel between the two nations.

When he'd seen the mountain from his vantage point during his run a few days earlier, it was really something of a miracle. Normally fog or smog or something would hinder the distant sight of the natural structure. Nevertheless, he'd seen it, and now the image was burned in his memory.

It, like the Master hidden within, was simply standing there; waiting for him.

But he knew that trip was impossible now. He had so many questions to be answered; questions that, in fact, burned inside his chest every night. What happened to Giovanni? How did Giovanni find him and Misty? Why was he invited to Mount Silver in the first place?

Yet, the desire to remain as distant as possible from battling with his Pokémon was stronger even than his desire for answers. It was a weight, he realized, and the second he resolved to give it up, that weight was lifted from his heart and mind.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Yeah, it really has expanded," Brock noted as the two gym leaders walked along the sidewalk. Stores and restaurants had appeared where just a few years ago none had been. "Still nothing like a big city, but it's certainly grown."

"I kinda hope it never gets big like Cerulean or Pewter," Misty mentioned as they waited at a crosswalk for a red light.

"How come?"

"I just love the small town atmosphere." She took silent note of the almost empty streets, and the wide array of "mom and pop" stores that stood side-by-side. "There aren't too many places like this in Kanto."

"That's true. It certainly is quieter than Pewter could hope to be."

The crosswalk sign turned white and the two young adults made their way across and into the town square.

"Hey, do you wanna drop in and say 'hey' to Ms. Ketchum?"

Brock shrugged. "I dunno. I mean, we just saw her, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but maybe it'll do us some good to see her outside of a funeral. It'll be more lighthearted."

Brock nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Walking through the front doors of the flower shop, Brock and Misty were less than surprised to find that there was very little business this afternoon. Only one man stood near a fridge, examining several dozens of roses from behind the thickly fogged glass.

Delia stood directly to the right of the door. She was hunched over, filling out some kind of paperwork, and didn't immediately look up as the bell rang to warn her of new customers.

"Just one second, please," she murmured, still filling out blank spaces frantically. "We're running lower on petunias than I'd expected, so I need to get more-"

"Ms. Ketchum, it's us!" Misty alerted, immediately causing Delia to drop her pen and look up.

"Brock, Misty! How nice to see you two!"

"We just wanted to drop in and say 'hi' to ya!" Brock mentioned, waving his hand. "Sorry if we caught you at a bad time."

She shook her head. "It's never a bad time to see you two," the older woman assured. "Is everything alright at the house?"

A worried expression suddenly crossed her face.

"Where's Ash?"

Misty shrugged. "He didn't feel like coming. He wanted to be alone for a little while, so me and Brock thought we'd come down here to check out all the new shops that Pallet's gotten since I was last here."

"That's right, you really haven't explored Pallet in a few years, have you?"

"Nope. It still looks beautiful, though."

Delia smiled. "Thank you. We take a lot of pride in appearance down here, I guess."

"Well it shows," Brock chimed in.

The man behind the pair finally opened the fridge and took out a bouquet of yellow roses. Walking to the counter he quickly handed the vase to Delia.

She scanned the container and thanked the man before looking back to Ash's friends.

"So what do you two have planned for the rest of the day?"

"Not much, really. We're just walking around...you know, browsing and stuff. I might buy something for my apartment if it looks nice."

"I don't have any money, really," Misty admitted. "The gym's closed right now, so I'm kinda living off savings."

Delia's face suddenly brightened. "Would you like to earn some easy money, Misty?"

Surprised, the redhead nodded. "Uh, sure. Do you have a job for me?"

"Well, I was just thinking, Ash and I haven't had much of a chance to talk yet since he's been back. Maybe I could head back to the house and talk to him if you'd agree to look after the shop for me till closing time."

"Wait, you mean run your store?" Misty's eyes went a little wider at the inquiry. That was a lot of faith to have in one teenager with no business experience.

Delia nodded. "I don't think it could ever be as difficult as running a gym! And all I need to teach you is how to work the cash register. Besides, it's not really busy this time of the week, and the store's only open a few more hours, and Mr. Mime will be in the back cleaning if you need any help."

"I'll even keep you company, Mist," Brock assured. "And I won't even take it out of your new salary!"

Biting her lip, Misty finally nodded. "Alright, let's do it! Like you said, it's not like there's going to be a lot of business today."

Smiling, Delia beckoned the younger woman over to her side of the counter to explain the basic mechanics of the register.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Sweety, I'm home!" Delia announced as she walked through the front door. At first, her call was answered with silence. Curious, she called again, and was still met with nothing in return.

_Strange, _she thought, taking off her shoes and putting up her purse.

Walking down the hallway she called out again to no avail.

"Where could he be?" she wondered aloud.

Reaching the back of the house, she was about to turn around when something caught her eye. There, near the back fence, stood her son.

Opening the sliding glass door, she took a step out onto the warm concrete patio.

"Ash! I'm home early, honey!"

Apparently startled, Ash jumped around. "Oh! It's you! Hey Ma!" He ran over to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Misty and Brock came down to the store earlier and told me you'd decided to stay behind. I thought this would be a good chance for us to catch up while everyone was out."

"Okay," Ash agreed, a little disheartened. He'd been enjoying the momentary quiet, but he didn't want to upset his mom. "You wanna go inside?"

"We can sit out here," she suggested, pulling a chair out from beneath the shaded patio table. "So how are you feeling?"

Taking a seat, Ash sighed. "I feel sad, mostly. I still don't feel as bad as I did before, but seeing that funeral really got to me again."

"It was a lovely service," Delia noted. "Not many trainers would do that for their Pokémon. Heracross and Venusaur would have been proud."

"Yeah, I guess it was..."

"Is something on your mind, Ash? I know that this has upset you a lot, but I can tell that you've been thinking a lot the last couple of days."

Ash gave a small smile.

_Of course she noticed._

Bringing up his head, he steeled his resolve. "I've been thinking that I'm gonna quit my training."

Instantly, the same surprised expression that had adorned both Brock and Misty's faces graced his mom's as well as the words seemed to slowly sink in.

"Um, quit training, honey?"

_At least she didn't take as long as Brock to understand._

"Yeah, I know it's a surprise...trust me, I know now, but I think it's just for the best. After all that we've been put through these last few months, it just seems silly to keep trying for the Master title. Nothing could be worth all that we've lost and fought for."

Delia opened her mouth, as if to say something, but quickly closed it again. For a few moments, both parties stayed quiet as the words lingered in the late afternoon air.

Finally, she seemed to find her voice. Ash already knew what she was gonna ask, and he prepared himself to not roll his eyes as she questioned if he really wanted to forego his lifelong dream.

"That sounds good to me, dear."

For once, it was Ash's turn to be surprised. "R-really? It's okay with you?"

"I want what you want. If you don't want to be a trainer anymore, then why would I push you to do it? Does that seem fair or make sense?"

Even as he watched her speak them, the words still seemed foreign. Of all the people he expected to put up a fight, his mother was suspect number one. She'd always been so supportive - even if that support had been at times reluctant - of his training. She'd known it was his dream, like his dad's, to become the world's greatest Pokémon Master.

Nevertheless, the statement quickly took its effect. After fighting Misty the last few days, and now Brock, it finally felt as if someone was on his side. A larger smile spread across the raven-haired teen's lips. "No, I guess it doesn't. Misty and Brock don't agree with you though."

"You've already told them about this? Why didn't you tell me?" she questioned, sounding offended.

_She caught onto that quick. _Though she rarely used it, his mother had a unique ability to make him feel guilty no matter what he did,

"Um, well I told Misty and she told me to keep it quiet until I was sure that it was what I wanted to do, because it's such a big decision. Then Brock told me the same thing when she told him what I was planning to do."

She raised an eyebrow. "Misty and Brock obviously have some reason. Why don't they want you to do this?"

"They say that I need to wait a while before I announce it because I might change my mind. They're afraid I'm too emotional to think clearly after all that's happened."

Leaning her head forward a little, she looked at Ash with an inquisitive stare. "Do you think they have a point? We just had the funeral today, after all."

Ash shook his head. "Time won't take away the risk. If I keep going for it, Team Rocket's still gonna go after me and my friends and family. What kind of person would I be if I kept trying?"

"Well, I know that Brock and Misty would never want to be the reason you quit your dream, and neither would I," Delia answered. "If it's a choice you want to make, then I want you to do it, but don't worry about us."

Ash's eyes widened. This felt like the same brick wall he'd hit with Misty and Brock a couple hours earlier. "How do you guys expect me not to worry about you? Your my mom and they're my best friends!"

"But no matter what you do, Team Rocket will try to get revenge if they come back," Delia reminded in a matter-of-fact tone.

Ash's eyes widened, a little thrown by the retort. Why would his mom think they'd continue hunting him? "If I'm not a trainer anymore, they won't care though, will they?"

"People like Team Rocket never forget and never forgive. They'll want to use you as an example, just like they did with Red."

If his eyes had widened at her last statement, they were absolutely bulging from his head at this point. "That's right! You said something about Red the night I was at the Pokémon Center too! You said that you knew him! How?" He'd almost jumped out of his seat as the questions raced through his mind and lips. He gripped the edge of the circular table tightly as he waited for an answer.

In response, Delia leaned back a little, slightly startled by the instantaneous outburst. She knew this question was coming after she'd mentioned Red that night a few days earlier, but it still worried her to tell the truth after all of this time.

"Um, well, it was several years ago, actually. You were only a few years old when it all took place..."

She was already hesitating, and Ash knew this was something she didn't want to discuss. At this point, though, he really didn't care. The questions just continued to pile up in his mind, and if he didn't get some answers soon he feared he might lose it.

"Yeah?" he urged on.

Taking a breath, Delia nodded. "Well, your father was a great Pokémon trainer, as you know already, but he actually got caught up in the Pokémon G-Men not long after we first met. Since you're friends with Steven and Lance, I think you already know about them. Anyway, he'd been a trainer his whole life, and you know about his losing to Lance. We'd just started dating, but I could already read him and I knew how deeply the loss hurt."

Ash knew about the battle as well. He'd watched the tape many times as a child, imagining he were there in place of Lance, battling his father's fierce fighting team one-on-one.

"But a few days after the match, he actually got a strange phone call from Lance. They sent a private jet to Pallet, and a few days after he left, he came back saying he'd joined some elite Pokémon police group called the G-Men, and he told me not to mention it to anyone."

Ash leaned forward on the table, nodding eagerly, and excited at all the new information. His dad had been a PGM member?

"Well, we got married shortly after that, and then you came along, and for a while everything was okay. Your dad worked with the G-Men and they paid him well. He had to leave every few weeks for days at a time, and sometimes he came back with a new bruise or cut I hadn't seen before, but he always told me it was alright."

Her voice went soft for a moment, and she seemed to look over Ash's shoulder. "He was always so confident...he never let me worry about him." Re-focusing, she looked back at Ash with a sad smile. "Just like you, actually."

Smiling a little himself, Ash had to force himself past the sentimentality of discussing his deceased father and back to the matter at hand. His brain wouldn't stop questioning him until he got an answer to _something_.

"But what does this have to do with Red?"

The information felt almost unreal, but it still didn't explain how his mom knew the most powerful trainer on Earth.

"Red was part of the G-Men too."

After finding out his father was part of a secret task force directed by the Pokémon League members, he was only mildly interested in this last tidbit which seemed to contradict what Lance had told him about Red never coming out to missions.

"I think there's a picture somewhere from a party we went to with him. You see, Red and your dad worked on a few missions together, and we invited him to the house whenever he was able. Your father admired him so much..." Her voice trailed off for a moment, and he could see a glimmer of sadness reflected in her eyes. "He enjoyed working for the G-Men so much, too. He loved Pokémon training almost as much as he loved us, and even after he made it, he kept training and working hard with the other members so that he could beat Lance the next time they faced off."

"Wow," Ash muttered, taken aback from the new slew of information. His whole grown life, Delia had never told him anything more than that his dad had been a great trainer who died in an accident. She never specifically explained how or why, but the fact that he was a member of the PGM certainly opened plenty of possibilities.

Delia gave her son a remorseful look. "I would have told you earlier, but it just never seemed like the right time. I never lied about Jay, but I never told the whole truth either. He was an excellent trainer who died in an accident, but there was more to it than that. When you were about two, he got a new mission...a long-term one. Red personally came to our house that night...I remember he was completely drenched because of the rain."

The rapt interest Ash had shown before was nothing compared to what he felt now. He knew something big was about to happen in the story, and his heart beat against his chest faster in anticipation.

"He-he told your dad that they were almost done. They'd almost gotten everything in place for some big plan he had to take down Sylvia. He told me they needed evidence, and that Jay was gonna need to go undercover a few months to make sure they got it."

"Who was Sylvia?"

Delia shook her head. "I don't know. I just know she was part of Team Rocket."

"What did Dad say?"

Delia gave a slight smile. "He said yes, of course. He never turned down a chance to take down the Rockets."

She remained quiet a moment as tears began to form in her eyes. The recap and confession were clearly beginning to take a toll on her as she recollected all that had happened.

"Anyway," she continued, sniffling a little and looking down, "I didn't like it. It was too long for Jay to be gone, and it sounded dangerous even though they tried to act like it wasn't. But neither of them listened to me. The next day, Jay put on a Rocket uniform, kissed me and you goodbye, and said...he said he'd be back in a few days."

Her voice cracked at the last few words, and she broke out into a short series of sobs.

"It's okay, Ma," Ash consoled. He got up and weakly pat her on the back; not really paying attention to his own actions as he tried to understand and take in all that had been told to him so far.

"No, I'm-I'm gonna finish this," Delia continued, wiping her eyes and telling Ash to sit back down. "You deserve the truth after all that's happened. I'm just sorry it's taken so long for me to finally tell you."

Oddly, Ash didn't really feel angry at her for not telling him sooner. Even though everything she'd told him thus far had already turned into the most interesting story he'd heard in his life, he wasn't upset that he didn't know it sooner. Perhaps he was just too numb to feel anything right now. "It's alright. Just tell me what happened when you can."

She nodded. "Well, a few days passed and I didn't hear anything from your father. I started to get worried, but I couldn't get in touch with any of his friends from work, either, so I ended up just having to wait."

"Then, one day a week later, I got a call from Red. I'd never heard him scared before in my life, but he was then. He told me to take you and get to a hotel far away from Pallet. He said he'd call in a few days to explain and then hung up. It was the middle of the night, but I got you out of bed and we drove all the way to Viridian without stopping. We waited in a hotel room for a couple of days, and then Red called back again. He told me that your father hadn't made it...hadn't made it out of the mission alive."

There was a heavy silence as Delia remembered the details. Fortunately for him, Ash had been too young at the time to recall the tragedy specifically, but he never underestimated how deeply the loss had affected his mother.

Through tears, she continued. "I asked-I asked him what happened and he said he couldn't give specifics. He just told me to go home, and that he would make sure I was taken care of...I never saw him again until last week."

"What did he mean by take care of you, then?" Ash asked, feeling as confused as he was sure his mother felt. "How could he do that if he never saw you again?"

"I'm not sure," Delia shrugged while dabbing her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. "The G-Men kept paying us for years afterward, but I never saw any of them after that day. Your dad's funeral had all of our family, and a few friends, but none of them showed up..."

He couldn't believe it. Why hadn't Lance or Steven shown up for one of their own partner's funerals? And, perhaps more importantly, why did they never tell him any of this?

However, he knew Delia wouldn't know the answers to either of these questions. Instead, he focused on the one inquiry he knew she had the response for. "Why did you say they used Red as an example?"

"Oh, right," she mumbled, still wiping away tears. "Well, he told me that they'd attacked his family too, and that he'd lost his wife...I didn't even know he was married until he said that."

This was a surprise, of course, to Ash as well. All of the biographies following the Pokémon Master that he'd read as a child never once mentioned a spouse.

"I didn't either."

"Like I said, though; after that day I didn't hear from him again. A few years passed, and I slowly kind of just put what happened out of my mind. I tried to pretend like none of it had happened. That's the real reason I never told you about this...because I didn't want it to be real."

Ash nodded, already understanding. He couldn't hold it against his mother after all she'd been put through to try and act like this hadn't happened. He wished he could do the same thing.

"Of course, I'm not mad at Red, and you shouldn't be either," Delia warned from across the table suddenly. Her voice and words caught Ash by surprise and shook him from his thoughts. "Even though he said he'd take care of us, who's to say he didn't? He may have been the one paying us that whole time, after all. And he _is_ the one who took care of Giovanni, isn't he?"

Ash shook his head. "Who knows? Steven's wondering if maybe he and Giovanni aren't partners since he took him away before the police could get there."

"That's not true," Delia answered simply, still looking down. "Steven's wrong about that."

"How do you know?" Ash asked. There was no malice in his question; just more curiosity. "It's weird that he would just disappear with him like that."

"Not if Team Rocket killed his wife," she answered in a hushed tone. "Maybe...maybe he was getting revenge for what happened."

Though it made sense, it was hard for Ash to imagine. The Pokémon Master killing the head of Team Rocket? It sounded more like an action movie than real life.

_Of course, so does everything that's happened over the last two weeks, _he reasoned.

"I don't know if he killed Giovanni or not," Delia continued, "but I know he didn't just release him, and I'm positive they weren't partners after all that happened."

"So why did he come to see you? Did he say?"

Delia nodded. "He just said you were in trouble. We didn't really catch up at all. All he asked was for your pokédex location. I signed onto the pokédex security site and showed him where you were and he disappeared."

"Wait, you were able to find me using my pokédex?" Ash reached into the suit jacket pocket lined on the inside. "I thought you told me you deactivated that account when I was fourteen?"

Delia gave her son a sad smile. "Sorry, but a mother can't help but worry. I don't normally use it, but I feel better knowing where you are."

Ash smiled back. "I guess I should feel grateful that you did keep it, huh? Especially if you're right about Red. He may be better able to punish Giovanni than the police."

"I think that's what he thought too."

"This just feels so weird...I can't believe dad was a member of the G-Men, just like Lance and Steven and Cynthia."

"That's right," Delia verified. "He didn't tell other people what he did because it was supposed to stay a secret, but I was always so proud of him for his work...you would have been too."

"...I think I already am."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

At six-thirty that evening, Brock and Misty both collapsed through the front door.

"Are you two okay?" Delia asked worriedly as she noted their fallen positions just inside her abode.

Breathing hard, Brock nodded. "Uh, yeah, yeah, Ms. Ketchum. We're fine...it's just, well..."

"You, uh," Misty interjected, taking a deep breath before continuing. She and Brock were both sweating profusely and appeared severely out of breath. "You apparently had signed up to do someone's wedding for tomorrow."

"And the bride threatened our lives if we didn't come and get you immediately after we told her we didn't know about any big orders," Brock concluded.

Delia's eyes widened significantly and she covered her mouth as she gasped. "I completely forgot that I had signed on to do that this evening! I'm so sorry you two!"

She and Ash had concluded their conversation a half-hour earlier, and she'd already prepared a bath, but any plans to unwind after the crying and confessing were dismissed as she instead quickly ran towards the door and slipped on her shoes.

"Ash! You'll have to make supper yourself tonight, okay? I'm going to be working late at the flower shop!"

"Alright!" came Ash's reply from up the stairs.

In the blink of an eye, Delia was gone; slamming the door behind her.

"Wow, she seems almost as scared as us," Brock mused, still catching his breath after their sprint from the store. The bride had threatened to unleash her Mankey on them if they didn't hurry; and from the crazed look in her eye, she was not one to take threats from lightly.

"She should be! That...that woman's a maniac!"

They stayed on the carpet a little longer, catching their breath, and they were surprised to hear Ash's laugh come from above after a few more winded seconds.

"You guys look like you saw a ghost!" he exclaimed.

Misty smiled as she looked up. "May as well have! There was a bride who said she'd kill us in our sleep if we didn't get your mom there in ten minutes!"

"Ma always says that brides are the scariest people to work for in the flower business," Ash reasoned as he lighted the stairway. "I guess she wasn't kidding."

"So did you two have a good talk while we were getting pummeled, at least?" Brock asked jokingly, sitting up against the wall.

Ash nodded. "You guys need to come sit down for a minute... I have some unbelievable stuff to tell the both of you!"

Looking at each other, Brock and Misty quickly got to their feet; completely forgetting the exhaustion that had just engulfed their bodies. If it was unbelievable after the last few days' events, then what had been said must have truly been Earth-shattering.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Stunned into complete silence after the fifteen minute retelling of his and Delia's conversation, Brock and Misty continued to listen as Ash concluded his thoughts.

"So after all that I've found out, I don't think Red's the one I need answers from right now. If Steven and Lance knew about Red being a member of the G-Men, and they knew my dad back when he was a member, then they need to explain why they never told me the truth."

Misty struggled, but ultimately succeeded, in finding her voice first. "B-but, uh, why do you think they didn't tell you?"

Ash shrugged. "I have no idea. That's why I need to ask. I'm not sure if they're trying to cover up or something, but they couldn't have just not known that I was Jay's son after working with me the last six months, could they?"

Brock shook his head. "It-well, it couldn't happen. If they really knew your dad when he was a member of their group, they'd know about you too."

"Then that's what I'm gonna find out next. Tomorrow morning I fly back to Cerulean on Charizard to find out what's going on."

* * *

Author's Notes: A lot happened in this chapter, and you, as the audience, just got a huge chunk of clues as to who Red is the father of, so if you didn't catch it the first time, I hope you go back and look again. I'm also starting to foreshadow some events, so if any of you want to hazard a guess on what those events are in the comments section, I'd be happy to read them! Anyway, I know this chapter was a long time in coming, but I hope its relatively good quality is payment enough for your loyal patience, and I REALLY expect to have chapter 51 out on time (in two weeks). We're kind of entering the final arc here, so if you're a loyal reader I highly suggest you pay close attention to these upcoming last chapters...there may be more to this story than you ever expected. Anyway, have a good two weeks, and REVIEW PLEASE!


	51. Being Pushed

**Hey Everybody!** It's really late over here, and I have to get up for Church in the morning, so I'm going to keep this part short. To summarize, this is by far the longest chapter I've written in at least twenty or so chapters (it may be the longest ever, but I'm too tired to check). It's 11,500 words by itself, and I can't begin to describe how many hours it took of editing and re-editing once it was finished to make me actually happy (though I DO really like this chapter; definitely in my top eight or so). So yeah, there's that. There's also the fact that the last two weeks have been test weeks for me, and so free time has been scarce between cram sessions and lectures.

However, none of this should serve as an excuse for taking five weeks to get this to you guys. I really am sorry I can't be more consistent with my updates. I keep putting up these two week deadlines and failing miserably, but I refuse to back off of them because I know if I don't make them, then chapters would likely never be finished at all! I'm mad at myself for not having more determination to finish this story as it comes to a close, and I'm afraid this is costing me readers just as the story's coming to its greatest climax and then conclusion.

So if you're reading this, please, please keep the faith with me here. It's hard, but I can guarantee a quicker update than this chapter, and I really do promise it only gets better from this point on. It's a decent chapter, and hopefully it's considerable length (well over thirty pages single space) will make up, at least partially, for the time failure.

Also, if you commented on last chapter and haven't gotten the timeline yet, you will, promise! Again, it's taken me a while to get it completely configured, because I had to go back and read every chapter up to now to make sure the timing was exactly right with the dates, and if the dates didn't add up I actually went back and edited the chapter so they did. So basically, it took a while to get that finished too.

If you didn't comment on this chapter though, and want a timeline for this story, please leave a comment on this chapter letting me know and I'll get it out to you. Now that it's finished, it's very easy to send to anyone who wants it!

And now, without further ado, read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

_How odd. It's been over a year since it all started. It began right here, though, in this town. Here is where I decided I'd take Misty with me, and where Mallory took off with my Pokémon. Here's where the accident happened. Has it really been that long already?_

Ash continued to muse silently as he walked along the dirt path shortcut that he'd taken his first day as a trainer. Of course, he wasn't sprinting like he had then, but the same feeling of urgency was beginning to rise in his chest as he drew closer to the lab. It had been over a year, but he couldn't quite shake the eery feeling he got when thinking about what he was about to do.

It was nice and dark. He appreciated this greatly. The weather had begun to change, but right now it felt _perfect _outside. It was cool, but not cold, and the night - or rather, early morning - air was completely still. Save for a few misplaced Pidgey, the world was completely at peace. It made him realize how fortunate he was to have a place like this to come back to. He spent most of his time in large towns or cities during his journeys, after all. If he was from some grand place like Celadon or Goldenrod, it would just be more of the same.

No, here he had a nice, quaint place; a place where every nook and cranny held some special childhood or adolescent memory.

There it was. In the distance, the windmill atop Oak's lab spun slowly. He'd always wondered what that was for...

"There you are, Ash," Oak answered happily through the intercom of his gate. "I'll open the gates. I'm in the middle of getting breakfast ready for today's releasees, but I'll meet you at the front."

"Thanks."

The metallic gates slowly opened, inviting the raven-haired trainer to enter. Stepping through, he followed the winding path up to the old man's door.

Opening the door, Oak instantly revealed a small pokéball within his grasp.

"Here you are."

Professor Oak handed Ash the pokéball. "I'll go get Pikachu from the field right now."

"Do you mind if I walk back there with you?"

"Not at all. Come on." It was only four-thirty, but the grey-haired professor appeared fully awake and ready to start the day. Ash had to admire his gumption. He'd been doing this for almost forty years, and showed no signs of slowing down yet.

Nodding, he followed close behind, and shut the door as the two stepped out. Apparently, Oak already knew where his yellow friend was located as he wandered off in the darkness in a seemingly familiar direction.

Ash stood there for a few moments, the only light in the expansive territory the fluorescent porch bulb flickering above his head.

The wet dew upon the grass clung to his jeans as he stood there, listening to the quiet. Several hundred Pokémon slept peacefully as stars continued to twinkle above, and Ash smiled as he occasionally recognized what was probably the silhouette of one of his partners. More peace was a nice thing...not like what you got in battles. Had he been missing out on all of this during his climb to the top?

Oak had said the Pokémon had continued to mourn the loss of their friends long after Ash left, but it appeared as if they'd finally tired themselves out, and he was thankful for that.

"Here he is," Oak announced with a smile as Pikahcu ran around from behind him and scurried up Ash's side onto his shoulder.

"Pika-pikachu-pi?"

"I'll tell you what's going on in a minute, okay buddy?"

"Pi."

Oak gave Ash a concerned look. "I don't like this Ash. Why not just drive to Cerulean? Or maybe get a flight?"

"What do you call Charizard?"

"You know what I mean, Ash. Don't be a smart-alek. Why not fly _on a plane_?"

"I used to ride Charizard all of the time...I'm not gonna let one little accident stop me from ever doing it again. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't have survived that fall, after all."

Oak nodded. "I agree, but I still think you're going to give your mother an unnecessary heart attack by doing this."

"She'll understand. It's important that I get there as fast as possible, and Charizard's a lot more private than a plane."

Oak gave a slight nod.

"...and it's not like I'm not scared at all. I mean, I _was _the one who took the fall, after all, but if I'm willing to try again after being put through that, I don't think anyone else should be worried."

Seeming to agree, though still silent on the issue, Oak moved on. "What do you plan on talking to the champions about, anyway?" He walked past Ash and opened up the backdoor entrance to the lab. Walking in after him, Ash shook his head.

"It's nothing important," he lied, "but I think it'd be easier to discuss in person than over the phone."

"I don't understand you, Ash."

He cocked his head a little as the two made their way to the front door.

"What do you mean?"

"You just said you wanted to stay in Pallet for a little while to relax and break, and yet here you are flying off less than a day after the funeral."

"This just can't wait, Professor. I know you don't understand, but trust me when I say it's important."

He nodded. "I believe you...I just don't _understand _you."

Ash gave a light laugh as he opened the door. "I don't think I understand, either."

Saying farewell for the moment, and promising to return home in one piece, Ash released Charizard from his confines.

"Do you think you could take me to Cerulean?" he asked as the dragon-like monster gave a loud, smoke-filled yawn.

Giving a slight growl, the orange Pokémon grinned and nodded.

"Good."

"Pikachu, pika-pi?" exclaimed his best friend from his shoulder, gently tugging on his right ear.

"Oh, right! I promised an explanation, huh?"

"Pika."

"Okay, so do you guys wanna know why we're going there?"

Though Charizard looked less than interested - he seemed far more intrigued at the prospect of showing off his flying strength a moment earlier - Pikachu eagerly replied with a quick "Pika!" at the question.

Realizing the need to keep any explanation simple, Ash thought quietly for a moment. "Well, Lance and Steven have secrets, and I need to find out what they are. Cynthia may have some too."

Looking a little confused still, Pikachu nevertheless gave a quick nod of understanding.

"Before we go, I need to go home. Okay, Charizard?"

The fire type was already extending his long neck toward the ground, awaiting his trainer's saddling.

A lump lurched in his gut at the sight. He'd done this a million times as a kid, but it was different now. Seeing Charizard like that...it was was just like how it started last time.

After a moment of quiet, Charizard gave a muffled grunt of inquiry. Though he was loyal to his trainer, he certainly wasn't patient with him.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry Charizard...I'm just, not feeling, uh, you know."

Of course, Charizard didn't know. He continued to look at Ash in confusion, and the former Sinnoh Champion realized just how unfazed his dragon was at the prospect of flying again.

_He doesn't even remember_...

It made sense, in reality. Considering the sheer number of times Charizard had fallen from the sky after an intense battle, it really shouldn't have surprised Ash at all that he'd long forgotten the near-death experience.

But it did.

Shaking his head, and bringing himself back into the present, he realized the need for action. He had a different and special relationship with each of his Pokémon. Pikachu required friendship; Squirtle, faith; and Charizard, strength. If he appeared afraid or weak, Charizard would lose a little faith in his master, and that was the last thing Ash ever wanted.

Steeling his resolve, he decided to get it over with; as if jumping into a cold pool. Jumping on, Ash was hundreds of feet in the air only a few moments later.

Looking down, he suddenly felt a little dizzy. He noticed, as if for the first time, that the moon and stars were still out...just like that night. And he was flying above Pallet...just like that night. And he was on top of Charizard...just like _that night_.

"Could you slow down a little, Charizard?" Ash asked above the wind whipping in his ears. "We have to be almost there."

Nodding, the flying type decelerated and decreased his altitude as they approached the Ketchum household.

As they descended, Ash realized that he was a little more scared than he'd expected to be when they took off, but as they began to near the ground, he started to feel calmer and more confident.

Though flying with Charizard really did give the added benefit of privacy and convenience, there was of course more to it than that. In his heart, he knew he hadn't fully recovered from that night over fifteen months earlier. In the back of his mind, in his nightmares, he'd still see the flash of light from the simultaneous Hyper Beams; feel himself falling down; feel himself losing his grip on Charizard. The physical recovery only took a few weeks, but the mental still hadn't come to a close. Through all of his past near-death experiences, that had somehow stuck in his mind as the most vivid.

_Even Giovanni didn't get that close..._

His mom, being the woman she was, had fully expressed her dissent with his decision to ride Charizard. Though she stopped herself from explicitly forbidding him, she'd done everything within her power to change his mind.

"_You might feel different about riding him all the way to Cerulean when you get in the air," _she'd warned. She only finally relented under the premise that he would exercise extreme caution when in flight, and even then, the bitter taste of the compromise was obvious in her face.

At the time, he scoffed at the idea of being afraid of riding Charizard. After all, he'd ridden both other Pokémon and planes since then without trouble, so why would this affect him in any adverse way? It was true that he was a little scared when thinking back to _that_ moment specifically, but he didn't think for a moment it would affect his ability to fly with his fire type.

However, as he floated down towards his mom's small suburb, he began to realize that what she'd said was true. It was different, feeling his fire and flying type's scaly skin between his intertwined fingers, and looking down and seeing Pallet float lazily nearer to him.

_Be strong, _he urged, his heart still hammering; though graciously beginning to come to a slow. Charizard was the only Pokémon he had strong enough to handle such a flight; and when all of the pair's past experiences were mixed with that fact, it was obvious he needed to reconcile this psychological problem before it became a stumbling block between him and his fierce creature.

Landing on the ground with a soft thud, Ash thanked Charizard as he dismounted. Returning the Pokémon to his red and white capsule, Ash took a moment to catch his breath. He hadn't noticed mid-flight, but he'd apparently been holding it for quite some time.

Making his way up the walk, he took his key out and unlocked the front door. Doing his best to remain quiet, he squeaked the barrier open and then inched it closed. Turning, he was surprised to find the kitchen light on to his right.

It didn't surprise him at all to find his mom waiting for him, however.

"You're up pretty early," he mentioned casually; giving a small smile.

Delia returned the gesture. "I knew you said you'd tell me goodbye, but I just wanted to make sure I was awake when you did it."

"Thanks, but I really was gonna wake you up."

"I know. You want some coffee?"

Ash stuck out his tongue. "No thanks. That's still too grown-up for me."

She laughed. "It's good to hear you're still too young for something...it doesn't seem like it with all that's happened."

"I don't think what's happened has really changed anything about me...at least, I don't feel any different because of it."

"Hm." Delia nodded, looking down at her coffee. For a moment, all was calm. "Do you really need to go do this with Charizard."

"I think so...I need to get over what happened. He's been one of my most loyal friends, and I need to show that I still trust him."

"This is why I didn't like being a trainer."

"Huh?"

Delia looked up and gave a sad smile. "I hated saying goodbye. The first time I left home, I came back just two weeks later. I didn't even leave Vermillion City limits the entire time I was gone."

"You told me about that, remember?" He took a seat at the opposite side of the table. Pikachu took the opportunity to jump off his shoulder and lick Delia's hand. She smiled in reciprocation. "The week before I left, you told me if I didn't wanna go, all I had to do was say so."

"That's right...you know that offer still stands, right?"

Now Ash laughed. "I hope so. After I get my answers, I'm getting out of this business for good."

With melancholy eyes, Delia shook her head. "Don't say it's over until you're sure it's over."

Ash began to protest, but she held her hand up and instantly quieted his counter. "I know you think you know what you want, but you're seventeen years old. Your passions and decisions will change on the turn of a dime for years to come. The only consistent thing in your life has been Pokémon training, and I don't know how easy that'll be to give up once you know the truth."

He lowered his voice, and looked straight into his mom's eyes. "What's the truth, then?"

"I wish I knew myself, honey. I only know what I said yesterday...nothing less, nothing more."

"Then why do you think I'll change my mind when I find the truth?"

She shrugged. "In my life, I've noticed that people seem to make the wrong decision when they're left in the dark. Going to the champions will give you some light...and you may decide you want more."

"You mean Red?"

She nodded.

"I'd have to battle my way through Mount Silver to get to 'im."

"Then you see my point." She smiled, and Ash was temporarily shocked. His mom was the nicest woman he knew, but he'd rarely seen her in this light; the light of someone who'd seen the world.

He realized that, for the first time, they seemed to be approaching each other as adults.

_That's why it's different._

"Are you going to say goodbye to Misty?"

"No, I'll let her sleep in. I need to get going, and I don't need to drag out any goodbyes with her telling me not to be stupid for an hour."

Delia snickered. "Hold onto her, Ash. That's what a good wife is for, after all."

"Huh?" His eyebrows shot up in surprise, and any remnant of the mutual maturity felt during the conversation evaporated like water as he jumped from his seat. "What do you mean wife?"

Delia rolled her eyes. "And here you were acting so grown-up...I guess you're still not ready, then."

"For marriage? I'm seventeen!"

Delia pressed her forefinger to her lips gently. "You'll wake them up. And I didn't say I wanted you to get married yet, but have you've honestly not thought about it at all?"

Ash shook his head. "Of course not!"

"Well, I can tell you she has, so you better start."

This elicited a scoff from the teenager. "Trust me, Misty's not thinking about marriage at all."

"Have you said 'I love you'?"

He paused, only one eyebrow shooting up now. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"Then she's thought about it."

The idea of Misty and him getting married suddenly made him wish for the sensation of riding Charizard once more.

_...but what's so crazy about it?_

He shook his head quickly and looked at Delia wild-eyed. "Believe me; we're not thinking about getting married for a looooong time."

"Okay, but don't be surprised when you find out I'm right...just don't do it before you graduate college, alright?"

Had she lost her mind?

"Don't worry, Ma. I can guarantee you there won't be a wedding before we leave college." He rolled his eyes as his mom snickered again. "Come on, Pikachu, we gotta fly!"

"Pika!" The small mouse jumped back onto his extended arm.

Delia got up and walked him to the door, giving him a strong hug before he headed outside. "I'd go out there, but you know how Mrs. Dutcher is always looking out her window. I don't want her to see me in my p.j.'s."

Ash laughed. Releasing Charizard once more, he got on board and gave his mom one final farewell wave before being propelled high in the sky.

Looking down, he realized the nerves from the talk about Misty were still greater than anything this flight could produce. Gratefully, he patted the top of Charizard's head and used the Pokénav to point the trio in the right direction.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"He left without saying goodbye?" To Delia's surprise, the young girl sounded more disappointed than angry. As if she were let down by his decision.

"He just didn't want to wake you, dear," she deceptively assured. "He didn't think you'd be happy with him for that, after all."

"But this was his first time to fly Charizard after the accident. I was wanting to wish him good luck."

Brock put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He has a lot on his mind right now. He'll probably apologize when he gets back."

She shrugged. "I'm not looking for an apology...I just hope he's okay."

"He will be," Brock stated in an upbeat tone. "He's Ash Ketchum, after all; the luckiest guy alive."

"That's true." Misty smiled at his comments. "He has me as a girlfriend, after all."

Brock smirked. "Actually, I was talking about his battles, but yeah, I guess that works too."

"Now, will you two be okay without me this morning?" Delia asked, slipping into her shoes at the front door. "I really could make you breakfast really quick."

"No, we don't want you to be late for your psycho client," Misty half-joked. "She may have actually brought her Mankey today."

Delia laughed. "Oh, that's just pre-wedding jitters. When you've been in the flower business as long as me, you learn how to take care of those nerves."

Misty looked at Brock. "If I ever do that when I'm getting married, feel free to slap me, okay?"

"Misty, I wouldn't slap you on your best day...much less when your going crazy from your wedding. You'd probably use a real mallet on me!"

Misty and Delia laughed. "I guess I can't blame you, then."

"I should be back by supper time, okay guys? Call if you need anything, and feel free to cook anything you want with what's in the fridge and pantry for breakfast."

"We got it, Ms. Ketchum," Brock assured with a thumbs-up. "Now get to the store before _we're _in trouble."

With another laugh, she stepped out the door and the rumble of a motor was heard moments later.

"Now that she's gone," Brock turned to Misty, "what do you want for breakfast?"

"Oh, Brock, you're always cooking when we get together! Let me make us something, alright?"

_Yikes!_

Mustering every ounce of strength available, he sequestered the immediate thought that came to mind, and instead went with the back-up.

"Uh, it's fine Misty! I need to practice my cooking skills, actually. I'm a little rusty since I order out pretty much every night in my apartment."

She squinted at him and grabbed her hips. "You don't think I can cook either, do you?"

"Huh? Why, um, why would you even ask that?"

"Ash did the same thing a few months ago when I offered to make soup! No one around here thinks I can cook just 'cause I screwed up a few times when we were kids. Ash used a Pikachu against your Onix, but did we just not let him battle ever again? No! We kept letting him try! If he can make mistakes as a kid, why couldn't I?"

"Um...well, you've clearly thought this through."

She huffed and folded her arms. "Yeah, it's been bugging me a lot."

"For the last three months?"

"Yeah, I don't forget these kinds of things."

Taking a deep breath, Brock said the words he knew he would regret mere minutes later. "Okay, then. You can go ahead and cook breakfast."

Instantly perking up, Misty's eyes lit. "Awesome! How many eggs in your omelet?"

"How about cereal?"

She folded her arms again. "Do I need to get the mallet?"

"Um, no, no! Uh, how about three?"

_Does she even know to crack them before putting them in the bowl? _The thought instantly sent his stomach into convulsions.

"Sounds good, Brock-o!" She seemed really excited at the prospect of proving everyone's fears wrong, but Brock couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad idea.

"Let me just change out of these real quick," she motioned to the running shorts and loose t-shirt that doubled for her as pajamas, "and then I'll make us a great meal! You'll see!"

She hurried up to the second floor, leaving Brock alone with his thoughts and fears at the base of the stairs.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The trio had been flying for a few hours, and were almost halfway there as Ash declared time for a break. Though Charizard groaned at the request, his trainer knew that he needed at least a little time off before continuing.

"Just land on that pier over there, okay?"

Giving a small nod, the orange dragon slowly brought his master down to the sea, landing on an independent wooden fixture. The Pokénav indicated they weren't too far south of Celadon, and Ash knew he didn't want to land in the middle of one of Kanto's biggest cities on Charizard.

Looking around, he was unsurprised to find nothing within miles of their location. Land was still too far for visibility, and other swimmers were apparently deterred by the distance.

Deciding to wait here a little while for both his and Charizard's sake, he let Pikachu jump off his shoulder as he took off his shoes and rolled up his jeans. Allowing his feet to barely dangle in the water, he looked up at the morning sun.

"Do you guys enjoy battling?"

Charizard had just settled in for a quick nap, and Pikachu appeared to be looking for a spot on the wooden area to relieve himself, but the inquiry surprisingly caught both of their attentions immediately.

"Pikachu!" The mouse Pokémon nodded ecstatically.

Giving a roar so loud, Ash feared those back in Pallet might hear it, Charizard also voiced his approval.

He narrowed his eyes, as he laid backward against the planks and allowed the flow of the current to try and lead his legs away from the mini-dock. "But why do you guys like it? There's so much pain involved. It's easy - or, it was - for me to like it, but how do you go into each one knowing you're probably going to get hurt?"

Neither seemed to fully grasp the meaning of the inquiry, but Charizard answered by shooting a powerful burst of flame high into the sky, as Pikachu shot off a quick Thunderbolt in the same direction.

Ash smiled. "I guess you like being strong, huh?"

Pikachu jumped onto the former champion's chest, causing him to slightly lose his breath with an "oomph!". Licking his cheek, the yellow Pokémon ran off again in search for a place of some privacy.

"And for me too...right."

He swallowed and took in the cool sea breeze. Closing his eyes, he wondered if he was just dreaming all that had happened over the last few weeks. This was so unlike him; preparing to give up on the one thing he'd loved for so long.

It _had_ been his passion, hadn't it?

He lifted his head a little to take a look at the duo behind him. Pikachu had nestled in near Charizard, apparently deciding to catch in on the nap before it was time to go again.

Ash grimaced.

How could he let them go out and risk getting hurt? They said they wanted to battle, but the implications of his confrontation with Giovanni proved that, being this high in the Pokémon League, there was more to the organization he'd grown to idolize as a child and teen: there was true danger.

It seemed simple back then. Go get badges and go to the League.

Now there were careers, medical benefits, criminal syndicates, League presidents, and a slew of other problems that seemed to lunge at him the second he crossed that threshold between trainer and League Champion. No one had prepared him for what waited beyond.

"I'm thinking about quitting training, you guys."

He held his breath, but there was no reply. Only the sound of Charizard's snoring met his ears. He slowly exhaled. That was harder than he'd thought it would be. It was the right decision, he was almost certain, but this was going to be difficult news to break; especially to seasoned veterans like the pair behind him. They'd been there since the beginning and, though they weren't always the most loyal at the start, they'd tried their hardest to get him to where he was now.

Though he hated to admit it, Misty and Brock may have had a point; perhaps he hadn't fully thought through his decision. _He _didn't want to battle anymore, but what about the hundreds of Pokémon he now commanded? The ones he supposedly considered family? He'd barely considered their feelings throughout this process, and now that he did, he didn't know how they would take having their entire livelihood suddenly ripped from their identities.

Pokémon are special. He remembered learning from Oak long ago - before he'd even started his journey - that training and battling are especially helpful because they help develop strong bonds between humans and the creatures. Though they could have easily destroyed the human race up to a few hundred years ago, they never did because the two races shared a common bond; the bond between a trainer and Pokémon that can only be realized through fighting.

Centuries before, this was accomplished by having Pokémon serve alongside humans in wars, but now it was carried out through the League.

The reason he held the respect of so many Pokémon was because he'd fought alongside them in the past, and slowly gained their trust. It was through that fighting that they developed respect, and eventually, love and admiration for their trainer.

_And now I have to end that._

He held no doubt that they would still love him. After all they had been through together, he was certain of that. But what about their respect? Would they respect a person who, the entire time they knew him, had taught them one skill and one skill only?

The skill of combat.

He'd trained with many of them; personally running alongside or taking their attacks in full force at some time or another as he seasoned them and prepared each for a League debut. He'd built their lives around one goal.

And now here he was, about to take away the one purpose he'd given them.

He bit his lip. This was a little more rife with problems than he'd first anticipated. He couldn't just do that. What was love without respect?

Clenching his fist, he banged the hard wood beneath his back. _I can't go back to battling, though! It'll put everyone in too much trouble._

He mulled through his options; there weren't too many of them.

He could go back to training, but he'd already disavowed that. Even if everyone said they were okay with the risks associated with him in the League, it didn't make him anymore comfortable. And even if Team Rocket _did_ still want his head, he certainly didn't need to be on television every night in battles reminding them of who took out their beloved leader.

He could just break his entire team's heart...but he knew he couldn't do that either.

And this really left him with only one true option: giving them away.

If he couldn't use them anymore, but they still wanted to battle, then this was his only choice to satisfy both himself and them. It wouldn't be hard for guys like Charizard and Squirtle, of course. They already had lives outside of his team, so they'd just know not to expect any calls from him for assistance in the future.

It would be harder for the virtual hundreds of others he'd trained, though. He'd need to find a home for each Pokémon where their talents would still be appreciated and utilized to their full potential.

He'd caught many new Pokémon over the course of the last year and a half which he hadn't trained too much, so they wouldn't need to go anywhere too specific. They could probably be given to starting trainers as a gift in most cases and gain experience along with their new masters.

No. Who he was really concerned for were those Pokémon who'd developed truly strong bonds with him personally. Those were the Pokémon who'd helped him win League and gym battles and had traveled extensively with him in the past.

Donphan, Staraptor, Snorlax, Meganium, and the rest. Some would surely decide against going to new trainers; they'd probably decide that staying with their current master was preferable even without training than moving on to someone completely new. However, he knew many more would ultimately want to battle again and be forced to make the leap.

It would be his job to make that leap as easy as it could be for them.

Taking another deep breath, he sat up.

There would be more time to think about this stuff later. For now, he had about another three hours of flying to go before he reached Cerulean.

"Rise and shine, Charizard!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Brock snuck a peek around the corner.

_She doesn't seem to be starting a fire, _he noted with relief.

Misty forbade him from going into the kitchen at all after she came down the stairs "real quick" - actually an hour later - and worried that he would try to secretly help her or spy.

It had taken her almost a full half hour to find all the ingredients, but the eggs seemed to finally be sizzling nicely; and though he worried he may be letting his hunger get the best of his common sense he couldn't help but feel optimistic that perhaps the redhead _had _finally learned something about cooking during their time apart years earlier.

_Calm down, Brock-o, _he warned, removing himself from the hiding spot. _Remember what happened last time you ate her cooking._

He shuddered at the thought.

"Hey, Brock!"

He almost jumped at the declaration. Had she seen him spying?

Heart almost pounding out of his chest, he turned the corner into the kitchen. "Uh, yeah Misty?"

"Could you set the table for me? We're almost ready over here."

Doing his best not to appear completely relieved by the innocuous request, he gave a quick nod and headed to the drawers for place mats and silverware. Taking out two sets of each, he placed everything in perfect order and turned back around to his friend.

"Everything's set over here. Ready when you are."

"Perfect," she quipped, turning around with a pan in her hand. "They're all done. I cooked our omelets at the same time so we could eat together."

Brock noted that the breakfast food didn't appear altogether that bad. It was a little brown around the edges, but all in all it appeared like a normal egg and cheese meal.

"Could you get the plates down for me too?"

"Sure." He reached up and pulled down two blue plates from the pantry, placing them side-by-side on the counter. "All set."

Slowly lifting the first pan, she slid the breakfast treat onto the nearest plate. She quickly followed suit with the second.

"You want ketchup?"

"With an omelet?"

"Why not? Everyone in my family loves ketchup with anything...except maybe chocolate and stuff like that." She stuck her tongue out and Brock laughed.

"Nah, I think I'm good, thanks. You want some juice?"

"I got it," she answered, already opening the fridge door. "I've gotta get the ketchup anyway."

Taking their plates and placing each down on a respective mat, he took the seat facing the door and window leading to a view of the beautiful fall day.

Misty joined him with two glasses and a pitcher and ketchup. "Here we are."

Looking down at his slightly-singed eggs, Brock gave a small prayer before picking up a knife. For a moment, he stared down the meal.

"Go ahead and give it a try, Brock. If you don't like it, I promise I won't get mad."

He gave a weak smile. "I don't think you can help it, honestly."

She laughed. "That might be, but I at least won't yell at you. I think you'll really like it, though."

"Alright." He knew he couldn't delay anymore, and, more importantly, he knew Misty was really trying to prove herself here. It would be inconsiderate to keep dodging the inevitable. "Looks good. Let's give it a bite."

Slicing through the cheese and egg with ease, he picked up the yellow and orange sliver with his fork. Deciding to get it over with, he hurriedly brought the utensil to his mouth and chomped down on his first bite.

Afraid he may regret rushing into the first taste, he slowly - and admittedly, worriedly - chewed his way through his first few flavor sensations.

Misty watched intently for a moment, waiting to get some reaction from the breeder.

What she got made her smile.

His eyebrows shot up, though he quickly lowered them.

"It's really good, Misty!" he congratulated through a full mouth. He didn't want to seem too surprised, but she could tell he was, anyway.

Though the omelet itself was fairly commonplace in terms of flavor, the relief from knowing he wasn't going to have to _force _himself through an entirely disgusting, and possibly undercooked, three egg omelet greatly added to its culinary worth in Brock's eyes. He happily took another portion from the slab - this time much larger - and chased it down with some juice.

Her eyes alight at the compliment, Misty thanked Brock. "Didn't I tell you I could cook, or what?"

He nodded. "I think Ash needs to get over the past. You clearly know what you're doing around a stove now."

"Exactly," she agreed with a grateful smile. "That's what I was telling you earlier. People change!"

"I guess you were right about that...well, at least we know that their skills change, anyway. How'd you learn about omelets anyway?"

"When I was back at the gym, I had to cook for myself a lot since no one else knew how to. I only have a few things I can actually cook, but I do 'em pretty well."

"Well then I guess I owe you an apology for before," he relented after taking another bite. "I shouldn't have been so scared!"

She chuckled. "If you can convince Ash to try my cooking next, then I'll go ahead and call it even."

"I dunno, Misty. He's almost as stubborn as you are sometimes."

Taking a bite herself, she shook her head. "I'm never stubborn...it's just that I'm never wrong, either."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash was grateful beyond words when Charizard finally made touchdown in one of Cerulean's back alleys. Flying with the orange dragon had many benefits, but the largest drawbacks that he'd failed to assume were the sheer boredom of flying for over six hours with no one to talk to, and the inability to get up and stretch at all mid-flight.

Charizard was panting a little, but Ash could tell he was doing his best to maintain composure in front of his master and friend.

"You did great out there, Charizard. I'm gonna take you to the Pokémon Center to rest for a little while after me and Pikachu take care of business. Return."

Zapping the fire type back into his capsule, Ash hitched the ball to his belt and stepped out of the alleyway. As per his plan, no one seemed to notice him in the midst of busy noon foot traffic, and he quickly pulled off his cap and put on a pair of black sunshades to remain even less recognizable.

"Pikachu, walk beside me, okay?"

"Pika."

The yellow rodent hopped off Ash's shoulder; staying within a few feet of his best friend at all times, but staying out of the view of most passerby.

Finding the hospital, Ash quickly strode in and took the familiar route he and Misty had followed just a few days earlier to Lance's room. Reaching the door, he took a moment to catch his breath and take off the glasses.

Looking down to Pikachu, he gave the small Pokémon a thumbs-up. "It's time to find out the truth, buddy. Let's go."

With that, he pushed the door wide open.

Looking around, he was unsurprised to find the room full of people; unlike last time. Whitney stood by Lance's bedside, holding his hand. Steven and Cynthia were both sitting opposite the bed, seemingly waiting for the red-haired former champion to awaken once more, and Chris stood opposite of Whitney, looking over his G-Men companion. Moving in a little, Ash could see that Lance himself still appeared to be sleeping to the untrained eye. His hair had already begun to grow back a little, and he almost seemed as if he'd just received a buzz cut from the army.

All eyes instantly locked on the dark-haired trainer the moment he stepped through the door; though it apparently took a second for his sudden appearance to sink in.

"Ash?" Cynthia asked, standing suddenly. "What are you doing here?"

Steven, Chris, and Whitney all gave him looks that proposed the same question.

He was a little taken aback by the stunned appearance on all their faces. It wasn't like he'd died and come back from the grave; though one would guess he had from the expressions adorning their features.

"I don't think you guys need to look so shocked," he mentioned sheepishly. The determination he had walking in was more than a little watered-down by the strange encounter.

Cynthia shook her head. "Sorry. I just don't think any of us were expecting you to end your vacation so soon after it started."

He smiled. "That actually hasn't ended yet, but I have some questions that I need answered."

"Really?" Steven gave him a curious glance. "They must've been important if you came all the way here to ask them instead of just calling."

He nodded. "Yeah, I think I need to talk with you all at once to get the story straight...but first, how's he doing?" He gestured towards their fallen comrade.

Whitney spoke up now. "He's doing better. He was actually awake for a few minutes a couple of hours ago, and they've taken him off full life support."

"That's great news," Ash exclaimed; fully relieved. "It's good to see you again, by the way."

"Thanks...I just wish we coulda met under happier circumstances." She gave him a sad smile, and he noted the dried tears running down her pretty face.

"Me too, but I think finding out how well he's doing is at least kinda happy, right?"

"That's true."

"So what did you have to ask us about, Ash?" Steven asked, moving back to the subject at hand. He seemed almost anxious.

"Hey Whitney, do you feel like going and getting something to eat with me in the cafeteria?" Chris asked from across the bed.

Looking between Ash and the former champions, Whitney gave a quick nod. Though she was normally so ditzy and upbeat, Ash noted how quiet she remained as she and Chris stepped out the doorway.

"He seems to know what you wanna discuss already," Cynthia noted with curiosity.

He'd gone over a thousand times in the air how he was going to approach the question. Ultimately, though, any preemptive planning was thrown to the side as curiosity got the better of him.

"I need to know why you never told me you knew my dad back when he was a G-Men member. Why you never told me he even _was _a G-Men member."

Steven's eyes went wide as did Cynthia's.

"Wait, what?"

"What he said."

"Your dad was a member of the G-Men?" Steven stood up at the news.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Quit pretending like you don't know. My mom told me all about it yesterday...you know, about Jay Ketchum?"

Steven continued to shake his head. "He definitely never worked under my sector."

Cynthia followed suit. "I never had a Ketchum work for me. I would've recognized the name instantly when we first met if I had."

"Are you guys really telling the truth?" Ash squinted and looked back and forth between the two agents. "Your positive this isn't some kind of trick?"

"Ash, we've all risked our lives to save yours...do you think we'd trick you after all we've been through together?"

Steven made a sound point, and Ash conceded. "But if you didn't know him, then who would've?"

"Well you're from Kanto, right?" Cynthia asked, putting a finger to her chin in thought.

"I lived here the first eleven years of my life, yeah."

"Then the person your dad worked for woulda had to have been him." Steven pointed to the sleeping form of their mutual friend. "He's been in charge of this sector for over twenty years."

So there _was_ someone in the room who could answer his questions...he just wasn't conscious at the moment.

"Do you think he'll wake up anytime soon again?"

"That's kinda hard to predict. He woke up a few hours ago, but then went straight back out of it. He couldn't speak coherently..." Cynthia bit her lip at the recollection.

"The doctors said he could go a few hours or a few days before he comes to again," Steven continued. "And even when he _does_ wake up, it's anyone's guess if he'll be functioning properly."

"I see..."

"I'm sorry you came all this way for that," Cynthia apologized, pushing a tear away. "How'd you get here, anyway?"

"Charizard." He held up the pokéball weakly.

He couldn't believe it. He'd flown all this way...and for nothing! He'd anticipated at least some kind of dramatic conclusion to this discussion. Some discovery that would leave him satisfied and ready to leave training forever.

But no, of course not.

Life hadn't been that easy in a long time, so why would he expect God to let up on him now? Another dead end felt like his life's general direction.

"You know, when you go see Red, he might be able to help you figure this out."

Ash looked to Steven in surprise. _How did he know about Red and my parents?_

"I mean, he _is_ the official head of the G-Men, and I remember that he used to be pretty active several years ago before he became a recluse and all. He may have some of the answers you're looking for if you can get to him on that stupid mountain."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash agreed reluctantly. Why did it feel like he was being pushed to Mount Silver against his will? As if fate simply wouldn't just let him give up?

"Are you planning on going there soon?" Cynthia asked, having regained her composure. "Or are you taking some more time off?"

_More than "some" time off._

"Uh, yeah, I'm gonna wait a few more weeks before I make the climb."

"Well let us know when you decide to so we can give you any questions we think of. We've tried calling him, but he never answers his phone or messages."

Another nod. "Sure thing."

"You know, as long as you're here, why don't you stay overnight? Maybe you'll luck out and Lance'll wake up," Steven suggested with a shrug. "You could stay in the same hotel we're staying at."

Ash mulled over the decision for a moment.

"Not to mention you could take Lance's private jet from here back to Pallet in the morning and save yourself a little time and pain," Cynthia chimed in.

Resisting a strong smile, Ash eagerly agreed. "I'll go check-in right now."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"I think we're in trouble, Misty," Brock concluded, looking around the forest trail.

"You think so too? A hike through the woods seemed like such a good idea before we left..."

"I knew I shoulda brought my Pokénav, but I coulda sworn I knew the way outta here."

Misty tiredly plopped down on a stump. Brock took a seat on the leaves next to her. "At least the scenery's nice," she noted, downtrodden.

"Yeah," Brock scoffed. "We've got that going for us. Now if only we knew where we were."

"I don't suppose you have any Pokémon with you that could help us out of this little situation, do you?"

He shook his head. "I don't think Swampert will be of much use in this situation. I'm guessing you don't have anything that could help since you asked?"

"Nope...just Ash's Blastoise."

He sat up in surprise. "You mean Squirtle finally evolved?"

"Nope, he's still with the Squirtle Squad. Me and Ash caught this Wartortle at that island we visited years ago last year when we were going around Kanto."

"Oh, wow. I'd forgotten about that place!"

She chuckled. "Me too! I didn't know where we were going to get a new Squirtle from, and since his original didn't want to evolve, I thought we were stuck, but Ash remembered the island and where it was."

"He remembered where an island was out in the middle of the sea from six years ago?"

"I know...makes us seem a little pathetic, doesn't it? I mean, when Ash Ketchum navigates better than you, there's something wrong."

"You can say that again," Brock answered, cracking up.

"Is someone out there?" came a voice in the distance. "Hello?"

"Yeah?" replied Misty, standing up. "We're over here!"

Suddenly, a Scyther appeared, slashing away at the various bushes and brush between himself and the two gym leaders. Close behind him were two young men.

"Wow Rick, you were right. There _are_ other people in these woods."

The two couldn't have been older than twelve, and Misty turned her head a little at the curious sight. "Hello. Who are you two?"

"I'm Jake," answered the first boy; a blond, tall, slightly pudgy young man.

"And I'm Rick," answered the second. He was about the same height, but appeared significantly more athletic, and his brown hair contrasted starkly with his friend's.

"We're trainers, but we thought we were the only ones who'd be hanging around Pallet's forests."

"You're almost right," Brock answered with a humorous grin. "We're only out here because we got lost during our hike."

Jake and Rick took a quick glance at each other before looking back to the duo. "You got lost in Pallet Woods?"

Misty and Brock blushed slightly. "Uh, yeah. We're not from around here, so it was a little tricky."

"You just need to go that direction to get back to town," Rick answered simply, pointing directly behind the pair. "We could help you get out if you need it. Some of the bushes are really thick, but it's much quicker than taking the paths, so Scyther here could force us through."

"Really?" Misty asked hopefully.

"Sure!"

"We _are_ trainers, after all. Even if we're rookies, it's in the Pokémon League Trainer's manual that a trainer should help his fellow man whenever possible."

"Page seventeen, to be exact," Rick added.

Misty smirked. "So you just graduated from your training inductions, huh?"

"Uh, yeah." Rick answered sheepishly, apparently ashamed of the title "rookie".

"That's actually why we're out here." Jake elaborated. "We just started our journey a few days ago. Most people start by going through Route One, but Rick and I figured there are just as many Pokémon in these woods worth catching, and there's not nearly as much competition for them since everyone runs to Viridian as their first destination."

Brock gave the two a thumbs-up. "That's a pretty smart strategy. You two have obviously thought this through."

"Not to mention we get to stay home a few extra days before having to start camping," Rick continued; appearing proud once more as the older trainers seemed impressed by their forward-thinking attitudes. "It saves on resources."

"Scyther, start cutting away through there," Jake commanded his bug type.

"Scy!" The green creature jumped over Misty and Brock and began viciously slashing through the foliage that separated them from civilization.

It only took a few minutes - which were filled with candid conversation from the two new trainers about their latest exploits - when the four trainers and Pokémon saw the city not far beneath them.

"Wow, you were right about the direction," Brock mused. "You must really know these woods well."

"Every Pallet kid does," Jake answered. "This hill is where we board in the summer, and those woods are where we usually make our first Pokémon friends that aren't pets."

"Well, we really appreciate all you've done for us nevertheless," Brock said gratefully. "You've really proven to be great trainers."

"In fact," Misty suddenly chimed, "I think you've proven yourselves worthy of a badge."

Brock shot the young woman a quick glance before catching on. "Oh yeah, I guess they have, haven't they?"

The two boys looked at each other skeptically. "Wait, what are you talking about badges for?"

"I'm Misty Waterflower; Gym Leader of the Cerulean Gym!"

"And I'm Brock Harrison; Leader of the Pewter Gym!"

Simultaneously, both boys' jaws dropped.

"I...I..."

"You guys know Ash Ketchum!" Rick exclaimed.

Though a little perturbed at their initial response, Misty shrugged off the glaring insensitivity as being only identified as a "friend" to someone else, and nodded. "Yeah, _and _we're gym leaders ourselves."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rick apologized quickly, covering his mouth. "I didn't mean to sound like I didn't care what you are."

"Yeah, he really didn't," Jake covered. "We're just kinda...surprised that people you see on magazines are hiking in Pallet Woods."

She shook her head. "It's alright. We get that a lot."

"So what were you saying about a gym badge?" Jake pressed, obviously hungry for details after hearing them mentioned.

"Oh, right. Well, you two were certainly helpful, and we both have a badge on us for identification," Brock began.

"So it only seems fair that we offer you each one for getting us through those woods before we starved to death," Misty concluded jokingly.

The two boys exchanged eager looks. However, Misty noted a small frown on Rick's lips; as if he were worried.

"Is something wrong?"

He turned back to the leader. "Oh! Uh, well, it's just weird. Why would we get badges if we didn't beat you guys in a battle? Isn't that the only way to win them?"

Brock laughed. "Not at all. Misty and I both gave Ash Ketchum his first two badges, and he didn't beat either of us technically to win them."

"That's right. A gym badge is earned from a leader when the leader believes that the trainer has done something to prove themselves worthy. Ash once saved a Gloom from the burning Celadon Gym and got the badge from Erika that way!"

The two boys exchanged another quick look.

"Can we talk about this privately for a sec?" Jake questioned, seeming to mirror the worry in his friend's tone a moment earlier. "We just need to think about this."

Taken aback slightly, Misty nodded. "That's fine."

Brock gave the young woman a curious look. "Why do you think they don't want the badges?"

"Dunno, but it's weird that two kids who haven't even left their hometown yet are so reluctant to get a huge head start like this."

Turning back around, Rick cleared his throat. "Uh, guys...well, we just decided that we really didn't earn those badges. We want them really bad, but we didn't save anyone from a burning building or anything. We just helped you guys out, like we promised we would."

"But we _do_ want the badges," Jake reminded. "So, we were wondering if you would have a battle with us, and if we win we each could get a badge?"

Smiling at the new understanding, both Misty and Brock nodded.

"You guys sound like real trainers," Brock complimented.

"We only have one Pokémon each, so would you two be okay with a double battle?"

"Erm, well, Kanto Pokémon League rules prohibit double battles," Jake answered, sounding mildly intimidated at bringing it up.

"Yeah, page forty-five," Rick added once more.

Misty rolled her eyes. "I know you're new to being trainers and all, but you two need to learn that there's more to training than the official manual. If we were in a sanctioned gym, we couldn't have a double battle, but we're in the middle of a field."

Casting a sideways look, the two boys simultaneously shrugged. "I guess you're right. It really doesn't matter if we're not in an official gym."

"So do we wanna go downhill a little so the battle can take place on equal footing?"

"Sounds good to us!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Pikachu stretched out across the middle of the full-size bed before collapsing in exhaustion. All of the flying and confrontation had left him completely wiped out.

Ash came out of the bathroom, steam rising to the ceiling as he opened the door, and smiled at his friend. "You're taking the bed for yourself tonight, Pikachu?"

"Pika," nodded the Pokémon tiredly. He was not giving up this comfortable spot without a fight.

"It's only six, though! Dont'cha wanna go out to eat with us this evening?"

"Pika-pi," he replied, shaking his head.

Ash chuckled. "I guess you've been through a lot today. I'll bring some leftovers home for when you are hungry, okay?"

"Pi."

Quickly throwing on his clothes, Ash rushed out the door to meet with Cynthia and the rest.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Okay," Brock declared, as they reached the foot of the tall hill and took sides opposite each other. "So the battle will have no time limit, and each trainer can only use one Pokémon. The first side to run out of Pokémon first is the loser."

The other three nodded.

"Begin!"

With little choice, Misty called out Blastoise while Brock enlarged Swampert's pokéball. On the other side of the field, a Butterfree and Ditto suddenly took form.

Misty was impressed.

"You guys just started and you already have a Ditto?"

"It was a present from my dad," Jake explained. "Same with the Scyther."

"Wait, what's that Pokémon?" Rick asked, reaching behind him for a Kanto pokédex. Pointing it at Swampert, he listened intently, and was surprised when his red encyclopedia explained that the Hoenn creature could not be identified.

"Sorry, it's the only Pokémon I have," Brock apologized. "It's a Swampert. It's from Hoenn and it's a ground and water type."

"Wow, a Pokémon from the Hoenn region. That's cool!" Rick slapped his pokédex shut and stored it in his back pocket. "Thanks for the info!"

"No problem." The dark-haired leader gave the young trainer a nod before looking to Misty. "You ready to do this?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well then, let the battle begin!"

"Butterfree, hit Blastoise with a Sleep Powder attack!"

"Transform into Swampert!"

As the powder flew towards her boyfriend's Pokémon, Misty jumped into action. "Get into your shell, Blastoise!"

"Swampert, Mud Shot at Ditto!"

The Ditto had just completed its transformation as the attack made contact, forcing it into an immediate defensive position, and causing Jake to grit his teeth. It was always better to start the battle on offense than defense.

"Mud Shot back!" he commanded.

Lowering its arms, the Ditto returned the attack, light blue balls seamlessly meeting and colliding with Swampert's. Mud splashed to the ground as they collided.

Realizing that Jake didn't know the attacks of his water and ground type, Brock decided to remain conservative with his play calling for the time-being. He didn't want to give away all of his Swampert's abilities and have them used against him until it was absolutely necessary.

"Butterfree, get closer and keep up the Sleep Powder."

Misty bit her lip as she watched the butterfly Pokémon approach her own. Her timing had to be perfect.

_There!_

"Rapid Spin!"

The blue powder falling around and on her creature's shell was instantly unsettled as Blastoise began to spin from within the confines of it.

"Now get out and use Hydro Pump!"

With the powder effectively scattered, he jumped up and quickly brought out the water cannons lining his shoulder. "Stoise!"

With a grunt, the two cannons shot a short, dense dosage of water directly at the flying type. Because it was so close, Jake was left without any time to react. The bug Pokémon was drenched and sent hurdling to the ground.

Sputtering on the ground, Butterfree struggled to flap her wings.

"They're too wet! Use Whirlwind to dry them off!"

"Don't give him any time! Use your Rapid Spin again!" Misty pointed to the helpless bug type.

"Blastoise!" Taking a few heavy steps forward, Blastoise gave a surprisingly tall leap and began spinning within the brown shell once more. As he came down, he drew closer to Butterfree, who continued to flap incessantly.

"Ditto, Protect!"

"Pert!" declared the Pokémon, seemingly jumping out of nowhere and blocking the heavy Pokémon with a psychic green shield.

"Swampert, take out the Butterfree behind him with a Water Gun!"

Running past the Ditto, who was now preoccupied with Misty's Pokémon as he returned to the ground and emerged from his shell, Swampert took aim at the purple creature.

"Free!" Suddenly, Butterfree's wings began to move faster as the residue from the last water attack dissipated. Following their increased acceleration came a sudden gust of wind as the Whirlwind attack blasted across the field and shot back Brock's Pokémon.

"Get up quick!" he ordered as the bug took to the air once more; now focusing on his fighting companion.

Forced into several somersaults, Swampert couldn't respond to the command quickly enough as Butterfree descended.

"Mega Drain!"

It's small front teeth glowing red, Butterfree latched herself upon the water type's head and began draining his energy immediately.

"Shake it off!" Brock ordered.

Beating at the Butterfree with his arms, Swampert rolled around trying to loosen the bug and flying type's grip on his cranium. Unfortunately, it seemed the Pokémon was simply too determined to win the battle, and she slowly regained any lost energy from the last few moments as all power was sapped from Brock's friend.

Misty saw what was going on, but couldn't intervene as Ditto continued to pummel Blastoise with Mud Shots.

"Finish him with another Whirlwind!"

"Freeee!" screeched the Pokémon, detaching herself and again flapping her wings as fast as she could manage. Too tired to dodge the attack, Swampert took it head on and was sent flying backwards once more.

"Swampert, return!"

Brock looked to Misty. "Sorry. Looks like it's up to you and Blastoise now."

Misty nodded. "I got it."

"Blastoise get back in your shell!"

The water type ceased matching the Mud Shots with short Water Guns and instantly withdrew back into his shell.

"Butterfree go help Ditto!"

"Free!"

Flying over, the butterfly began pummeling the shell with Stun Spore while her partner kept up its barrage of ground attacks.

"Misty, you better act quick. One of those attacks is gonna hurt Blastoise soon!"

She gave him a sideways grin. "Don't worry about it, Brock. I'm a mermaid, remember? I know how to handle water types."

He gave a short laugh.

"Just don't let me lose a battle to a couple of rookie trainers."

"You won't...now! Skull Bash!"

Within the timespan of a blink of an eye, Blastoise's powerful back legs burst from within the shell and made contact with the dirt.

The two opposing Pokémon were attacking side-by-side, and the sudden lunge caught both by surprise as they were sent hurtling to either side of the blue turtle-like creature.

"Ditto!" Jake cried.

"Butterfree!" Rick followed.

Standing back up, and allowing his cannons to emerge once more, Blastoise turned around and looked from one opponent to the other, waiting for one to stand up.

However, after a moment it became clear that both opponents were completely dazed by the sudden impact. Despite their trainers' pleas to the contrary, neither moved an inch after landing on their backs.

Though it was obviously painful to do so, after another moment of fruitless coaxing, both trainers slowly returned the Pokémon to their respective capsules and walked across the field to shake hands with their opponents.

"You two did great," Brock congratulated.

"And to think, this was your first gym badge battle," Misty reminded. "You'll only get better from here!"

Rick nodded alongside his friend. "I guess our defenses just aren't that high yet."

"I can't believe Ditto was taken out after one hit," Jake muttered.

"That all comes with experience, which our Pokémon have plenty of at this point," Brock reminded. "And you _still_ took down my Swampert with that Mega Drain, so you're almost there already!"

"Thanks," both answered.

"You know that those badges are still available if you want them," Misty reminded. "This loss doesn't change the fact that you still helped us out back there."

Rick looked to Jake before turning back. "No thanks. I think we'd both rather win our badges the normal way."

"Alright. Be sure to stop by Cerulean and Pewter Gyms, then," Brock mentioned with a smile. "My brother is the regular leader there, and her sisters are the leaders in Cerulean, so you won't have to worry about facing someone with our talents again."

Misty laughed and agreed. "If you did this well against me, none of my sisters will stand a chance against you two."

Grinning, the boys thanked the leaders once more.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Because Pallet Town wasn't that large, either in area or population, there weren't any major airports running through it. However, it did have a decent agricultural staple, and the farms in and around the area depended on crop dusters, which of course required runways and hangers.

It was on one of these runways that Lance's plane was allowed to land the next morning.

As predicted by the doctors, Lance hadn't reemerged from sleep throughout the night, and Ash left Cerulean with no more information than he'd arrived. In fact, if anything, he came back with more questions than he'd left with after realizing the impact of his decision to quit training.

With all of these thoughts on his mind, he stepped off the plane, thanked the pilot, and took off on Charizard to carry him the rest of the way home.

He absentmindedly returned the orange beast to his pokéball and just as absentmindedly made his way up the walk to his front door, where he regained attention as a blur of black suddenly came into view.

Looking up, he was surprised to see Gary Oak standing at the doorway, wearing khaki jeans and his normal polo.

"Hey Ash." He gave the trainer a sad smile. "I was about to knock on the door, but I guess I had good timing, huh?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Ash responded, a little thrown by his rival's sudden presence.

"I heard about what went down with you and your girlfriend up there in Cerulean..."

He faded for a moment, and the two stood quietly together.

"...and I wanted to say I'm sorry about all that happened. To you and your Pokémon, I mean. I've been at the Institute the last few days, and didn't hear about any of this till Grampa told me yesterday."

Ash gave a weak nod and smile in return. "Thanks, Gary."

"I don't really know what it's like to lose a Pokémon like you did, though I've lost a couple 'cause of age and other stuff, but I know it can't be easy."

"That's right, it's not."

All was quiet once again. The two really weren't good with soft, sentimental moments, Ash realized as awkwardness began to set in.

"So...yeah, I just came by to say all that," Gary concluded, snapping Ash back to the moment. "It's terrible, but at least you and Misty made it out okay. It sounds like you did a good job out there...I can't imagine what I'd do if you hadn't."

"I appreciate you coming by, Gary."

The smile on the brunette's face grew. "No problem. On a lighter note, we still need to have our battle sometime. I understand if you wanna wait a while because of all that's happened, but it has to happen before you face Red, you know?"

Ash shook his head. "I don't think that'll be a problem, Gary."

He shot his eyebrow up in surprise. "Oh, really? Feeling a little overconfident, aren't we, Ashy-boy?"

"No, and don't call me that," Ash grumbled in return, much to Gary's delight. Anything to get away from that emotional conversation from a moment before!

"I wouldn't discount our battle yet! You may be a champion and all, but I've still got a few tricks up my sleeves!"

Ash rolled his eyes. "I doubt that, but even if it's true, that's not what I'm talking about."

The inquisitive look returned. "What are you talking about then?"

"Well," Ash began, scratching the back of his head, "I'm thinking about quitting training, actually."

"Pika?"

"What?

* * *

Author's Notes: I really did like this chapter, and I hope you did too. It had a little bit of lightheartedness with the battle between Brock/Misty and Rick/Jake, and it also had some seriousness with Ash's mental grappling of giving up training. Like I said, it only gets better from here on out, and I guarantee you'll be on the edge of your seat by the end of next chapter. Anyway, I also want to mention that I will be going back over the next couple of weeks and re-editing some of my chapters. I had to re-read a lot of my story to write the timeline for it, and I noticed some grammatical and eloquence errors I made in previous chapters that need to be fixed to make them flow better. I say this here because that may mean I'll need three weeks to get the next chapter out after all is said and done, so I just wanted to warn everyone now.

Anyway, thank you for reading, and PLEASE REVIEW if you want a timeline or haven't already! Later days!


	52. Playing the Hero

**Hey****Everybody!** I know I'm late again, but I think I got the timeline out to everyone now, and I'm actually ahead of the game for a change of pace seeing as how I'm already well into work on chapter 53. I wouldn't be surprised if that actually gets published on time in two weeks, believe it or not! Anyway, this chapter's a little shorter than the average, but I have to think that what it lacks in volume, it makes up for in quality. Of course, you're free to disagree, but before you do, read and then REVIEW PLEASE!

Also, before you continue with the story, I need to dedicate this chapter to my British sidekick and future Texas-exploration partner pokemon-princess.8! She was the one who gave me the idea to include the "Ash's fear of riding Charizard" subplot, which, as you will see in this chapter, has actually quickly become a crucial part of the story. I forgot to mention that last chapter, so hopefully this makes up for it, PP8!

Alright, now I'm done. See you in the bottom author's notes!

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

-

_Well, the secret's out..._

Ash beheld Gary's bewildered expression with an air of humor. It was rare to see his rival so effectively taken aback by anything to do with him, and the former champion momentarily allowed his words to linger in the air; giving time for the mysterious declaration to further shock the brunette.

"Why..." Gary trailed off. He was just as dazed as Brock and Misty, but Ash saw a small glimmer of something else in his rival's expression yet to be fully developed. "Are you kidding?"

Ash shook his head. "It's just too dangerous."

"What is?" Ash wasn't sure if he was even paying attention to what he had just asked as the news continued to settle in.

"Training. Team Rocket's after me, Gary. I can't keep myself out in the spotlight like this."

"So this-this isn't a joke, then?" He blinked a few times, seemingly coming to grips with the news.

He almost looked sad, and suddenly Ash felt a little sorry for enjoying dropping the bomb. They'd been rivals for so long, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the news would hit the future researcher close to home.

So rather than further delighting in the still-vacant expression upon Gary's face, he instead shook his head and gave his long-time friend a sad smile. "Sorry, but no." He reached to put a hand on the gym leader's shoulder, but was surprised when his arm was suddenly swatted away.

"Are you insane?"

The confused expression had, in the blink of an eye, shifted from Gary to Ash. Now wide-eyed and lock-jawed, Gary appeared almost on the brink of insanity to his old nemesis.

"Are you seriously kidding me?"

The confused expression on Ash's face only became more apparent with the reiteration. "Um, what are you talking about, Gary?"

His arms flew into the air in a fit of seething frustration. "All of this! You're thinking about quitting training? How could you even consider something so stupid?"

Incensed at the remark, Ash shot the teenager a vicious glare. "It's not stupid, Gary! In case you haven't noticed, me and Misty almost died last week."

"So she's the one putting you up to this then, huh?" He crossed his arms, and a snide expression crossed his face - astonishing Ash at the instant turn of emotion. "You date some chick for a couple months and decide to quit training?"

Ash shook his head. "Do you know how stupid you sound? It wasn't her decision at all! I told her that I was quitting. She wanted to me to stay in the League!"

The anger returned immediately. This was not going to blow over, and Ash instantly regretted this decision.

"So, what? You're just gonna retire? Spend the rest of your life in the country, talking about how you used to be some great trainer? Sit in the park watching other trainers work with their Pokémon?"

"First, I guess you didn't know, but I was already kicked out of the League. Second-"

"Oh, cut the crap, Ash. Grampa already told me there was no way that was permanent. You're just chickening out!"

"Second!" the former champion continued, holding up two fingers to the brunette's face. This fight held an eery similarity to their childhood spats, Ash realized that moment. "I'm not just gonna disappear! I'm going to college. Maybe I'll study Pokémon medicine or something. You think I haven't thought this through?"

Gary did his best to regain his calm composure. It was a little harder to do after experiencing such strong emotion, but after taking a few deep breaths he shrugged and gave his rival a smarmy grin. "Yeah, I'm sure you have thought it out. After all, you are the best chicken I know."

It took everything Ash had not to pick a fight right then and there as the wild urge to fight suddenly lurched in his chest. "I'm sorry, Gary, I didn't know you were kidnapped by Giovanni too. Tell me how you escaped? Did you shoot him? Did you save your girlfriend but lose a longtime friend? Did another friend go into a coma for you?"

Obviously thrown by the quick response, Gary gave another shrug. "If I had, I know I wouldn't let Giovanni win after all that."

"Let Giovanni win? He's gone!"

"Yeah, but what are you doing now? Exactly what he wanted!" Gary pointed an accusatory finger at Ash. "You're dropping out, just like he wanted! He wanted you outta the way so Team Rocket could fill your slot. That was the whole reason for Paul, wasn't it?"

"It'll take Team Rocket plenty of time to rebuild," Ash shot back. "It's not like they're gonna become super-powerful overnight and take the League. I did my part to protect the PL, and now I'm done."

"What about that friend of yours in a coma? It's Lance, right?"

Now Ash was surprised by the quick comeback.

The smirk grew. "Don't be surprised. I might be a low-ranking PLB grunt, but even I know something's wrong when a member of the Elite Four shows up passed out at a hospital. He was there helping you, right? I bet the others were there too."

Narrowing his eyes, Ash stood his ground. "What's your point?"

"You think he's gonna quit if he wakes up? You think Steven will? They've been doing this for more years than you, Ashy-boy, but they've stuck with it. Why do you think they're known as the greats? It's not a title you get for quitting when the going gets tough."

"I'm not quitting!"

"Like Hell you're not!"

"I'm protecting my friends and family!"

"Giovanni's gone. How's he a threat?"

"You said it yourself, they'll come back eventually, and they'll want blood. What am I supposed to do, just keep battling and acting like nothing's wrong?"

"Better than what you're talkin' about. You just wanna quit the League? Quit the people who saved you?" Ash silently bristled at the question. "What happens if Team Rocket does come back, huh? Who'll protect you then? You won't be able to, we already know that. You'll be out of touch with the G-Men, and your Pokémon won't be able to help you anymore. It'll be a cinch for them to pick right back up where they left off. And if they don't come back, then you're leaving your position for nothing!"

Though he refused to acknowledge it even to himself, his old rival had a point. How did he expect to protect himself without the help of the League or his Pokémon?

"Are they even okay with this?" he asked, motioning to Pikachu and his belt. "I already know your girlfriend's not."

Pikachu still looked shocked at the news, but didn't say anything in response to Gary's question. Ash looked to his shoulder, and gave the mouse Pokémon a small stroke on the back. "I'm sorry buddy, I didn't mean for you to find out like this."

"Pi..." Mixed emotion crossed across the little mouse's expression as he sat quietly atop his trainer's shoulder.

We'll discuss this later, buddy.

"Yeah, he looks real excited. You haven't even let your starter have a say in your decision?" Another smirk. Ash was growing more sick of his smug attitude by the second. "So this is how the great Ash Ketchum ends his career? A quitter who's too afraid to tell his own Pok-"

"I'm not a quitter! Say another word and I'll flatten you!"

"Big words from a chicken!"

Ash got right into his rival's face. "Takes one to know one! As I recall, you quit training when we were still kids!"

"That's because I didn't wanna do it anymore, not because I let some bully force me out of it!"

"What do you call what you're doing, then? You're being a bully just like when we were growing up! At least I grew up!"

"When we were growing up? I wasn't a bully!"

Ash stepped back and rolled his eyes. "You never let me quit anything! Do you remember how many bruises and broken bones I got because you wouldn't shut up and leave me alone?"

"It was the opposite! You were the one always challenging me to stuff and losing!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"No way! I wasn't the snot-nosed brat claiming to be the best at everything."

"I'm gonna be the greatest Pokémon Master ever," mocked Gary in a nasally voice. "I believe those were your words...every freaking day we lived here."

"I bet you can't climb that tree like I can, Ash," Ash mimicked in return. "I bet I can eat more ice cream than you! I bet you can't fly on top of that Butterfree!"

There was a bout of silence as the pair took a moment to catch their breath.

A descent into childhood argumentative tactics caused both trainers a small moment of embarrassment as they stared each other down. It was amazing to each how quickly the other could tear down the veils of maturity they'd spent so many years building in the eyes of others.

Deciding enough time had passed, Gary spoke again - albeit with a much calmer tone."The truth is I wasn't being a bully, and neither were you. We were making each other better."

"How did mutilating ourselves make us any better?" Ash asked sarcastically, his red cheeks losing their glow.

"It just did. We pushed each other, and I know you knew it too. We both felt it growing up. Who was a better arm wrestler than us in class? Who could climb as high as us?" He paused as an unexpectedly kind smile broke upon his lips. "Who, from Pallet Town, left and went on to become as powerful a trainer as either of us is?"

Ash remained silent, though he already understood where this was going.

"We pushed each other. We acted like we hated each other, but you know that wasn't it. Neither of us would be where we are now if we hadn't pushed each other as hard as we did growing up."

As much sense as he was making, Ash couldn't ignore the queasiness in his gut at where the conversation was heading. "What does any of this have to do with me quitting training?"

"Everything!" Gary's voice rose again, but this time his mood reflected more an air of excitement than anything else. "Don't you get it? Destiny's made us rivals for life. I thought it was gonna end after I decided to become a researcher, but that didn't happen at all. God was just waiting until you needed someone to push you in the right direction again, and so here I am!"

"Are you nuts?" Ash asked skeptically. "You think God cares whether or not I quit training?"

Gary shrugged, and continued smiling. "Who knows? All I know is that this is what we've always done. Whenever one of us got ready to back down, the other pushed them on. When you became champ of the Orange Islands, I was there reminding you of bigger goals. When I realized I didn't wanna be a Master anymore, you and I were matched up for the first time in a League battle. Seems weird that I would pop in at just this moment, right?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "I...dunno, Gary. I've thought a lot about this. I need to do it for my friends-"

"Will you cut that out? We've already agreed you'd be better off in the League if you were worried about your friends and family."

"I didn't agree to that."

"Well then what do you have to say against my points?"

Ash tried for a moment, but any argument he formulated was killed in development. He silently looked down and kicked a rock on the front porch.

"Exactly. So what this is really about has absolutely nothing to do with your friends or family. That's just you trying to play the hero like you've always done."

"Have not!"

Gary ignored him. "Which means this has everything to do with you, and what you want."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you want to quit being a trainer. If you're quitting training, and it doesn't help anyone else, then you're the only reason for why you would quit, right?"

Again, Ash was forced into a silent rage against the brunette.

He smirked. "So then, are you really a quitter like I guessed?"

"..."

"Are you?"

"Go home, Gary." With that, Ash sidestepped the gym leader and unlocked the door.

"You haven't answered me, Ashy-boy."

Closing the door, Ash didn't look back.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Wow, am I sore," Misty complained as she shuffled out of her room, dressed for the day. Brock met her at the top of the stairs.

"I know. I guess a few hours of good hiking will do that to ya."

She gave a weak smile. "Yeah, but this is pretty unlike me. I'm usually in pretty good shape."

"Well, you've been busy the last few weeks with things other than working out...of course, I don't really have an excuse." He grabbed the slight gut he'd begun to develop over the last year. "Except that working sixty hours a week kinda drains your will to hit the weights."

"We should go running with Ash tomorrow. He always goes out in the mornings."

"That's a good idea...for tomorrow," Brock said with a grin. "We're already dressed and ready for the day, so how about we grab some breakfast in preparation for tomorrow's workout?"

"Sounds like a plan," she giggled.

Hopping down the stairs, neither were surprised to find Ash in the kitchen.

"See you made it back, buddy!" Brock congratulated, lightly slapping Ash on the back as he approached his seated form from behind. "Glad your mom's doomsday scenarios didn't come true."

Shaken from his thoughts, Ash absentmindedly looked up. "Oh, hey Brock, Misty."

"So you didn't get anything from 'em this morning either?" Brock grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge and three glasses from the cupboard.

"What? Oh, no, not at all."

Misty furrowed her brow. "I guess it's still upsetting you, huh? Not being able to get any of the information that you wanted."

Ash shrugged. "It's alright. He'll be feeling better soon enough, and I can wait till then."

"Then why the frown?" Brock asked, taking a seat and momentarily forgetting about breakfast. He poured the three glasses.

"Well, when I got back here this morning, Gary was waiting for me at the door."

"Really? What'd he have to say?"

"Well, first he told me he was sorry about what happened and all of that."

Misty gave a small smile. "That was nice of him."

"He's grown up a lot since you two were kids," Brock noted, taking a sip.

"Yeah, but then right after that, our battle came up, and I told him what I'd decided."

Brock almost coughed up the downed milk, and Misty's eyes flew wide open.

"You told Gary that you were thinking about quitting training?" Misty asked as Brock continued his haggard coughing. "Gary Oak?"

Ash gave his girlfriend an incredulous stare from across the table. "Yeah, so? It's not like he wasn't gonna find out anyway."

"Ash, we already said you weren't going to be making any big decisions for a while, so there was no reason for you to go blabbing about your possible plans to Gary yet!"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Well, you might have thought that, but I'd already made up my mind days ago. You two are the only ones holding me back from announcing it to the world already."

"That's what we're trying to do, at least," Brock muttered, finally regaining his composure. He took another sip, and allowed Misty to take care of this herself.

"Whatever, Ash," she pressed on, rolling her eyes. "I'm just trying to save you from your own stupid stubbornness, but let's forget about that for a minute. What did he say when you told him about your plan?"

"Acted like you guys, pretty much...at least, at first."

"Like us?"

"Yeah, you know, shocked and not able to believe what he was hearing. He thought it was a joke or something, but when I convinced him it wasn't he took it way differently than I expected."

"I bet he was mad," Brock estimated.

Ash gave the breeder a surprised look. "Yeah, but I wasn't expecting that."

"Me neither," Misty added, looking equally surprised at Brock's foresight. "You mean he didn't understand why you might not wanna battle after all that happened? I was just afraid he'd go blabbing it to the newspapers or something!"

Ash shook his head. "Can you believe it? He just kept calling me a quitter and telling me destiny had brought him here to make sure I didn't leave the League."

Misty's look became even more incredulous. "Destiny? What's he talking about?"

"I dunno...something about how we've always pushed each other when the other was about to back down. He thinks that's why he got here when he did; to stop me from backing down again like when we were growing up."

An amused expression suddenly danced across Brock's face. "I guess he just takes your guys' relationship pretty seriously. He obviously thinks you're making the wrong choice. And who's to say it isn't destiny?"

"Like I told him, I'd imagine God has better things to do than watch my life."

Brock shrugged. "I dunno, but what I do know is that he made some good points."

Misty gave the Pewter Gym Leader a bemused look. "How do you know? He hasn't even told us what Gary said."

"Did you see Ash when we came in here? He was in a completely different world. Something Gary said must'a had him thinking."

The redhead turned her attention back to Ash. "Is he right? Did Gary say something?"

Ash sighed. "Yeah, he kinda made a point I hadn't thought of...or at least, I was tryin' to ignore. He said I was quitting on the League after they helped me out."

"That's ridiculous!" Misty tightened her fist. "I don't like the idea of you leaving, but if you did, you wouldn't be quitting on the League! You already did your part to help them out!"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, that's what I told him too, but that wasn't really what bugged me. What did was when he said that I wasn't doing this for my friends and family like I've been saying."

"You are doing this for us, though," Misty reminded. "You said it yourself. You're worried about what could happen if you stayed in your position and Team Rocket came back."

Ash shook his head. "But that's the problem. Gary had a point. He said that if I wanted to protect everyone, I'd stay in the League."

Brock's eyebrow cocked in surprise. "How did he figure?"

"If I quit training, then my Pokémon won't be able to protect me anymore, and I'll be out of touch with the G-Men and the League, so if Team Rocket's coming after me, I might not know until it's too late."

"It's not like the G-Men wouldn't try to protect you just because you left training," Misty reasoned.

"Yeah, but the only reason I got to you in time was because I was staying at Lance's house, and we all left together to stop Giovanni. If I'm out of the League and done with training, I won't know what's going on until either the champions or Team Rocket shows up at my door. I'll be completely out of the loop."

"So you're saying that Gary made you think that maybe you're not doing this for us?" Brock asked.

Ash gave a slight nod. "It doesn't help that Pikachu was on my shoulder when I told him about my plans to leave."

Misty gasped. "You didn't let Pikachu know before then?"

"No, and he hasn't said anything to me yet since we came inside." Ash motioned to the living room behind him, where Pikachu's back faced the trio as he sat on the couch and stared blankly at the wall ahead.

"I don't think that's a good sign," Brock noted seriously. "He probably feels hurt that he wasn't let in on this news before now."

Ash nodded. "When we were on our way to Cerulean, I tried to bring it up, but it just didn't feel right. I know they love battling..."

"But do you?"

Ash perked up and looked at his girlfriend. "Huh? Whaddya mean?"

"I mean..." She paused for a moment, obviously trying to think of the right words to avoid confusion or hurt feelings. "I mean, if you're not really doing it for your friends or family...then are you leaving the League because you just don't like battling anymore?"

He gave a half-hearted smile in return. "You read my mind. That's what's bothering me so much, because it's exactly what Gary said when he was here. I haven't told you guys, but I've been feeling a little weird ever since I decided to quit."

"That's understandable," Brock sympathized. "It's a big decision."

"Yeah, it is. That's what I chalked it up to too for the first couple of days, but I still couldn't get over how weird it felt to picture myself not battling anymore...it almost felt as if I were saying it, but didn't really mean it."

"It's kinda hard to imagine, even for me," Misty mused, reaching across the table and grabbing his un-gloved hands within her own. "I want you to make the decision that makes you happy. If you just want to quit training, you don't have to have any excuse other than you just don't want to anymore. Not everything you do has to be a heroic act."

"Thanks, Mist. I know you and Brock are behind me with whatever my final decision is, just like Ma, and just like Pikachu will be eventually. That makes it easier, but it still doesn't clear up why I can't get over this gut feeling that something's not right."

"Can you explain how you feel?" Misty asked.

"Well, it's just like, I watched a battle a couple of days ago on T.V. for a minute, and I found myself getting really excited. It wasn't a great battle or anything - just a couple of kids training at a gym in New Braunfells - but it still got my heart beating and my mind racing like any other battle. But then, the kid's Beedrill got shot with a Flamethrower, and I almost felt sick suddenly...like I couldn't handle watching it get hurt."

"I see..." Brock sat back and folded his arms. "It sounds like you're having trouble with what happened to Venusaur and Heracross and the others...not with what happened to you and Misty."

Ash nodded. "I think so too. I knew I didn't like the idea of my Pokémon getting hurt after what happened, obviously, but the more I think about it, the more I think that that's the only real reason why I don't wanna go back to the League."

Brock scratched the stubble of his chin. "At least we know what's really bothering you now. It makes a lot of sense after losing two Pokémon to not wanna get back into battling."

"But you know that Venusaur and Heracross didn't die because of a battle," Misty chimed, reassuringly squeezing his hand. "It wasn't like you forced them to fight too long. They were shot, there was no stopping that bullet."

"I know, I know," Ash muttered. "It doesn't make sense if you think about it logically, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't want my Pokémon hurt ever again."

"Pika?"

Jolting in his chair, Ash turned to see Pikachu standing behind him with an inquisitive glare.

"Pika-chu?"

"You're talking to me again?"

The mouse Pokémon gave a slight nod before jumping on top of the table. Walking up to his master, the yellow rodent gave his best friend a small lick on the cheek.

"Looks like Pikachu heard your reasons too," Brock noted with a smile.

"It's true, Pikachu. I am thinking about quitting Pokémon training. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but Brock and Misty are right; I shouldn't have told anyone else - especially Gary - before I'd made up my mind."

"Pi?" He seemed a little confused at the small speech.

Smiling, Ash boiled it down a little more. "I don't know if I will quit training yet. But you will be the first to know my decision."

"Ash, how did it feel when you rode Charizard?"

The raven-haired trainer gave Brock a confounded glance. "Uh, fine, I guess?"

"No, no. I mean, when you first got back on him, were you scared at all since that was the first time since the accident?"

"Yeah, I guess I was pretty nervous at first."

"But you rode him all the way to Cerulean, right?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, it got easier as I got used to the feeling again."

"I'm not gonna push you to do anything you don't wanna do, Ash, but let me just give you some friendly advice." He reached forward and put a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "Give battling that same last chance."

"Huh?"

"You tried flying with Charizard again because you knew that it was important to your guys' relationship. You need that trust. It's the same with battling. You and your Pokémon have a relationship built on battling and training, and you owe it to yourself and all of them to give it one last shot like you did with Charizard."

"I've thought about that too, but what if they get hurt?"

"Then you can stop the battle then and there," Misty appeased. "You don't have to carry through with the entire fight. But Brock's right; you owe it to everyone to give it a last shot. If Pikachu takes a hit, and you just can't handle it, then call it quits, but don't end your entire career if there's still a 'maybe' in your mind."

"That'd be torture for the rest of your life."

Ash smiled at his friends again. He knew they wanted him to remain a trainer. He knew they believed that was his passion and his destiny. But the love and concern they'd shown for him personally, regardless of his final decision, helped him realize that their goal wasn't just to get him "back into battling", but to insure his happiness with his own decision.

They'd told him this countless times over the last week, but the words seemed to just now be real.

"Thank you, guys."

He looked down at Pikachu. "Let's go pick up a friend for a battle."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

On the outskirts of Southern Pallet, there isn't much until the road meets the piers. There, Pallet looks less like a small town, and more like a major center of commerce for the Kanto region; with navy and commerce ships constantly docking or shoving off.

However, over the last few years, Southern Pallet had received one new addition to its rather lackluster scenery consisting of little more than hills and trees; it had a new gym.

Legislation for the new Pallet Gym was passed five years earlier, and when construction was done, the PLB stepped in and appointed Gary Oak - grandson of the infamous Pokémon professor and son of one-time Kanto Champion, Blue - as the new leader. After testing his skill-set, he was deemed worthy of a six badge-tier gym, and since there were only two others in the region at the time, it was decided his specialty would be ground types.

So it was here, on a newly-paved road that veered from the traditional path down to the docks, that Ash found himself walking the next day, alongside Misty and Brock, with Pikachu on his shoulder.

There was a chill, so he had on a blue, short-sleeved jacket, along with his retro League Contest hat to keep his head warm.

He was nervous - that much was true. With every step, he became more anxious at the thought of what he was about to do. Not only was he about to battle - an idea that itself made his pulse shoot through the roof and caused him nausea; but he was also about to face-off against Gary Oak, his lifelong rival.

The last time the two met in an official League contest was Johto when they were twelve.

At the same time though, as the nerves wracked his body, he couldn't deny the slight excitement that he felt coursing through his veins. Not to mention the nostalgia, he realized, as he looked from side to side; Misty on the right, Brock on the left, and Pikachu now on top of his hat.

"Just like old times," Misty muttered, breaking the silence amongst the trio.

Ash grinned and flashed her a knowing look. "My thoughts exactly."

"When was the last time we all went to watch you battle in a gym?" Brock asked, laughing a little. "All that's missing is you opening your jacket to flash your badges every three seconds."

Ash rolled his eyes, secretly relieved to be talking and laughing as a momentary reprieve. Unfortunately, any fleeting solace the short-lived flashback provided was instantly dispelled as the trio rounded a corner, and the gym came within full view.

"Wow," all three muttered at once.

For being in the middle of the forest, the gym appeared extremely lavish.

At least ten stories tall at its apex, the entire building was structured as a mirrored dome, which reflected the sunlight in all directions away from the building. The glass was cut into large triangles, which were all held together by strong steel beams which covered the dome in a criss-cross formation from the front to the back. Above the story-tall entrance way rested a sign: Pallet Town Gym - The Ultimate Test for Ground Trainers. The letters were large, arced over the entrance, and painted in a dark cobalt blue that could almost be mistaken for black if it wasn't for the sun's illumination.

"Doesn't look like the PLB held anything back when they funded the new gym," Brock managed as they approached the sliding glass doors.

Stepping up, Ash was surprised when the doors didn't open immediately. "Are they closed?"

Misty shook her head. "No, I can hear trainers inside."

"Please present your trainer I.D. to the Pokédex slot," an automated female voice suddenly declared, startling Ash.

"Huh?"

"The Pokédex slot, Ash," Brock pointed to a rectangular hole next to the door with a green and red button next to it. "You have to put it in to be allowed access."

"Oh!" He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his Kanto version of the encyclopedia. "Good thing I didn't give all my Pokédexes back to Goodshow, right?"

He slipped the old device into the rectangular opening. After a few moments, the encyclopedia was pushed back out, and the green light suddenly flickered to life.

"Ash Ketchum, age twelve - eight Kanto badges, four Orange Island badges, eight Johto badges. You have clearance to enter our gym. Please enjoy your visit."

"Age twelve?"

Misty laughed. "Hey Ash, it reads mental age!"

Brock shook his head. "Have you updated your old Pokédex recently, Ash?"

"Obviously not," he said, smiling. "Guess that was the last time I logged onto the Pokédex mainframe with it."

Interrupting the conversation, the doors suddenly responded to the trainers' presence - opening and allowing a rush of noise and tumult to wash over them.

"Wow, you wouldn't guess it was this loud from the outside," Misty shouted as they stepped inside. On both sides of the narrow chrome hallway they found themselves walking down, trainers were battling.

"This place is huge!" Brock marveled, watching one group of trainers and their Pokémon take turns on a weight-lifting system in one room, while in another four trainers were double battling their ground types.

Ash looked ahead and saw a large, circular desk waiting for them in the middle of it all. At the front of said desk sat a woman; her blond hair wound tightly in a bun behind her head, as she waited for the trainers to make their way down the hallway with her hands folded atop the chrome desk. Across the front of her workspace were the words "Pallet Town Gym"; once again in dark cobalt.

Stepping up, Ash gave the woman a nervous smile. Battles and training raged on in every room, and as he looked behind the desk, he saw that similar hallways to the one he just came in through shot off in every direction around this woman's work area.

There must be at least a hundred different battlegrounds here!

"Welcome to the Pallet Town Gym, Mr. Ketchum!" she shouted above the ruckus. "Are you here for a class today?"

Wondering why she'd ask a former champion if he was there to take a Pokémon battling class, he quickly shook his head. "I'm here to see the Leader, Gary Oak."

"Mr. Oak is very busy right now," she explained, showing neither pleasure nor regret in her tone. "He is scheduled for several gym battles today, and the Pokémon League Board of Kanto is coming tomorrow to inspect the gym."

Ash nodded. "I understand, but it's urgent. Could you just tell him I need to see him?"

Looking hesitant, the woman finally gave a sharp nod. "Give me one second."

She looked down and started clacking away, presumably, at a small keyboard that was out of Ash's sight. Finishing the message, she looked back up at the raven-haired trainer. "He'll respond momentarily. Mr. Oak hates phone calls, so he insists we give him any news through messaging systems."

"Alright, thanks." His voice was beginning to feel sore from the yelling.

They waited a few seconds before a "ping" sounded from the desk. Looking down, the blond scanned the replied message before looking up. "If you'll just follow me, Leader Oak has decided to see you immediately."

Nodding, Ash watched as part of the desk suddenly split in two; allowing the trainers to enter the encircled area. Walking in, the young woman directed the three humans and Pokémon to the center of the area.

She pointed to a bright blue circle with a ten foot diameter, and instructed the group to "wait there." Walking back over to her desk, she pushed a few more buttons, and the four were surprised to suddenly find themselves rising up.

"Whoa, it's an elevator," Brock noted. The, thin light blue circle they stood upon slowly gathered altitude as it continued to hover toward a dark hole which suddenly appeared in the ceiling.

Crossing the threshold past the gape, the elevator stopped, and Gary was suddenly in front of the group of friends; his arms crossed as a smirk spread across his lips.

"Impressive, huh?"

Looking around, Ash had to admit that he was impressed. They were now inside what appeared to be the Gym Leader's office and living quarters. The high-tech chrome appearance of the first floor was replaced with a more homey feel here on the second. The floor, desk, and bookshelves were all composed of oak wood. The shelves were filled to the brim with Pokémon research textbooks and theories, and in the corner was a made twin bed with a blue comforter. There was a door along the wall next to the bed which Ash could only assume led to a bathroom.

"They keep me pretty taken care of here," he continued, allowing the other two gym leaders to gawk in amazement at his personal luxuries. "The higher the tier of your gym, the better the amenities, you know?"

Misty turned her attention away from their surroundings and gave the khaki jeans-clad teen a spiteful look. "Yeah I do know, since when I left Cerulean we had the gym up to a four badge tier."

"Hm, almost as good as mine."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I just needed a little more time."

"Anyway, I don't think you came all the way here just to admire how well I'm doing," Gary hazarded. "If anything, I'd imagine Ashy-boy came here to answer my question."

"Question?" He gave his rival a puzzled look.

"You remember, right? I asked you yesterday if you were a quitter, and then you slammed the door in my face." His arms remained crossed and he gave his old friend a look of pure confidence. "So what's the answer?"

"Before I answer, I need to know something," Ash replied, narrowing his eyes at the teen. "Why're you being such a jerk all over again?"

Gary gave a small chuckle. "I'm not being a jerk...I'm just motivating you."

"You coulda just asked for the battle."

"Yeah, but you were never good at doing what people asked...neither was I, come to think of it. That's why we always fight. We only do things if someone challenges us to do 'em."

"You're some kind of psychologist now?"

He shook his head. "Nope, I'm just saying what we've always known is the truth. Admit it, nothing I've explained in the last two days wasn't something you already knew about us deep inside."

There was no reason to answer that.

Instead, Ash got to the point. "I'm no coward, Gary. And I'm definitely not a quitter. I promised you a battle, and you're gonna get one, but just because we have it doesn't mean I don't mean what I said yesterday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life yet, but at least I know what I'll be doing for the next few minutes."

"What's that?"

"Reminding you who's the better trainer."

"Really? Well then, let's go to the arena."

"Your secretary said you had a full schedule today," Brock noted, thinking back to the pretty receptionist. "Should we go tell her that you're gonna be busy?"

Gary smirked. "Yeah, you better let her know I won't be taking any calls for a little while."

"We'll be right back to watch you battle, Ash," Misty promised as she and Brock got back on the elevator.

To her shock, Ash shook his head. "Actually, I was thinking I'd do this by myself, if it's alright with you."

For a moment, the redhead appeared speechless.

"But Ash, we're here to support you!" Brock exclaimed. He looked just as surprised as Misty at the request.

"I know you are, and I appreciate it, but..." He paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words. "I guess I just need to do this on my own. If I'm really gonna make this decision about my future, I need to do it myself."

"But-"

Brock shook his head and interrupted Misty. "I understand, Ash. We'll be waiting for you in here when you're done."

Misty gave Brock an annoyed look, before turning her attention back to Ash. They shared a quiet moment as each trainer stared each other down.

"I need to do it, Mist," he finally muttered with a small smile.

Hesitating, she finally gave a small sigh and stepped off the elevator portal. Taking her boyfriend by the hand once more, she leaned close enough to whisper, "Remember, no matter what you decide, I love you." She moved the bill of his cap backwards and gave the trainer a short but forceful kiss before stepping back on the elevator.

"Well, good luck, buddy," Brock said, shaking Ash's hand. He almost sounded like Ash was going away for a long time. "I hope you make the best choice for you."

With a nod, the Pewter Leader joined Misty on the portal, and the two slowly sank into the floor.

"When it comes back up we'll head to the arena," Gary mentioned, walking to his desk, typing in a few keys, and then grabbing a pokéball belt from his top drawer.

"Where is it?" Ash asked. "In one of those arenas below?"

"Nah, it's actually up there." He pointed to the ceiling, where another circular metal door suddenly opened. "It's nice because you don't have a bunch of trainers bugging you while you're trying to focus on the battle."

The portal reemerged from the floor again, this time without Brock or Misty. "Looks like it's ready."

Following Gary's lead, Ash stepped onto the device, Pikachu silent on his shoulder, and the three made the final ascension to the battlefield.

Again, he couldn't help the awe he felt as they landed at the top floor. The battlefield was a standard Pokémon League issue - they'd entered through the pokéball-shaped center of the battlefield, in fact - but what made it unique was the setting. Because it was at the top of the mirrored dome, he could see out and above the trees which surrounded the gym in every direction. In the distance, he could even make out Oak's windmill to his right, and he could see the ocean to his left. If he didn't know that glass was surrounding the entire structure, he would have sworn he was outdoors from the clarity of the scene.

"Like I said, they spared no expense," Gary muttered, almost sounding impressed himself. He turned to Ash. "So this is it, then? The final test of our rivalry?"

"Well, technically, I could lose and still battle you again," Ash reminded with a small grin. "Your grampa already told me I could battle you as many times as I wanted, but I only had to win once."

"Oh, come on Ash. If you lost today, there's no way you'd try again, and we both know it. Your pride would never let you."

He smirked. "You're probably right...but maybe not. If I really still like this whole battling thing after our battle, I don't think I'd let you have the final say in our rivalry. Besides, if we're finally gonna become grown-ups, I need to stop letting my pride get in the way, right?"

A crooked grin emerged from his brunette foe. "You may have a point, Ashy-boy.

"Don't call me that!"

"Well, whatever happens, may the best man win," he said, ignoring Ash's annoyance. He stuck out his hand, momentarily causing Ash greater shock than the scenery.

That quickly wore away, though, and he grinned himself.

"Yeah, may the best man win." Rather than sticking his hand out, he instead reached into his jacket pocket. "To raise the stakes a little, how about we settle this score once and for all too?"

In his clenched right fist, he revealed something that caused Gary to snort in laughter.

"Wait, I have mine too!" He reached into his own pocket and pulled it out.

Both trainers held up their half of the pokéball they'd fished up years ago.

"Winner take all, then?"

Ash nodded. "Winner take all."

With a final handshake, the two teens took to their respective side of the field. There was no official, but there was no need, either.

"We'll make this a full battle, alright?"

"Sounds good to me," Ash answered.

"And don't think you can trick me with Pikachu like you did with Paul. I know there's no way you're leaving him out of the action," Gary joked from across the field, reaching for his first Pokéball.

"Don't think you can trick me with your Umbreon, either," Ash reminded with a smile. "Me and Pikachu know all about his tricks now." He reached for his own belt.

This one's for you, Venusaur.

"Then let's get this party started!" With a flourish, Gary enlarged his first capsule and heaved it into the air with an underhanded toss.

"Right!" Ash quickly threw his forward as well, and the two orbs almost crashed into each other mid-field before both exploded into light; releasing their trapped monsters.

"Come on out!"

"Let's show 'em what we've got!"

-

Author's Notes: It was shorter than normal, like I said before, but again, I think the substance of the chapter really made up for that. We saw progress in Ash's thinking, and we uncovered the truth about why he's been so hesitant to consider battling again. Also, we got pretty deep into his and Gary's relationship, which has always been a personal fascination of mine for various reasons, so I really felt like this chapter was a job well done even if it wasn't very long. Next chapter, as you can imagine, is going to start at the battle, so be ready for that. Also, I've received some complaints from reviewers recently about the lack of pokéshipping in the recent chapters. Normally, my response is that this story is an action genre first, and romance second, but I have to agree that recently there's just been too little in the way of romantic interaction between our favorite protagonists, so rest assured you'll have your satisfaction within the next few chapters of Ash-Misty fluff, guaranteed. Finally, again I'm sorry for the delay, but I am proud to say that I responded to all reviews, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter and your predictions on who wins the battle, so please REVIEW if you have the time!

Thanks for your continued patronage, and later days!


	53. Another Rival Revival

**Hey Everybody!** Third round of mid-terms, finals, and then finally coming home. All those things kept me from updating, but none are an adequate excuse. I'm really sorry, but I have to admit that for a while, I was just so drained of energy after a day of studying and classes that the last thing I wanted to do was stare at my computer screen for a few more hours. The semester is now over, and I'm actually on vacation, so I've finally regained my muse and actually wrote most of this chapter in the last week or so. It's an all-battle chapter, so if you enjoy my battles, I think you'll really like this one. However, as I was saying before, I know I don't have a good excuse, but I still have about four weeks of vacation left before school starts again, and I really expect to get the next chapter out on time in two weeks, and hopefully the one after that out on time as well. It's been hectic, but thank you to all of my readers and reviewers who continue to support me even when I take unexpected hiatuses like the one I've just returned from. I promise I won't take a break like that again, and if I do I will certainly warn you ahead of time.

Also, merry Christmas! Though it sucks it took this long to get out, I hope you all have a wonderful day today! As a little make-up / Christmas gift for y'all, **I've also written two holiday one-shots over the last couple of days that I really think you'll enjoy, so check out my profile page to read those**; and if you enjoy them, feel free to review!

Anyway, like I said, next chapter will come out in two weeks, and I'll be much more prompt as we near the end of this epic. Now please, go ahead and read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

His heart was pounding. His head was pulsing. His gloved hands were sweating. The sunlight beaming in through the clear ceiling overhead cast his shadow forward, and the roars of all previous audiences bellowed in his ears.

_This _was a battle, and he loved everything about it.

Even the cocky opponent he found himself pitted against.

"Well, I guess the advantage goes to me, then," Gary mocked, his eyes closed as the smile on his lips went from sincere to sarcastic. "At least, if we're gonna look at it logically."

Ash gave a small smirk of his own. "Squirtle, don't listen to him," he commented calmly. The small turtle Pokémon immediately turned around and gave his trainer a thumbs-up in reply. Both had been through this many time before...size didn't matter when you had enough experience.

"Squirt!"

"Blastoise, try not to beat him up _too_ much...just enough to finish the job!" Gary commanded, pointing forward.

Without so much as a command, the much larger turtle Pokémon's cannons suddenly escaped from beneath his shell and pointed downward.

"Blast-oise!" Gallons upon gallons gushed from his tanks at once, centered in on Ash's water type.

"Squirtle!" cried the light-blue Pokémon, instinctively doing a backward somersault as the Hydro Pump actually broke through the surface of the ground battlefield. Cracks continued to grow around the spot before Gary's Pokémon suddenly realized he had missed his target.

Ash's smile grew larger. Squirtle hadn't lost any battle ability in his time fighting fires.

"It's alright, Blastoise," Gary consoled. "He's a little faster, but we've got power on our side. Show him what a measly Water Gun looks like to us!"

The cannons repositioned immediately, and Ash realized how fast Gary's starter was for his size. He'd forgotten that over the years.

"Blast!"

"Water Gun right back!" Ash pointed at his rival's monster. "Fight water with water!"

Heaving in a deep breath, Squirtle exhaled an impressive Water Gun. The two attacks met mid-way, and neither side seemed to have an immediate advantage.

_Why isn't he calling off the attack? _Ash wondered, furrowing his brow. It was clearly an even match in power.

"Stoise!"

_Oh, right. _Blastoise had a far more sustainable water supply than did his Squirtle, no matter how powerful it was. Gary was just hoping to wear it out.

"Squirtle, end the attack and flip out of the way!"

Following orders, the turtle Pokémon did flip - this time sideways - to avoid the high-pressure attack. With no need for command, Squirtle took advantage of Blastoise's slightly slower movements to withdraw his head and arms within his shell.

"Good idea! Skull Bash, now!"

"Squirtle!" His Pokémon's head reemerged as he launched his powerful hind legs forward with as much force as he could muster. Aiming directly for Blastoise's head, the pre-evolved form appeared to almost be a speeding bullet as the two craniums came into contact.

An ear-piercing "crack" surrounded the gym's walls as both Pokémon cried in pain.

"Squirt!"

"Blastoise!"

The two Pokémon stumbled backwards from the resulting damage.

And that was it for Ash.

He bit his lip to the point of drawing blood as he watched his Pokémon take direct damage for the attack that he had ordered. Squirtle almost appeared to be in a different world as he clumsily wobbled around back-and-forth with his opponent.

He felt himself begin to panic. Flashes of Heracross and Venusaur suddenly came to mind.

_I can't do this!_

There was no way this battle could continue. The longer he stood there - with every passing nanosecond - the more nauseous he felt at what he'd inadvertently caused. There was a time, just a couple of weeks earlier, when this wouldn't have fazed him at all. A time when taking damage from an attack like that would have only mattered had his Pokémon not been able to withstand the recoil.

But this was no longer that time. If something as minute as backlash from a Skull Bash sent his mind spiraling into flashbacks, what chance could he have as a battler? The thrill from only a minute before was suddenly gone. Dread boiling in his stomach, he reached out for his pokéball, preparing to withdraw the water type.

_This was a stupid idea in the first place_, he silently mourned.

The mourning was more for himself than for Squirtle. As his hand raised the pokéball, he felt - for the first time - that quitting training was real. A sudden flash of all that he'd accomplished streaked through his mind; as if his life were on full display as his old self prepared to die.

_All that work...all that time...and I just can't do it anymore_. The grieving had begun before his Pokémon had even been recalled.

"Taking Squirtle back already?" Gary's voice suddenly boomed as the two Pokémon continued to try and reorient themselves. The words caught Ash off-guard as he held the ball half-high. He'd almost felt alone in those few seconds. "I told you I had the advantage!"

The smug look that so often plagued his rival's face reappeared, and suddenly the self-pity vanished. Ash grit his teeth at the taunt.

"Squirtle's a lot stronger than any of your Pokémon, Gary!"

_How dare he think Blastoise could stand a chance?_

"Then why the pokéball?" He motioned to the capsule now loosely-gripped in Ash's gloved palm. "You're giving up on him, right?"

Squirtle, finally getting his senses back, looked to his trainer with a confused - and almost hurt - expression. Why was Ash quitting on him so soon? They hadn't battled together in years, and he was already out of the fight?

"Squirtle..."

Blastoise was quickly recovering from the damage too, so he needed to make up his mind now.

He thought back to a couple of days earlier, when he, Pikachu, and Charizard were on the pier. _They said they wanted to battle. It's their choice too...it's not fair for me to just take it away from them._

Sure he would hate himself for even asking, he pushed ahead and did so anyway. "Do you wanna stay in the battle?"

"Squirtle-squirt!" The light blue creature jumped up and down eagerly.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Cannon, now!"

Taking in a deep breath, Blastoise roared his name as his cannons pointed downward.

"Squirtle, get outta the way!"

But it was too late. Squirtle suddenly disappeared from view as two large light blue orbs emanated and quickly doused his first water type Pokémon, sending Squirtle hurtling towards him.

As he watched his Pokémon tumble from the cheap shot, he felt shocked...or was it sad?

No. He realized that it wasn't either. He felt _angry_.

This was his fault. He took too long in making a decision, and Squirtle had just paid the price for it. Looking on, he saw his small turtle struggling to get back to his feet as Blastoise drew ever closer for an even heavier assault.

It was difficult to describe what was going through his heart and mind at that moment. On the one hand, seeing Squirtle get blasted into the dirt like that was certainly painful, but on the other, the rage and determination he felt swell in his chest were undeniable.

_If I give up now, they win,_ he realized, as if not understanding the arrangement beforehand. _Gary gets to think he's better than me forever, and that stupid Blastoise doesn't even take another hit. Squirtle wants this, whether or not I do, and it's time I start thinking about my friends again._

"You're not getting away with that!" he suddenly declared, his fists shaking as determination won out. "This battle isn't over yet!"

"Almost is, though. Blastoise, finish him with a Rapid Spin!"

Now practically on top of Ash's Pokémon, the fully evolved creature jumped into the air using his powerful back legs and, as he neared the rounded ceiling, withdrew into his shell - beginning to spin.

As the extremely heavy monster bore down, Ash steeled his resolve.

"Water Gun!"

Looking upward, Squirtle released another loaded volume of water, and to Gary's surprise, managed to keep Blastoise in the air while he continued spinning without purpose.

"Throw him back at Gary!"

With a gargantuan effort, Squirtle kept the water attack going long enough for him to take a step back. Then, with the remainder of his water power, he projected one last bit of strength to send Blastoise flying backwards towards his trainer's box.

The large blue tortoise's shell quit spinning as it hit the ground and bounced repeatedly closer to Gary like a coin hitting the floor.

Finally coming to a halt, Gary ordered his Pokémon out of his shell and back into battle. However, Ash smiled at what he saw: Blastoise had landed on his back.

"Blastoise-oise!" he cried as he struggled without victory to lift himself back up onto his feet.

"Now's our chance, Squirtle!" Ash declared excitedly. "Knock him out with a Rapid Spin of your own!"

Rushing forward, albeit with a bit of heavy breathing after the intense workout, Squirtle neared the flailing fully-evolved starter. Jumping into the air, he sprung into his shell. Spinning as his opponent had done just moments before, he raced towards Blastoise's head.

"Blastoise, watch out!"

But there was nothing Oak's Pokémon could do. Taking another strong hit to the head, Blastoise spun around the gym floor a few times like a top, and when his dizzying trip was complete, he moaned his name lowly. His Pokémon appearing completely dazed, Gary sighed before reaching for his Pokéball.

"Fine, Ashy-boy. You win on a lucky strike."

"How was that lucky?" Ash asked with a smile as Blastoise disappeared from view. "Squirtle is just better."

"There's no way you knew Blastoise was gonna land on his back after that Water Gun!" Gary declared, sounding slightly jarred by the loss. "And you know it!"

"No, I didn't, but I _did _know he'd be worthless when we got him on his back. Even if that hadn't worked like I wanted it, that was still gonna be my strategy."

Gary rolled his eyes. _First his Charizard beats Blastoise, and now his Squirtle?_

Though he'd be loathe to ever admit it, Ash certainly found interesting ways to overcome clear disadvantages in power.

On the other side of the field, Ash ran and grabbed Squirtle, proudly holding him over his head as the exhausted water type smiled broadly.

"You still got it, buddy! Way to go!"

"Squirtle!" The blue water type clapped his hands happily.

"Do you wanna take a rest in your Pokéball for a little while?"

"Squirt!" He shook his head quickly.

Ash looked concerned. "You took some big hits back there. You should take a little breather before going back out."

But his stubborn Pokémon shook his head again.

"Pika-pikachu," advised the electric type from Ash's shoulder.

"Squirtle-squirt."

As best Ash could tell, Pikachu was trying to convince him otherwise, but it didn't seem like Squirtle was willing to let it go. He was ready to fight to the end...but was Ash?

_It makes sense to keep him in. After all, he only has a little energy left, and basically no water power. If I take him out, it'll only be putting off the inevitable, and if he stays out it gives me a chance to prepare for Gary's next Pokémon before I send out a counter._

That didn't change the fact that he didn't like the idea of letting any of his creatures stay in for the purpose of letting them get knocked out.

"I really don't want you pushing yourself too hard out there, Squirtle. It's not safe to risk it like that."

Squirtle shook his head again, though.

"Hey, are we gonna battle, or are you gonna keep begging your Pokémon to quit fighting?" Gary shouted from across the room. "I've already got my next one picked out, so whenever you're done chatting!"

Ash gave his rival a quick look of disdain before going back to the Pokémon in his hands.

"I don't want this, but if you want to, I won't be the one to stop it from happening. If you wanna quit early, though, don't be ashamed to tell me! We'll call you back before they can hurt you anymore."

Giving a small look of confusion at the unusual advice, Squirtle nodded and jumped out of his master's grasp. Turning back to Gary, he gave the gym leader a sneer, and the brunette resisted the urge to laugh at the small water Pokémon.

"He thinks he's hot stuff...like Pokémon, like trainer, I guess."

"He doesn't think it, Gary. He knows it; just like me."

Rolling his eyes, his rival reached back for his next battle partner. "Listen, you got lucky in the first round, but this battle's a long way from being over, and I have a friend that I think will give you a little more trouble than Blastoise."

His interest piqued, Ash's fist tightened subconsciously as he awaited the next opponent.

"Electivire, come out!" Gary ordered, a blast of light emanating from his hand as the Pokéball burst open within his grip.

"Vire!"

Ash gulped a little at the familiar sight. After what happened at Giovanni's cartel warehouse, it was hard to see another Electivire and not feel a deep resentment begin to boil.

"Squirtle, Rapid Spin!"

Leaping forward, Squirtle again withdrew into his shell.

"Bad move, Ash," Gary clucked with a smirk. "Thunderpunch!"

Rearing his massive hand backward, electricity began to surge from Electivire's antennae through his arm as Squirtle approached.

"Now, Hydro Pump!"

Though weakened by his exhaustion on water reserves, Squirtle still managed to shoot a few powerful streams of water from the arm and leg openings in his shell; knocking the large electric Pokémon back several feet before his punch could land.

Jumping out of his shell, Squirtle took matters into his owns hands when he saw Electivire on his back. Withdrawing his head once more, he quickly sprung forward in a hasty Skull Bash. Making contact with the side of his opponent, he forced him to skid back a few more feet, but little else.

"Electivire, I know you can take more than that. Get up!"

"Electivire," grunted the Pokémon, suddenly springing back to his feet - seemingly unfazed by the two impressive attacks.

Ash grit his teeth. He thought even a weakened Hydro Pump would do more damage than that. "Squirtle, fall back!"

The turtle withdrew back into his shell and retreated back to his side of the field as Electivire took a creative liberty and attempted to zap him with a small Thunderbolt.

"Try an Earthquake attack!" Gary ordered. "Don't let him get away from you!"

"Withdraw, Squirtle!"

As Electivire jumped several feet into the air, the water starter hid within his shell once more. As the ground shook and cracked beneath the large Pokémon's feet, the brown and cream shell simply bobbled back and forth with the motion of the gym.

"Ah!" Ash himself took a small tumble to the ground from the attack's effect. "That can't be safe to do up here," he mumbled half-heartedly as he stood back up and found Gary laughing at him.

"Does it count as a win if I knock you out instead?"

Glaring at his opponent, Ash couldn't think of a decent comeback. Instead, he began to panic as Electivire suddenly charged onto his side of the battlefield; now taking advantage of Squirtle's position and going on the offensive.

"Squirtle, get out of your shell and use Water Gun!"

"Squirt." As the blue turtle's head emerged, though, it was already too late.

The electricity and power were already pent up as the electric Pokémon bore down upon Ash's, and within the blink of an eye, a small explosion appeared as Squirtle was sent flying out of the field's limits and into the glass of the surrounding dome.

"Squirtle!" Ash ran to his Pokémon's side, slowly picking him up and taking note of the water types many lacerations and bruises. "Squirtle, I'm so sorry, buddy. I shoulda taken you out of the battle." His voice wavered as he watched his friend struggle with the pain.

"Squirt?" Surprisingly, the pain didn't seem to last too long, as confusion once again took its place. It was one thing for Squirtle to be told he did a great job out there, but never before had he ever seen his trainer this upset about losing a battle; especially one that was so one-sided. The way Ash was acting now seemed more in line with a funeral than a Pokémon fainting from battle fatigue.

"You-you're okay?"

"Squirtle-squirt." The Pokémon nodded; confusion still marring his features.

Suddenly, Ash realized how stupid he probably looked to his Pokémon right now. They'd done this many times before - why was he so upset?

Well, _he_ knew why he was scared and on the verge of forfeiture, but it hit him that _Squirtle_ didn't know about that. As far as Squirtle knew, Ash had seemingly just lost his mind.

Giving a small smile, Ash reached back for the turtle creature's Pokéball. "Heh, sorry about the overreaction, buddy. I guess I'm just a little shaken up still about Bulba- I mean, Venusaur. You did a great job, and I know you woulda made him proud if he were here."

The confusion instantly evaporated, and a sad smile crossed Squirtle's face. "Squirt-squirt."

Turning red, the water type was soon back within his confines, and Ash turned around to find a gloating Gary on the other side of the field.

"Told you Electivire'd give you more trouble."

"You also said this battle was a long way from being over, and it beat a Squirtle with an Electivire you've had for years - nothing impressive about that."

Now Gary was at a loss for words as Ash reached for his next Pokémon.

"Pika-pikachu!" the small mouse suddenly declared, looking up at his trainer with fiery determination.

"Not yet, Pikachu," he answered. "I know you want revenge, but I don't wanna use you until I hafta. We've still got a few good friends who might be a better choice in this case."

His ears drooping, Pikachu kicked the dirt. "Cha."

"I promise that if it gets outta hand, you'll come in, but you're too strong to throw out so early." Reaching back once more, Ash smiled as his hand grazed his belt.

"We'll see how he does against Donphan!"

The elephantine Pokémon trumpeted her arrival loudly, and then got into a battle stance.

"The type advantage won't help you as much as you think, Ashy," Gary warned. "Electivire, we'll start with an Earthquake!"

Jumping up, the electric Pokémon caused the ground to rumble once again as the gym floor splintered further.

"Vire!"

"Just take it head-on," Ash directed calmly; this time managing to maintain his balance. "You've got this.'

His Pokémon trumpeted in acknowledgment. After the attack was over, it was clear that it had done little damage to Ash's partner - though the damage to the battlefield itself was becoming more evident.

"You'll have to do better than that, Gary! Donphan, show him what a real Earthquake looks like!"

Now it was the elephant's turn. Jumping high into the air, she momentarily curled into a ball as Electivire tried to interrupt the attack with a lightning-fast Thunderbolt. After the attack ended, she unrolled herself and hit the ground hard; her thick, sturdy legs forcing Electivire to shout his name in surprise as he toppled over.

"Follow it up with a Rollout!"

Curling again, the ground type sped quickly toward her target.

"Electivire, get outta the way!" Gary warned far too late. His Pokémon barely had time to move before he was sent hurtling backward and into his own trainer.

"Ugh, get off me," Gary groaned as his Pokémon hastily rolled off his master's legs.

"You okay?" Ash asked, more than a little amused at the lucky direction of the attack.

Gary simply shot the trainer a dirty look as his electric type returned to the field. "More than okay."

Donphan was still rolling around the field, and the second Electivire returned within bounds, she was once again charging in his direction.

"Electivire, wait for it," Gary warned sternly. "Don't make a move till I say."

"Elect-vire."

_What could Gary be planning by taking another hit like that?_

Deciding that he had no choice but to continue with the attack, Ash watched on as his loyal partner sped across the field.

"Ice Punch, now!"

With no time to react, Donphan was sent flying backwards as the Ice type attack made contact squarely on her form. She landed on her back a few feet away from her trainer.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

Nodding, Donphan quickly flipped back onto her legs. Trumpeting her trunk, she returned to a Rollout position and began charging at Electivire once more.

"Do it again!" Gary ordered as she drew near.

"Hyper Beam!" Ash countered.

Unfurling her body, she made a quick jump over the electric Pokémon's icy fist and blasted him directly with a strong ray of light that again sent him flying backward. Landing, she took several deep breaths as the attack's power took its toll on her health.

"Looks like she's getting tired. Electivire, get up!"

The yellow Pokémon answered with a grunt as his two tails lifted his body back to his feet. Though he'd taken some serious hits, he appeared to be in better shape than Ash's partner, and the raven-haired trainer wondered how Gary had managed to imbue his fighting creatures with such endurance.

"While she's tired, hit her with another Ice Punch!"

"Vire!" roared the Pokémon, running towards the ground type with his fist aglow.

"Dodge it!"

Using all of her strength, Donphan narrowly avoided the icy assault with a quick hop backwards; Electivire's fist instead coming into direct contact with the ground and forcing a large frozen hole in his fist's place.

"Both fists, Electivire!" Gary ordered. "Don't let her get away."

Both hands now glowing, Electivire continued the attacks.

_We can't stay on the defensive_. Donphan was running out of room to jump backward as the two creatures approached the battlefield boundaries.

"Get away with a Rollout!" he suddenly ordered, running out of ideas.

Rolling back into a ball, Donphan tried to curve out of Electivire's range. Unfortunately for the grey Pokémon, her estimation was slightly off and as she began to speed away, the electric type managed to land a not-so-direct hit to her side. Stumbling out of the rollout, she tripped and fell to her side.

"Finish it!" Gary commanded.

"Defense Curl!"

Using his powerful tails once more, Electivire flew through the air and bore down on Donphan with an electrically charged fist.

"Vire!" The crackle of the assault boomed in both trainers' ears, but when he stood up, Donphan was still conscious in her defensive position.

"Keep it up until she faints!"

Electivire nodded, as one hand began to crackle with electricity, and the other started to glow in icy power.

"Vire! Vire! Vire!" The pummeling continued with every repetition of the yellow creature's name. There was no doubt Donphan couldn't take much more in her fetal position, and Ash's teeth came to a grind again as he tried to think of some way out of their predicament.

_This shouldn't be happening. Donphan had the advantage!_

But no matter how he looked at the situation, there simply was no leverage for him to gain the upper-hand. Donphan was being relentlessly forced deeper into the battlefield's dirt with every Ice and Thunder Punch.

"I give up!" Ash declared; hating himself instantly. There was no other choice, he knew, but that wouldn't stop that smarmy grin from appearing on his rival's lips.

At his words, Electivire immediately quit the assault. As he stepped back from his opponent, Ash saw Donphan's form uncurl one last time.

"Donphan, you did a great job." Slowly, he returned the hurting Pokémon back to her capsule. "You need a long rest. I'll get you to Professor Oak's as soon as we're done."

Taking a deep breath, he wasn't shocked to see Gary smiling. "Told you that type advantage didn't matter. I've specially trained Electivire to deal with all kinds of threats."

"He's not invincible, Gary, and I'll prove it."

"Pika?"

"No, Pikachu. Not yet. We're saving you for late in the battle, like we did with Paul, remember?"

Pikachu huffed and folded his arms. Ash was a little taken aback by the Pokémon's restlessness - he was usually satisfied with his master's strategies.

"I promise you'll get to battle soon enough. Don't worry about that."

"Chu." The Pokémon gave a quick nod - his eyes never leaving the battlefield.

As upset as he was at the loss, Ash couldn't help but notice a small bright spot. When Squirtle was first hurt, he'd almost collapsed in grief, and when Squirtle fainted, he'd been pretty upset. When Donphan got hurt, he was still upset, but noticeably less so, and after fainting, he found he wasn't nearly as grief-stricken as he was with his water type.

Though he wasn't ready to say Brock was right just yet, he had to admit that getting back into a battle was certainly making him feel differently than he had before about quitting. Being back in the groove - the dance - of the entire affair shed a familiar, yet altogether new, light on the matter.

He was sweating, his opponent was laughing at his expense. He was now at the disadvantage, and everything rode on his next move.

_Can I really leave all of this?_

Shaking his head, he returned to the present. He'd be forced to leave all of this if he didn't win this battle.

_If I win, then I'll think about retirement._

Smiling, he reassessed his current situation. Pikachu wanted to come out, but experience told him to never release his strongest Pokémon mid-battle. He needed them to finish.

Clicking through the ones he had left, he smiled. _Perfect_.

"Meganium, come on out!"

"Meganium!" The green flower Pokémon emerged onto the field.

Gary started laughing. "I'm not sure if you know this, Ashy, but Ice type attacks still have the advantage over Grass types. I didn't know I was battling with a newbie."

Ash smirked. "Meganium's gonna level the playing field a little."

"Whaddya mean?" Gary asked, still smiling, but a trace of concern evident in his tone.

"Sunny Day!"

Looking up, Meganium shot a blindingly bright orb high into the air, illuminating the entire field and instantly heating up the arena.

_Ice Punch won't do much good if it melts before landing_.

Covering his eyes to see the field, Ash pointed forward. "Now follow it up with a Solarbeam!"

The petals around her neck glowing white, Meganium released a sizable yellow beam of energy before her opponent had time to register what was happening under the glare of the artificial sunlight.

"Electivire!" Gary shouted worriedly as his Pokémon took another direct hit. Despite all the training the two had done to increase his defenses, Gary knew that the combination of the Hydro Pump, Earthquake, Hyper Beam, and now Solarbeam attacks were beginning to take their toll.

Slowly, Electivire, got back to his feet from his knees; wheezing all the way as Meganium took a moment to recover from the quick assault.

"Try a Thunderbolt attack!"

"Vire!" From the antennae atop his head, two strikes of lightning bolted towards the grass type. However, despite the strength of the attack, the electric Pokémon was still adjusting to the light. The dual bolts flew over the heads of both the grass type and her trainer, allowing Meganium another free attack.

"Throw him in the air and use another Solarbeam!"

"Jump high into the air!"

As Meganium's vines approached her opponent's legs, he dodged while sailing into the sky.

"Solarbeam, now!"

"Thunderbolt!"

His eyes now healing, Electivire shot off another round of lightning bolts as the grass attack came directly towards him. The two attacks met mid-air, and almost instantaneously escalated into a full-blown explosion.

"Elect-vire!" the Pokémon shouted, falling back to Earth and landing on his stomach with a thud. Meganium, however, remained untouched.

_This is going even better than I planned, _Ash realized happily. Meganium was handling herself a lot better than he'd have expected considering how long it had been since the two had trained with one another.

"Razor Leaf!"

From beneath her petals, sharp leaves suddenly sprang forth by the dozen: further damaging the already hurting Electivire.

Now Gary began to sweat.

_If only there was some way we could get close enough to - wait!_

An idea suddenly emerged within the brunette's skillfully strategized mind.

"Electivire, I know you're hurting, but try to use Protect!"

Putting up his hand, a green barrier suddenly appeared; temporarily fending off the incoming leaves.

"Viiire," he moaned.

"I have an idea. Thunder Punch the ground as hard a few times."

The Razor Leaf attack had ended, and Ash was waiting for his opponent's next move; allowing Electivire to drop the protective shield and quickly pummel the ground as hard and fast as he could.

_That's it._

"Megan?"

"I can't see," Ash complained, more to himself than his Pokémon. The Thunder Punches had raised a significant amount of dirt and smoke into the air - completely surrounding and shrouding Gary's Pokémon. "Try and find him with your vines. We don't want to get too close."

Sending her vines out once more, the grass type felt through the smoke for a few quiet moments before Gary saw his opportunity.

"Pull her in, now!"

"E-lect!" With a strong grunt, Gary's Pokémon reeled in the fairly heavy grass type like a fish on a hook.

"Meganium, watch out!" But there was nothing Ash could do as his Pokémon flew directly into the clearing dust cloud.

"Fire Punch!"

"What?"

With the Sunny Day still beaming brightly from above, Electivire's entire arm became engulfed in flames as the evolved Johto starter approached her demise.

The second the conflagration on Electivire's arm made contact with Ash's partner, the flames lashed out across her entire body. The ensuing explosion from the heat and ferocity of the attack shot her backwards with such force that she completely cleared the battlefield and found herself cemented into the glass dome wall behind her master - much like Squirtle before her.

Looking on with complete dismay, Ash watched as his Pokémon slowly slid off the glass and onto the floor in a heap.

Panicking, he ran to her side.

"Are you okay?" Her neck was badly burned from the damage. As if the strength of Electivire added with the help of the Sunny Day wasn't enough, the fact that she'd practically flown into his fist with such momentum added even more to the pain of her injuries.

"Meganium," she muttered with a sad smile. "Meg." She nuzzled her head against her trainer's chest and looked up with pleading eyes.

"You did excellent," he assured. "There's no reason to feel bad at all. If anything, it's my fault for letting you get caught by the vines like that. I should've known he was waiting for me to make that move."

"Megan."

"You just need to take a long rest." He took out the pokéball to the Johto native. "Don't worry about a thing. We've got this battle under control."

Returning her to the capsule, he stood up and walked back to the trainer's box.

"Wow, Ash," Gary taunted; seemingly picking back up where he left off from last time. "I knew I was gonna win, but I didn't think it was gonna be this easy. Electivire's finished, what? Three of your Pokémon now?"

Swallowing hard, Ash didn't even try to think of a comeback. He was too busy simultaneously panicking in his mind and trying to appear unshaken to his opponent.

He didn't want to make the move he knew he was about to. It went against his gut instinct to save the best for last, but his gut instinct wasn't working too well at the moment.

_There's nothing to lose by trying._

Looking down, he gave his best friend an apologetic smile. "I guess I shoulda listened to you earlier. It looks like we're in trouble. You think you can win in a rematch?"

Pumping his fists in determination, Pikachu looked up and gave a quick nod. "Pi!"

"He's taken out half my team by himself. We have to stop him here if we want a chance at winning the battle...I'm counting on ya, buddy."

"Pika!" The electric mouse hurriedly made his way onto the field. The light from the Sunny Day began to fade as the two Pokémon took to their respective sides of the field.

"Electivire, Thunderbolt!"

"Thunderbolt too!"

The two attacks met midway, and instantly plumed into smoke.

"Volt Tackle!"

"Protect!

Pikachu's body began to glow with the strong crackle of electric power as he raced across the field. Electivire's arms went up and created another green psychic shield, but Ash held strong.

_He's taken too much damage. No way he'll be able to hold this off._

So Pikachu kept charging ahead at full speed, and the second the tiny mouse met the wall, he simply continued his sprint. Initially, Electivire's shield remained up, and Pikachu seemed to be running in place against it. However, Ash's theory proved true as the strain of the past battles proved too much. Releasing his protection, the thunderbolt Pokémon was instantly sent flying by his opponent's pent-up momentum.

"Electivire!"

Hitting the wall himself, the electric Pokémon groaned and hit the floor facedown with a loud thud.

Ash breathed a small sigh of relief as Gary recalled the impressive warrior.

"I guess you had to take him down eventually," he noted, reaching for his next pokéball as Pikachu returned to his side of the field. "But if my next Pokémon does as good as him, you'll lose without knocking out anymore!"

"Just send out whatever you've got," Ash urged, no longer in the mood for banter given his dire straights in the battle. He looked forward to Pikachu. "You did a good job, but don't let your guard down. We have a lot of catching up to do yet."

Enlarging his next choice, Gary threw the capsule onto the field. "Come out, Golem!"

"Golem," growled the ground and rock type after rolling closer to the center of the field and unfolding his arms and legs.

"Let's start this battle with an Earthquake!"

Much like his counterpart, Golem used his strong lower-body to propel himself skyward.

"On your tail!"

Coming down, the rock Pokémon forced the ground apart as the entire building swayed once more with the attack.

Pikachu, holding his entire body up with the help of his lightning bolt-shaped tail, managed to avoid any serious damage from the attack.

"Now Quick Attack!"

"Chu! Chu! Chu!" Jumping off his tail, the yellow Pokémon began appearing and then disappearing from plain sight as he neared his much slower opponent. Right before he came into contact with Golem, Ash changed orders.

"Iron Tail!"

Jumping up to the Golem's chest, Pikachu swung his strong iron-clad tail around and sent the Pokémon rolling backwards.

"Back on your feet!" Gary ordered to his dazed partner. "Hit him with a Rollout instead, then!"

"Gol!" Retreating within his rock-hard exterior, Golem began to spin around the battlefield; slowly gaining speed as he rounded Pikachu repeatedly while the mouse tried and failed several more Iron Tail attacks.

"We can't keep wasting time with this," Ash mumbled. Golem was now outpacing Pikachu, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Gary called him to attack. With Pikachu's one advantage being speed, and all the other Pokémon he had in reserve directly ineffective against a rock and ground type, he strained himself trying to figure a way out of the current predicament.

_Pikachu can't even run as fast as normal because of all the stupid cracks in the ground from the Earthquakes._

Suddenly, an idea surfaced.

"Okay, Golem, now attack!"

The giant, rolling marble-like Pokémon suddenly shifted position at the order; now directly headed towards Pikachu.

"Pikachu, Agility to the front of that ramp!" Ash pointed to a chunk of the battlefield that had been spiked out of angle.

Running as fast as he could, Pikachu managed to make it to the ramp with Golem in hot pursuit.

"Jump outta the way, now!"

"Pika!" With a strong somersault to his right, Pikachu narrowly avoided the rock Pokémon hot on his heels as Golem continued rolling forward and off the ramp altogether; flying high in the sky momentarily before gravity brought him back to Earth.

"Iron Tail again!"

Speeding along the field, Pikachu smashed through his opponent's rocky exterior once more and sent him hurtling past Ash and out of the battlefield.

"You okay, Golem?"

"Lem," muttered the tired Pokémon, standing back up - to Ash's surprise - and making his way back onto the field. "Golem."

"Then Rock Blast!"

Three light blue rings suddenly encircled the gym leader's tired Pokémon. The rings began to spin in ovular form and then turned white and split into dense, sharp rocks which continued spinning around him.

"Pikachu get ready for some dodging!"

"Cha!" Pikachu nodded and fell to all fours in preparation.

"Do it now!"

First, one of the rings simultaneously broke apart and shot out from around Golem's body towards Pikachu; who deftly dodged all ten boulders.

"Again!"

Another ring of rocks cascaded down from above, and Pikachu was again forced onto the defensive, managing to escape the last one by the breadth of a hair as it cracked the ground beside him.

By now, the battlefield was completely littered with the sharp stones dug into its dirt, making it more difficult for Pikachu to evade the attacks without worrying about running into one.

"He's got nowhere safe to go now. One more time!"

"Pikachu, try to move out of the way!"

"Golem!" With a roar, the rock and ground type Pokémon lifted his arms into the air and shot off the last batch of stones. They too went flying high in the air before beginning their descent upon the middle of the arena; where Pikachu stood, looking for a clear path to escape.

Ash was kicking himself for allowing this to happen. With all the Rock Blast debris, he should have known Gary was going to try and force Pikachu to stay in place.

_Think, think..._

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Counter-Shield!"

Immediately heeding the command, Pikachu jumped backward and fell on his back; emitting high doses of electrical power in all directions from beneath his frame as the boulders drew closer.

One by one, each stone crumbled the closer it got to the electric mouse as the voltage forced them to deteriorate. When the dust cleared a little, Pikachu stood back up; only some dirt-tinged fur to show for the merciless assault.

"Pretty impressive thinking," Gary conceded, gritting his teeth as he watched his own Pokémon labor in his breathing. He knew it was too late to recall Golem - not to mention too embarrassing with the type advantage he held.

However, he was running out of options.

_Earthquake didn't work. Rollout was ineffective. And now he can just zap the Rock Blasts out of the air before they touch him._

Though he didn't want to, it was quickly becoming clear what he'd have to do if he was to win this battle and maintain his lead.

"Golem, Rollout again!"

"Pikachu, head-on with an Iron Tail!"

Curling once more, the heavy Pokémon sped toward Pikachu; the rocks from his previous attack being punched into the ground like nails into wood as he hurriedly tried to make contact with his opponent.

At the same time, Pikachu ran as fast as he could around the various cracks, rifts, and boulders littering the field toward Golem while his tail glowed brighter by the second.

"Pika!"

"Golem!

The two met within a few seconds of the orders, and the second he was within reach, Pikachu pivoted off his right paw and clanged the much larger Pokémon with as much force as he could muster. At the same time, Golem resisted the urge to give up, and continued to press forward with his Rock type attack for as long as he could manage.

For a brief moment, it appeared neither side had the advantage - with Golem using all of his strength to power through, and Pikachu using all of his to stop the Ground Pokémon from running him over. Both stood still as the power of the attacks matched one another.

"C'mon Pikachu! Use the electricity in your tail!"

Remembering the move he'd used during his battle with Entei and Dragonite, Pikachu shot his trainer a grin and prepared to release a massive amount of electrical voltage through his appendage.

"Piiii-kaaaa-chuuuuuu!"

This finally gave him the advantage, as the lightning struck and weakened the Golem just enough to allow the Iron Tail to push him into a backwards roll.

"Pi...pi...pi," Pikachu took several slow, panting breaths.

"Golem, gol," the Rock type complained, standing up once more, but with much less determination and ferocity than minutes before. His rock-hard shell was scratched and, in some places, completely split or chipped, and his head, arms, and legs were all lined with cuts and bruises.

_Pikachu's just tired because of all the work he's had to do,_ Ash realized. Though little damage had been done, there was no doubt that his best friend had exhausted himself after all the attacks he'd been commanded.

Both trainers gave their Pokémon another moment to rest.

However, deciding it was time to finish the battle and tie up the record before Gary could retaliate, Ash hurried his friend's healing process along and gave Pikachu a subtle nod. "Quick Attack and then Iron Tail to finish it."

"Pi!" The mouse fell to all fours again; determined at the sight of the battle's nearing end.

"Chu-chu-chu," he declared, disappearing and reappearing in the blink of an eye; mimicking his style from the start of the fight as he fully exerted the energy he had left.

"Golem, wait for it," Gary ordered calmly.

Again, Ash found himself instantly worried at the tone of his opponent's voice. He knew Gary wouldn't allow the battle to end without a fight; but once more he realized there was little he could do. They had to take advantage of Golem's battered state to finish him - even if they were heading into a trap.

Pikachu suddenly reappeared in front of his opponent, his tail shining once again as he prepared to jump.

"Golem, Explosion!"

"Huh?"

Ash couldn't say or think anything else. There was no time to react, and even less to comprehend. Instead, he was forced to cover his eyes as a bright white light filled the upper battle room and the noise of a roaring attack rang through the ears of all present. All the while, a blazing heat singed Ash's hat and jacket, and forced him to cry out in pain as the fire engulfed his body.

* * *

Author's Notes: Long battle. That's all this is. So many of you have told me how much you loved the battle between Ash and Paul about twenty chapters ago, so I want y'all to know now that I put a lot of time and effort into making sure this chapter would meet your expectations. There's nothing worse than raising your readers' expectations to such a level that you fail to meet them in a following chapter, and I really hope you enjoyed the fighting thus far.

For those of you keeping count, we're almost exactly halfway through the battle, with both Ash and Gary down three Pokémon now. Let me warn you, though, it only gets tougher for our protagonist from here, so be ready for some twists and turns in the next chapter.

Also, the Ash and Paul battle that so many of you loved was actually only about 8,000 words, while this chapter alone was over 7,000, and I plan on the next chapter being about the same length, so yeah. I'm not saying longer chapters are better, but I do think that you Pokémon battle aficionados (such as myself) will probably appreciate a drawn-out battle like this after the lack of battles in the recent chapters.

Anyway, whether you liked it or not, as always, let me know in a REVIEW PLEASE! Any and all questions you pose in your reviews will be answered by me personally in the near future, so feel free to ask anything you like! (Except how the story ends, of course)

Well, that's it! Y'all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and I'll see you in 2012!


	54. The Rival Survival

Hey Everybody! Nope, I'm not dead…I don't think, though I can imagine you'd think so after over two months! Another hiatus, right? Sorry about that…the good news is that this was such a tough chapter to write that I ended up scrapping it and rewriting it several times. It's not like I forgot y'all or anything, though! I just had an absolutely terrible time writing this battle like I wanted it done!

Anyway, the chapter is up now, and I would really appreciate if you would show your support of my true return with a review – be it good or bad. I really want to have the next chapter up ON TIME Sunday after next, so be on the lookout for that. It promises to be much easier to write than this one.

Also, special thanks has to go here to my dedicated, best fan in the world, Pokemon-Princess.8. She's the one who wrote me and finally motivated me to quit stalling and actually finish this chapter! Also, she wrote the coolest commentary on the symbolism and happenings in chapter 51 – specifically the moment when Ash, Pikachu, and Charizard are on the pier together. When you've finished with this chapter, please read it! I've published it as one of my stories though it was really all her work! Leave your thoughts on what she's written and encourage her so she can continue to encourage me and continue to be one of my best friends!

Well, that's it for up here. Read and REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

Pikachu lay haggard by his master's feet. Ash looked across the field at his rival's smirk, and he felt the desire for victory grow even stronger within his heart. Golem's attack was successful, in so far as it took out his little electric type, but Gary was down another Pokémon too.

A noticeable smirk crossed his face now. _He hasn't even seen everything I've got yet_. He was outnumbered in Pokémon reserves, but Pikachu had successfully dismantled his Electivire and Golem, which was more than enough to bolster his confidence in the remainder of his team. His surety was growing by the second, and though he couldn't explain it, he somehow could feel Gary's slipping.

"You couldn't even take out my Pikachu with the type advantage?"

"Don't get too cocky Ashy. You still have a long way to go before you've even caught up with me - forget about actually winning this thing!"

His clothes were singed and torn at various places, as were Gary's, but beneath the layer of dirt and soot, both trainers could see where the other stood - where their confidence laid.

Ketchum glanced down once more at Pikachu and gave him a thumbs-up. "Watch this."

Pikachu returned the thumbs-up and a small smile before closing his tired eyes once more. Ash knew he'd be fine - though a trip to Nurse Joy was certainly in order when this was all said and done.

Reaching for his belt, Ash felt the cool metal of his second-to-last pokéball graze his forefinger. _Don't fail me now._

"Noctowl, let's go!"

"Time for action, Arcanine!"

In another dazzling shimmer, both creatures emerged on the field of battle; each immediately sizing up the opponent as a rash of golden stars continued to momentarily swirl around Ash's shining Pokémon.

"Extrasensory!"

"Flamethrower!"

Opening his beak as his eyes glowed, a swirl of light yellow and white psychic energy charged at Arcanine as the powerful blast of heated fury raced forward from the experienced dog Pokémon's jaw.

Meeting in the middle, both attacks seemed evenly matched as sparks flew in every direction from the point of contact.

"Get higher in the air!"

Quitting the attack, Noctowl flew closer to the domed roof, evading Arcanine's attack.

"Force him outta the sky! More Flamethrower!"

Fire continued to rain up from below as Arcanine upped the temperature on the battlefield considerably over the next few minutes. However, despite the enormous strength of the attack, Noctowl was simply proving too agile for the orange and black Pokémon.

"To your right! Now your left!" Ash gave orders from below, though he had the distinct feeling Noctowl would've done fine on his own. _This is his first battle in a while, though, and especially since his accident back at Giovanni's lab,_ he reasoned. He couldn't just let Noctowl do this alone – even if he was being more of a nuisance than helpful.

"Arcanine, keep up the good work! You've almost got him!"

With a low growl, the fire suddenly intensified as Arcanine put more strength into his Flamethrower.

"Noctowl, duck!"

The fire singed the back of his owl Pokémon as Noctowl dove for the ground to evade the fire type attack.

Gary's eyebrows shot up in excitement. "Now we have him! Flame Wheel!"

Noctowl was so close to the ground it took Arcanine little effort to match his height in the air as his body was engulfed in flames.

"Get higher!"

"Too late, Ash!"

Arcanine's spinning, fiery form came into immediate contact with his opponent, sending Noctowl hurtling to the ground.

"Flaming Take Down!"

The spinning quit, and Arcanine spread his form over Noctowl as the two hit the ground with a small "thud." The flying type's head barely protruded out from under his much heavier opponent.

"Pika!"

"Argh!" Ash mumbled in frustration. Gary had just been waiting for Noctowl to get closer to the ground. Arcanine was a much more physical Pokémon than was his normal type, and he knew he'd have the advantage if Noctowl would just get close enough.

Looking down at his pinned opponent as the flames continued to lick both their bodies, Arcanine's mouth glowed brightly as he prepared another Flamethrower.

Desperately, Ash reached for a last-second gamble.

"Hypnosis!"

Noctowl's eyes suddenly began to glow again – this time a deep maroon. The flames in Arcanine's jaw and around his body instantly dwindled as equally-maroon circles emanated from Ash's Pokémon's eyes and into his own. "Now try and get out!"

"Arcanine, wake the hell up!"

"C'mon Noctowl!"

Shimmying his body as much as he could, Noctowl managed to get both wings out from under his dazed - though awakening - opponent.

Gary was growing irate. "Finish him now! Don't let a cheap trick like that stop you!"

"Air Slash!"

With both wings free, Noctowl spread them wide, and then clapped them together hard; creating a blade of snow-white air that caused Arcanine to yelp in pain as he was thrown backwards and onto his back.

"Get back in the air!"

"After him!"

Noctowl quickly stood and began to head towards the ceiling again. Rolling over, Arcanine looked up and located his opponent. With a mighty bark, he hunched on his hind legs and then dove upward to meet Noctowl head-on.

Ash's eyes grew wide as he watched Noctowl barely dodge the incoming opponent. It had all happened too fast for him to process a counter, and as Arcanine almost floated in his majesty towards the field once more, the raven-haired trainer wanted to ask if the fire type was somehow part-flying as well.

"Pretty impressive, huh? We've been working on height for a while," Gary explained, reveling in Ash's look of astonishment. "Arcanine are famous for their ability to almost fly in China, you know."

"Why didn't you show off this little skill earlier?" Ash asked, folding his arms as Noctowl barely dodged another graceful leap. He was getting tired of being on the defensive so often.

Gary shrugged. "We both know a good trainer doesn't reveal all his tricks at once. Besides, I didn't even know if he was ready to put our practice to use yet…but I guess he is!"

"Noctowl!" Ash cried as his own Pokémon screeched in pain as Arcanine caught a brief snag on his right leg. He could see the open cut where a little blood was beginning to run. "Watch out and wait for my order!"

When Arcanine turned around and began to leap once more, Ash made his move. "Extrasensory, now!"

Mid-jump, Arcanine was forced onto his back once more at the force of the psychic attack. "Now follow up with another Air Slash!"

Bringing his large wings together once more, Arcanine yelped as his body was forced further into the dirt by the air attack.

With Noctowl's weak defenses and the amount of damage inflicted upon Arcanine, Ash realized the two were almost even, though neither seemed ready to relent just yet.

Rolling back over once more, Arcanine barked repeatedly upward towards Ash's partner.

"Flamethrower!"

"Extrasensory!"

The two attacks met midway again, and soon a dense cloud of sparks surrounded their combined strength.

"Jump at him again!"

Ditching the fire attack, Arcanine leapt from his stationary location on the field and over Noctowl's Extrasensory to get within jaw's length of the flying type.

"Thunder Fang!"

"Huh?" Ash was once more left with no time to react as Arcanine's teeth suddenly sparked and filled the entire room with a bright yellow luminescence.

Noctowl cried out in pain as the two came down together; Arcanine's teeth firmly dug into the flying creature's abdomen. Waves of electric energy pulsed through Ash's Pokémon as he continued to cry out for help.

Suddenly, Ash had another flashback: Noctowl getting electrocuted for his sake.

He grit his teeth. His mind instantly went back to that place – to that warehouse. He wanted to quit…he wanted to pull Noctowl back in a beam of red light, but his determination stopped him. He'd come all this way in the battle, and the same feeling he'd had earlier with Squirtle began to wash him anew.

_I can't allow Gary to win this. I can't let him think he's better than us. I can't let Noctowl down after all he's done for me this battle._

…

_I can't let this happen!_

"Confusion!"

The crest atop Noctowl's head immediately began to glow as he continued his moaning. After another gut-wrenching moment, Arcanine dropped the bird without warning and began to bark incessantly as his pupils dilated. Gary instantly recognized that look, and grimaced as a shot at victory was suddenly pulled from his grasp by another cheap trick.

"Arcanine, snap outta it!"

It didn't help though. Arcanine began running back and forth; spewing flames and tripping all along the way. As the fire type dealt with his terrible confusion wrought by the weak psychic attack, Noctowl remained on the ground, barely moving.

Relieved that he'd at least stopped the attack before it could continue, Ash reached for the bird Pokémon's pokéball. "You did a good-"

Before he could finish, Noctowl slowly used his wings to lift his chest off the ground.

"Noctowl," Ash muttered. He saw the same drive he'd felt himself only moments before light within his own Pokémon's eyes. They were both ready to fight again.

"Alright, Noctowl. I know you're tired, but try getting in the air again!"

Flapping his wings slowly, the flying type eventually took flight. Arcanine was still wrestling with his own demons below, giving Noctowl a few moments of recuperation in the air. Ash noticed more blood dripping from Noctowl's chest, though it was only a small trickle.

_I need to keep an eye on that. If the wound grows, I'll have to get him outta this whether he wants to or not._

"Noctowl, let's try to finish this quickly. When Arcanine is turned away, drive him into the ground with a Sky Attack!"

Ash had no problem with letting Gary hear his plans now that he had no control over his own Pokémon. With Arcanine still crying out in confusion, Ash knew he had plenty of time before his opponent would be able to make any move.

Noctowl chirped in response; watching his opponent run himself haggard across the dusty landscape as he prepared for what would hopefully be the final assault of the battle.

After several moments of anticipation, with Gary crying out for Arcanine to regain his senses, and Ash waiting with bated breath for his Noctowl to make his move, the time finally came. Arcanine turned around once again, and with a deep breath, Noctowl's entire body began to glow a bright white light.

The bird Pokémon spread his wings wide and in less than a second swooped down upon his helpless opponent; crashing into his spine and forcing him deep into the ground once more – the entire time Arcanine barking and yelping in pain and self-pity.

The glow beginning to die off, Noctowl backed off his opponent, hovering from a safe distance above once again as all eyes remained glued to Arcanine's haggard figure in the middle of the field. The fire type's breathing sounded labored, and his right eye appeared glued shut, but to everyone's surprise, he slowly began to stand again, turning around to look up and face Noctowl's flying form.

"I-I can't believe it," Ash muttered.

"Pikachu," his Pokémon agreed solemnly. It was not looking good for his flying friend.

"Alright, Arcanine!" Gary whooped from the sideline. "Finish this with a Flame-!"

He was cut short, though, by the sound of his Pokémon suddenly falling back toward the ground once more. With a final wimper of exhaustion, Arcanine closed his left eye and appeared to completely pass out.

"…oh." Gary's face turned red as he reached for the fire Pokémon's capsule and returned him. "I guess you weren't as healthy as I thought."

Latching the ball back to his belt, Gary himself felt the flow of momentum drift ever-so-subtly to Ash's side of the field. The feeling began with Golem's Explosion, but now it was starting to grow more intense.

_Almost like this is inevitable…but how?_

He looked across the field and saw his childhood rival smiling back with a knowing glimmer.

_That's it!_

Ash had something he hadn't before the battle had begun; he'd suddenly become sure of himself. And now Gary could feel that confidence radiating all the way on this side of the field.

_Well if he's confident, then I've gotta be too!_

"Skarmory, take him out!"

In a flash, the steel bird screeched and burst forth; charging head first directly into Noctowl.

"Noctowl!" Ash cried as his Pokémon groaned and hit the ground once more. "Get up, quick!"

Turning over, Noctowl flapped hard and became airborne less than a second before Skarmory rammed her head into the dirt where he laid just a moment before. Fluttering with all the strength he could muster, Noctowl managed a reasonable ten feet by the time Skarmory turned around and recovered from the missed hit.

"Get back in the air!" Gary pointed towards Noctowl. "Finish this!"

With a strong movement, the steel type was back up and flying – soaring directly for Ash's Pokémon.

"Dodge it!"

Prepared this time, Noctowl easily dodged the rather slow flying type.

_All that steel armor slows her down_, Ash realized happily. _We should have no problem wearing her out!_

"Agility!"

"Huh?"

Skarmory seemed to suddenly disappear and then reappear behind the confused owl Pokémon.

"Behind you, Noctowl!"

"Pika!"

"Steel Wing!"

With a resounding clang, Skarmory brought his glowing fist down on Noctowl's head, forcing the bird Pokémon into the dirt once more.

Ash gave an exasperated groan. Noctowl wasn't going anywhere in this battle, and his stubbornness as he got up from the dirt once more was almost angering. Ash just wanted to take him out, but he knew the bird wouldn't let him take him out yet.

"Noctowl, just give up!" he called to his friend. "I don't need you getting hurt again!"

Noctowl gave Ash a hoot and a sharp look in return. Confused, Ash wondered why he'd just been given the Evil Eye by his own Pokémon as the bird soared once more.

_No time to think about that, though_, Ash realized as Skarmory came close to swiping Noctowl again. _That Agility really sped up his moves_.

"Keep dodging, and use a Confusion!"

The crest glowed again as Noctowl ducked a silver wing. A light psychic attack pushed Skarmory back a few feet, but the metal bird was barely fazed as his wings both began swiping once more at Ash's Pokémon.

"Don't tell me you don't remember psychic attacks are weak on steel!" Gary mocked.

Ash gave the trainer a dirty look, but was a little embarrassed. There was nothing Noctowl could do that would actually hurt Skarymory between his normal and psychic attacks.

_Unless…_

"Noctowl, Hypnosis!"

The owl's eyes grew large again and red circles radiated forth at the cawing silver opponent.

"Metal Sound!"

Opening her beak as widely as she could, Skarmory unleashed a hellish grating noise from deep within her diaphragm. The glass ceiling began to crack and split as the noise permeated every level of the gym. Noctowl's Hypnosis came to a short end as he backed far away from his foe.

Covering his ears, Ash tried to think quickly.

"Sky Attack!"

"Steel Wing!"

Glowing, Noctowl backed up a little more and then charged forward. Waiting for just the right moment, Skarmory's wings sparkled once more and the two attacks met head-on.

"Noctowl!"

The Sky Attack wasn't penetrating the steel-strength of Skarmory's wings as the two attacks met mid-way.

"Don't give up Skarmory! Keep pushing back!"

"You've got her, Noctowl! Don't stop now!"

Noctowl's glowing figure continued to blaze as Skarmory struggled to stay airborne using only one wing while the other continued to blaze against Ash's friend.

For a few moments, it seemed as if the struggle wasn't going to end. Neither side seemed to be giving in…at least, they didn't seem to be initially.

With another groan, the white light surrounding Noctowl slowly began to dissipate, and Ash's fears were quickly realized as the glow completely faded from his fatigued partner's form.

"Steel Wing!"

With a final clang, Skarmory knocked her rival out of the air once and for all. Noctowl fell towards the ground, and Ash ran over to catch him. The bird cooed haggardly in his arms as the raven-haired trainer examined all the cuts and bald spots the creature had taken throughout the battle's duration.

"Ow!" Something had just cut his cheek, and feeling, he realized he was bleeding slightly.

"Uh-oh," Gary muttered. "It looks like the glass is falling apart here.'

Ash looked up and noted his rival was right. The Metal Sound attack had done a big number on the domed overhead. Little pieces of glass were slowly drifting down – appearing almost like white snow as the sunlight reflected off each piece.

"Do you think we should quit for now?" he asked Ash from across the field. "I don't know how stable the ceiling is anymore, and that glass is pretty thick."

Ash smirked. "You're not trying to get out of our battle, are you Gary?"

Gary's eyes went wide, incensed. "What? You've gotta be kidding me! I have you on the ropes Ashy-boy! If you're okay with staying, then so am I!"

"I'm not ready to leave yet," Ash agreed, reaching for Noctowl's pokéball and returning him. "Not long ago I was looking down the barrel of a gun…a little glass isn't gonna scare me away from winning now!"

"That sounds like the Ash I know," Gary answered – his tone and smile surprisingly sincere. "Then let's finish this battle here and now! Me and Skarmory are ready for whatever you've got!"

Ash's smile suddenly became real too. Gary had done it; he was out of his funk. The thrill of battling was coursing through every vein and the excitement of the unexpected was making his heart race.

"I don't think you really are, Gary. My team has something to prove today – not just that they can win, but that they can move on."

"Move on?"

"Every Pokémon on my team knew Heracross or Venusaur personally. I wanted to use them today because I knew they needed to prove to themselves that they still had the fight in them that they've always had. When we lost our friends, I didn't think I could keep battling, and when I agreed to this fight, I realized that if I wasn't careful my Pokémon might start feeling the same way. We've all been so depressed lately, a battle sounded like just the right thing to remind us of how strong we really are and help us move forward after everything that went down with Giovanni."

Gary's smile grew bigger. "I'll give you this, Ashy; you're a good friend."

Ash became a little red. "Thanks, Gary. Don't think that means I'm going easy on you!"

"I said you're a good friend, didn't I? What kinda friend wouldn't give it his all in a Pokémon battle?" Gary's smirk returned. "Not that I need you to go easy, anyway. Now show me what you've got!"

"Right!"

Hurling his last pokéball high, Ash unleashed his final friend.

"Charizard, time to wrap this battle up!"

With a roar, Charizard unleashed several strong Flamethrowers before looking across the field at his new victim. A flash of pure confidence spread across the fire type's face as he took a step forward – Skarymory subconsciously moving back a little simultaneously.

"A fire type, huh? Lucky he's your last one, I guess."

"Not luck, Gary…strategy. Save the strongest for the end!"

"We'll see about that. Metal Sound!"

More glass fell all around as the screeching bird forced Charizard to cover his ears.

"Flamethrower!"

Without hesitation, a stream of fire burst forth and drowned out the bird's noise as she was engulfed in the flames.

"Skarmory!" Gary cried as he was singed by the extreme heat blazing before his eyes. He was lucky Charizard had restraint, or else, he realized, he would have been consumed there on the spot. The fire had to be burning at least a couple hundred degrees.

As the attack died down – at Ash's command – the steel bird was shown to be completely smoldered, lying in the dirt still.

"Is-is she okay?" Ash asked as Gary ran up to his Pokémon. The raven-haired trainer felt bad for unleashing so much power. Charizard looked a little guilty too after the fact.

Leaning down, Gary seemed to check the vitals of his fighting partner before standing up and returning her to her pokéball. "She'll be fine. You really scorched us, though. I didn't know your Charizard had such strength…he looks even stronger than just a few months ago against Paul."

"Well he's been training hard in the Charicific Valley," Ash boasted. "He's not exactly lazing around all day in a pokéball."

"I shoulda figured you didn't train him to be that strong," Gary teased, reaching for his final fighter. "Besides, you had the type advantage, so it's not something to be too proud of."

"I'm always proud of my Pokémon. Now let's see if you followed my strategy and save the best for last yourself!"

"I'm the one who came up with that strategy!" the brunette boasted, throwing his last pokéball forward. "But yes, I did! Come out Gallade!"

Standing stoically, the lean psychic and fighting type looked across the field at his opponent with a slight frown. He didn't appear fazed by Charizard's size or strength, but rather seemed to be trying to read his opponent's mind.

"Charizard, we have the type advantage again," Ash warned from behind. "So start the battle with an Air Slash this time!"

Spreading his wings wide, Charizard quickly closed them together, creating a slice of silver air which rushed across the field. Ash smiled confidently, but suddenly dropped it when he realized Gallade was no longer standing where he was before.

Looking around, Ash was surprised to look up and see Gallade hanging from one of the bars connecting the cracked glass panels to each other.

_How'd he get up there?_

Without a sound, the fighting type released the bar and shoved off against the glass with his sword-like elbows pointed towards Charizard.

"Flamethrower!"

Charizard shot another blast of fire towards the incoming opponent, but was shocked as he disappeared once again, this time appearing behind the flying and fire type.

"Look out! He's behind you!"

Charizard turned just as the right bladed arm sliced his right wing hard, causing a trickle of blood to spill down the orange scales as he cried in pain.

"Steel Wing!"

As Gallade went in for another cut, Charizard's wings began to glow, and the sword-arm bounced off their metallic frame.

"Flamethrower!"

The flames barely missing Ash himself, Gallade teleported once again to dodge the attack. Anticipating his next move, Charizard's fist brewed a dark aura as he turned and slashed Gallade across the chest with a Dragon Claw.

Ash pumped his fist as the psychic type flipped backward to avoid more damage.

The celebration was cut short though when he disappeared again, this time leaving Ash completely confused as he looked all around the field for his opponent.

_Why isn't Gary giving any commands, either?_ he wondered – caught off guard as Charizard was suddenly toppled.

Jumping down from directly over Ash, Gallade seemed to be using a Psycho Cut attack to add more strength to his slicing attacks as he pressed Charizard deep into the ground.

"Fire Blast!"

He disappeared as the strong fire attack flew towards his face. Charizard instantly leapt back to his feet, but much like his master, he was completely confused at his opponent's silence. The psychic and fighting type hadn't made as much as a grunt other than a slight one when hit by the Dragon Claw, and his master wasn't giving away their strategy, as he remained silent.

"It's weird, Charizard," Ash conceded, "but just keep your eyes and ears open. He's quiet, but we can catch him."

Charizard replied with a growl. His ears perked as his eyes scanned the battlefield. Ash took this time to ensure the psychic type wasn't hanging around the ceiling again.

"There he is!"

Another Flamethrower shot out and filleted the window where the fighting type had been hanging.

"He dodged again?" Ash shouted in frustration. "Wait, no!"

Charizard had instinctively turned around and tried to slash at his opponent with another Dragon Claw, expecting that Gallade was hiding behind him once more after disappearing, but this time the psychic Pokémon seemed to foresee the dragon's strategy and was instead standing directly before him.

The sword appendages began to glow light pink as another Psycho Cut sliced across Charizard's chest and sent him flying backwards towards Ash.

"C'mon, Charizard. Get up!" Ash commanded as his flying type slowly stood again. They'd taken two big hits in a row without returning fire, and Ash was quickly growing agitated with Gary's strategy.

"Well, if he isn't telling Gallade what to do, then they must have had a strategy already made before the battle. All we need to do is throw them a curveball then, Charizard. Try another Flamethrower."

However, as Charizard prepared another blast, Ash suddenly ordered a halt to it with a quick and forceful "Stop!"

"Now we've got him!" Ash pointed to the ceiling. Because Charizard wasn't already mid-attack, he refocused his aim and took a quick shot at the psychic type before Gallade could escape unscathed.

"No, wait!" Gary shouted, but it was too late.

"Great work, Charizard!"

As the fire attack died down, Ash was unsurprised to find that the psychic Pokémon had disappeared once more.

_But this time we got him!_ The pattern was actually fairly simple. Gallade would dodge the attack, and then teleport right behind or in front of his opponent for a strong physical attack. He almost had to wonder why Gary would try such an easy-to-interpret strategy.

"Wait, where is he?" Ash suddenly asked. He hadn't noticed immediately, but Gallade wasn't following the pattern of sneaking up for a close hit again.

Before either could respond, Charizard was covered in a light yellow light.

_A Thunderbolt?_

Gallade was back on his side of the battlefield, unleashing the rather weak-looking electric attack. Nevertheless, Ash could see Charizard flinching in pain as the electricity coursed through his body.

"Flamethrower!"

Gallade disappeared.

"Crap!"

Another Thunderbolt appeared as Gallade reemerged just a little to the right of his original position, causing Ash to grit his teeth in frustration. Gary was mocking him; this clearly wasn't some simple pattern of attack.

_Then how does he know what to do?_

Following up his electric attack, the Gallade began charging towards Charizard with amazing speed as his arms glowed once more.

"Charizard, it's time to take this to the air!"

With another flap of his large wings, Charizard sped off into the air. Ash noticed that the glass shards were still dripping down, and he wondered if the ringing in his ears was ever going to go away as another cut appeared on his arm.

Gallade tried to stay close to Charizard, following him on the bars lining the ceiling, but it was clear the psychic type was struggling to keep up now that his opponent had taken to the air.

Ash was glad that at least _this _theory was right. He knew Gallade was a more physically oriented Pokémon naturally, and when he saw the little damage the Thunderbolt had done earlier in spite of the type advantage, he realized Gary hadn't especially trained the fighter for long-range combat.

"Keep him far away, Charizard!" he warned as the Gallade swung from one bar to another, shooting off another weak shot of electricity that seemed to barely phase his fire type.

"Get far away and then Flamethrower!"

Charizard took a sudden nosedive, landing and looking up. With a roar, he unleashed another fiery wave of fury upon his opponent above. Though the psychic type managed to teleport again, he was once more struck by the attack before doing so.

_We just have to keep getting in those little hits._ By now, Ash had another realization. With Gallade's ability to teleport so frequently without wearing down, he must have been especially strong in his psychic abilities. _Gary must be communicating with him through his thoughts!_

It also explained how he was so ready for Charizard's attacks. Psychic Pokémon were notorious for their ability to read opponents' minds before an attack came.

_Which is how they make up for a weak physical defense,_ Ash noted. He was sure that Dragon Claw did more damage than any of Charizard's Flamethrowers. After all, psychic types usually had a lot more special attack stamina. _But if we get too close, then he's able to use his stronger physical attacks too!_

This was difficult. As Charizard took back to the air and dodged various attacks –firing back at random with his own firepower – Ash considered their situation. If this were a regular psychic Pokémon, like a Kadabra, he could just get Charizard close and have him hack away with Steel Wing and Dragon Claw.

But this particular psychic Pokémon was by far stronger on the physical front than on the special, and if Charizard got too close trying to take advantage of a weak defense, he'd have to worry about leaving weak spots open.

_The risk may have to be taken, though,_ he realized sadly. Charizard would have to take some damage, but at the rate the battle was progressing, neither side would win…they'd both just collapse from exhaustion eventually.

Still, though, he didn't savor the idea of intentionally putting Charizard – or any of his Pokémon for that matter – in harm's way, and he decided to let the little game of cat and mouse progress for a few more minutes between the two in the air. He hoped he could at least wear down Gallade's psychic powers a little more by making him teleport around some more before putting his new plan into action.

After about five minutes had passed, he knew things weren't going to change, and with a sigh he gave a new order to Charizard.

"Dragon Claw!"

Gallade was back on the ground, firing off weak Thunderbolts whenever the opportunity arose, and initially he and Gary both were thrown off by the new order. Without time to react, Gallade took the dragon type attack directly to the chest once more as Charizard dove towards him in the blink of an eye.

However, the psychic type was soon back on his feet, staring down his now-grounded opponent. A split in one of the windows above suddenly emanated a loud crack as half of the large glass fell to the ground behind Charizard – causing the ground to shake with its contact as it shattered into a million smaller pieces. However, not a single eye flicked to the scene as all attention remained on the battle at hand.

"Do it again, Charizard!"

"Psycho Cut!" Gary countered, apparently dropping the telepathic line between himself and his partner for a moment.

"Both claws!"

The two met halfway and started combating one another fist-to-fist – Gallade's pink bladed arms against Charizard's dark purple, almost black, claws. Each Pokémon released respective grunts and moans as the battle went back and forth on the ground.

After a few minutes, though, Gallade suddenly changed tactic once more and disappeared, reappearing behind the fire type. Taking a slash at Charizard from behind once again, Ash was even surprised by his Pokémon's response time, as Charizard's wings grew bright in a defensive Steel Wing. The Psycho Cuts were completely ineffective as they slashed against the hardened appendages.

"Fly behind him!"

Without turning, Charizard used his wings to do a backward somersault, catching Gallade off-guard.

"Steel Wing!"

Now behind the psychic type, Charizard used the slight disorientation to his advantage as his wing glowed. Thrusting it forward, he "clang"ed Gallade back several feet. This time, the psychic Pokémon did not jump right back up.

"Flamethrower!"

With a roar, Charizard followed up the Steel Wing with a strong breath of fire; again taking advantage of his opponent's confusion to blast him. As the attack ended, Gallade teleported back to his side of the field, but Ash knew he'd taken serious damage from the Steel Wing and even a little from the fire type attack.

"Go to him!"

"Thunderbolt!" ordered Gary; again dropping the psychic communication. The telekinetic connection Gary shared with his Pokémon seemed to grow weaker when he grew distressed.

_Let's take advantage of that._

"Don't let it stop you Charizard!" Ash warned as the electric attack caused his Pokémon to groan a little under the pressure. He continued to move forward; albeit flying a little slower than before across the battlefield. "You're almost at him!"

"Teleport away!"

As Charizard grew close, Gallade suddenly popped up on Ash's side of the field, now behind Charizard.

"Thunderbolt again!"

"Dodge, Charizard!"

Ash's fists tightened. "We're back where we were at before," he realized to his own dismay. Dodging attacks and providing weak special blows wasn't going to do anything except wear Charizard down, but Gary seemed intent on picking it back up after seeing Charizard overpower Gallade hand-to-hand.

_I have to get Charizard close again to finish him. If we could just get a few quick shots, this would already be over!_

"Keep dodging and use Flamethrower!" Ash ordered, buying time. He needed to think, and it was impossible to do so as long as his attention was focused on giving continual orders to Charizard.

_There's no way we can just go in for another direct attack…_

He snapped his fingers. That was it!

"Forget Flamethrower! Air Slash!"

Turning around mid-air, Charizard charged a large slice of silver wind directly into Gallade; pushing him into another one of the windows, and causing the glass to shatter as it came into contact with his back.

"Gallade, Teleport!" However, the psychic Pokémon fell along with the massive shards of glass back towards the battlefield without moving, giving Ash reason to smile.

_The Air Slash was super-effective. It did enough damage to slow him down._

"Follow it up with a Dragon Claw!"

Turning and making another dive towards the earth, Charizard's claws and wings began to glow once more. Within the blink of an eye, he tore across Gallade's heaving chest with a sharpened Dragon Claw; forcing the psychic type to tumble sideways several feet. Following him, Charizard turned on his side and flew directly into Gallade's back. His metallic right wing forced the Pokémon to let out a sharp "Lade!" as he flew out of the battlefield and hit the sidewall to the arena.

"Gallade, get up!"

"Charizard, get ready in case he does!"

For a few short moments, all was still within the room as everyone waited to see if the psychic type would try for yet another stoic comeback as had become almost common throughout the battle. However, after the brief moment had passed, Ash breathed a sigh of relief, and Gary broken-heartedly reached for his Pokémon's capsule.

_We did it_, he realized, quietly amazed. It almost hadn't really sunk in yet. Going into this battle he'd been filled with so much dread and worry. He felt only sure that he was there –nothing more. He didn't know if he would win or even last the entire battle.

Yet here he was.

It was intense. He was bleeding, as were many of his Pokémon, and he was completely covered in dirt, soot, and water from head to foot due to the various attacks that had taken place over the course of the last couple of hours, but here he was.

_We did it._

He looked down at Pikachu with the largest smile the small mouse Pokémon could remember his master ever wearing. He looked even happier than he did after they had defeated Cynthia together.

"We did it!" he cried happily; picking up the small mouse and throwing him in the air joyfully as Charizard rushed to his side. The dragon bowed his head as Ash caught Pikachu and pet his loyal companion. "And you don't even look exhausted yet, Charizard."

With a bellow, Charizard released a strong Fire Blast into the air, verifying his master's claim. He was proud of how much strength he had left to give if the need had arisen.

"You did a good job," Gary sullenly admitted, sticking out his right hand for a shake. Despite his somber tone, Ash noticed that there was still the slightest tinge of a smile noticeable on his lips.

Without a word, Ash understood how he felt, and quickly grabbed ahold of his hand, shaking it firmly.

"So did you. Thanks…for everything."

"What're rivals for?"

"What're friends for is the right question."

Ash gave his old nemesis a grin as they released each other from their respective grip.

Looking around Ash's smile suddenly grew wide as his cheeks turned a little red. "Uh, sorry about the whole destroying your gym battlefield thing though."

The floor was now littered with broken glass, jagged rocks, burn marks, huge holes, and the entire ceiling looked like it was on the verge of collapsing inward.

"Nah, don't worry about it. A gym leader dreams about having a battle so epic it wrecks his gym…except I usually dream about winning it when it's all over."

"Well, you came close."

Gary narrowed his eyes. "Don't patronize me, Ashy-boy. You weren't even using your best out there, and you still beat me. Your Charizard looks like he could go another three rounds before giving up."

Ash pet his dragon again. "Well, you're probably right about that, but it was still really close, and a good battle."

"Well, the sad news is that I've gotten rusty after all these years. Though I hate to admit it, you _are_ a champion and everything, so I should probably have been a little more prepared for this battle. I just figured you wouldn't be any more difficult than when we were kids.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I think we've both come far from where we used to be. That Metal Sound attack was something else."

"It did quite a bit to my windows. These are all actually insulated solar panels, so they're even tougher to crack than regular glass. Nice strategy getting Blastoise on his back, by the way."

"Thanks. Nice trick with the telekinetic powers between you and Gallade."

"Oh, you figured it out, huh?"

Ash shook his head. "It took me a few minutes, but yeah it became pretty obvious something was going on."

"Well, I've actually been practicing with Sabrina. She had a ghost problem at her gym like a year ago, and after I went to help her out, she gave me some lessons on utilizing Gallade's psychic powers with my own. I'm nowhere near as good as she is, but it is a pretty cool strategy. Since this is a ground gym, I never really get to try it out on other trainers, but I was glad to see it worked so well."

"Uh-huh."

An awkward silence fell between the two trainers. It was nice trading compliments and all, but at the end of the day they had still been rivals most of their lives, and the civility could only last so long.

"So I guess we should get outta here before the walls crumble."

Ash agreed. "Good idea."

Jumping back onto the platform elevator in the center of the battlefield, the two slowly descended back into Gary's room and office. As they went down, Ash withdrew Charizard and put Pikachu back on his shoulder.

* * *

Author's Notes: I hope y'all liked it! It was by far the longest battle I've ever written for this story, so that should at least somewhat make up for my absence. I think the entire affair was fairly accurate – after all, with Ash being an ex-champion, it's not hard to believe that Charizard wouldn't have much trouble taking out Gary's group. And the only real reason it came so close to begin with was because Ash wanted to include the Pokémon that had known Heracross and Venusaur personally. However, if you disagree, leave me a review and let me know!

Alright, until Sunday after next, Later Days!


	55. A Hand Out

**Hey Everybody!**

I'M BACK!

I could go into the melodrama that is my life and try to give you a reason for my seven-month hiatus, but I won't. I know that's not your concern, and what you really want to do is READ AND REVIEW MY STORY! YAY!

Believe me though when I say I desperately needed a break from this story to focus on some personal issues going on at home. I am so sorry to all of my loyal readers out there who thought they'd never hear from me again. I want y'all to know I read all of your reviews and private messages and was so touched by all of them. I admit I was too chicken to write back to many of you because of the guilt of having just ditched you guys like I did, but you guys and gals really have been - and are - my motivation for getting back into gear and getting this story wrapped up!

Believe it or not, sadly, I've had this chapter done for about a month. However, I'm not afraid to tell y'all that after being out of the game so long, I've been hesitant to post again. The good news is in this time I've already finished the chapter after this one, so at least you're guaranteed a new chapter in two weeks and on time! Finally, something goes right for my fans, huh?

Also, before you read, I want everyone to know the **MOST AWESOME THING IN THE HISTORY OF FANFICTION** happened over the summer! My longtime fan and friend on this site, Pokémon-Princess.8, actually flew across the ocean and came to Texas to visit me for a week over the summer! It was the first time we'd ever met in person, and honestly it was the highlight of my entire break. I took her across Texas showing her the great sites, and – of course – every night we'd crash and play Pokémon Stadiums 1 and 2 on my Nintendo 64! I won a lot, but, unfortunately, she beat me in our Eeveelutions only battle, so I can't say it was a total victory for my side. To summarize our week: we had BBQ, saw the state capital, drank, went swimming, saw the Alamo, discussed pokéshipping to an embarrassing degree, and even watched my Indigo Plateau DVD! We were total dorks, and it was truly amazing.

As a note: I am NOT endorsing meeting people in person that you meet over the internet. Me and PP8 have a long, storied friendship that spans a long time over this site, but we were friends with each other on Facebook and Skype for two years before we finally decided to meet in person. Always be very careful when doing anything like that, and if you're not an adult like us, please, please, please don't do it at all. There's a lot of weirdos out there, and you can get in trouble!

Anyway, that's enough about me. Let's get on with the show. When you finish, REVIEW PLEASE!

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Pokemon, or any of its affiliated companies including, but not limited to, 4Kids, The Pokemon Company, Game Freaks, or Cartoon Network. The characters written within this fic are soley based upon the fictional characters created by these companies, and the story is not meant to, nor will it, receive any monetary funding.

**Characters' Ages:**

Ash: 17

Brock: 22

Misty: 18

Delia: 41

Oak: 56

* * *

The distant ring of a far-off siren began to buzz. As the elevator made its landing in Gary's office, the annoying bell was at full decibel strength, causing the exhausted combatants and Pikachu to cover their ears in a grimace.

"What's going on?!" Ash shouted above the noise.

"What?"

"I said, 'What's going on?!''

"The alarm's going off for some reason! There must be something wrong with the gym!"

In the past, Ash would have immediately suspected Team Rocket's involvement. However, for the first time in a long time, he realized it couldn't be.

"Do you think we should get outta here?"

Gary nodded. "Probably for the best."

The two descended further down the elevator and made a sprint for the front doors. Outside, about a hundred trainers stood, watching as the gym rumbled in noise and flashing lights.

"What's happening? Did someone pull the structure alarm?" Gary asked; running over to his receptionist who was taking a head count.

She looked up from her tablet and shook her head. "Sir, it went off on its own after the dome suffered major damage." She pointed above his head to the top of the rounded gym building. The glass covering the upper-portion was completely shattered in thousands of small cracks.

"What happened up there?" Misty asked, rushing to Ash's aid. "We were worried sick about you two, but there was no way to get your attention from the office!"

"Heh," Ash half-laughed, putting a hand behind his head. "Sorry to worry you guys. We were just battling, and it got a little…intense."

"A little?" Brock asked – a bemused smile on his lips. "If it'd been any more intense, I think we'd all be dead!"

"And what happened to you?" Misty asked, noticing the several small lacerations lining her boyfriend's face and arms. "You're all bloody! And your clothes are so dirty!"

"Misty, why do you sound so surprised?" Brock interjected. "It was _our_ Ash in a battle, after all. This is kinda tame compared to how he's looked after some of his battles."

Misty's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wait, he's right…you do look like you just battled. Which means…"

To Ash's surprise, she suddenly grabbed both his arms and pulled him close – her eyes meeting his directly in an intense gaze. "Did you actually battle?"

"Well, seeing as how the gym's destroyed as well as my clothes, what do you think?" he joked.

Her grip tightened. "But did you, you know, finish the job?" She nodded in Gary's direction. "Were you able to finish the battle, or was it…too much?" Her voice went soft, as if she were afraid mentioning Ash's behavior over the last few days would retrigger his emotion.

To her relief, though, his features softened considerably at the question. "Well, you couldn't call it much of a battle – you know, since I'm the future Master and all – but yeah, I finished it…and won!"

A victorious grin crossed his face as he gave his friends a fingered "V."

"It was no problem, was it Pikachu?" He grabbed the mouse Pokémon's head under his right hand and rubbed it vigorously.

"Pika!" Pikachu mustered, still exhausted, but wanting to put up as good a show as his master. "Pikachu-pika-pikachu!"

"He says it went great!"

Brock and Misty flashed each other an exaggerated look of annoyance.

"Yeah, that's definitely our Ash, alright," Brock sighed.

"Yep. Eager as ever to show off…"

"Oh come on, you guys. I think we deserve it, don't you?" Ash gave his friends the biggest smile they'd seen from him in weeks, and neither could find it within themselves to deny him his moment.

Misty sighed. "Well, I guess this _one time_ you can be a little cocky."

"Yeah," Brock agreed. "I mean, after you finish capturing your remaining Pokémon, this means all that's left is your battle with Red! You're almost done with this little adventure of yours!"

"Little? I've almost died like a bazillion times now!"

The two continued talking, everyone enjoying the lighted mood after the extended drama over the past several days. Even with Ash's physical appearance in tatters, there was no doubt to his friends that his spirit was in better form than they'd seen it in quite some time.

"Hey guys, sorry about all that-" Gary started, heading towards them. He was cut off by the excited and boisterous sound of hundreds of pounds of glass suddenly shattering in unison overhead.

Looking up, all the trainers watched as the top of the dome began to fall in on itself. The weakened structure within was no longer able to support the heavy window frames, allowing the glass platelets to fall in much larger chunks inward on the battle ground and at a much higher rate.

As the last of the glass shattered downward after a minute of full self-destruction, Gary looked sheepishly back at his secretary. "Uh, we may need to call the League about repairs."

"Yes, sir. I'll get on the phone with them right away."

He turned back to Ash and the others, who were still looking at the now-metal frame where the top of the dome once stood. "Well, er, that was unexpected. The League's really gonna tear me a new one over this."

"Just tell them it happened for our match," Ash answered, giving his rival a grin. "They'd understand if they knew it was a Champion battle."

"Two problems with that. One: you're not a Champion right now, so that wasn't an official League match. And two: even if it were, you've never dealt with the Kanto Pokémon League's accounting department before, have you? Those pencil-pushers are harder to squeeze a penny out of than blood from a Geodude."

Ash stayed quiet for a moment, thinking over his friend's predicament. An idea emerging, he snapped his fingers excitedly. "I've got it! Why don't I just give you the money? I already have too much of it to know what to do with."

"That'd be a great idea, Ash," Misty countered, poking her boyfriend's shoulder, "if the League hadn't just sent you that letter saying they've frozen all your assets for contract breach. You're broke unless you're reinstated."

Ash's cheeks went red. "Uh, oh yeah…" He laughed nervously and closed his eyes. "I guess I don't have quite as much on me as I thought I did."

Gary sighed. "Oh well. They'll either have to give me a new dome top or fire me. One or the other, right?"

"You don't seem too worried," Brock noted.

"I'm not, really. I mean, being a gym leader's fun, but it's not like being a trainer. When you're a trainer, you can travel and use whatever Pokémon you want. When you're a leader, you're stuck in a building, focusing exclusively on one type. It gets really old, fast."

"Have you though about quitting?" Misty asked.

"After this stunt, I don't know if I'll have to worry about that. Breaking a gym during a regulated match is enough of a pain, but explaining I was battling the ex-communicated Sinnoh Champion in an unofficial match? Probably not gonna go over well with my bosses."

"Well, you're welcome," Ash sheepishly replied. "I mean, if you get fired, at least you're done with a job you don't really like, right?"

Gary shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked dirt. "Yeah, but the pay wasn't half-bad for a college student's."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Back at his house that evening, Ash regaled his friends and mom with the story of the battle. Every move was hashed and rehashed – every strategy brazenly mulled over in the young champion's words as he felt himself growing warmer with battle fever.

"It really sounds like you had quite the match!" Delia surmised at the end of his speech.

Ash resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Only his mom could listen to such a detailed report of such an important battle, and come to the conclusion that it was "quite the match." Sometimes he wondered if she would call a heart attack "quite the startle" if she were to have one.

Instead, though, he gave her a grateful smile. In a past life, she too had been a Pokémon trainer; but as he learned long ago, this life wasn't really for her. "Thanks, Ma."

"It sounds like you had a slow start, but got more into it as time went on," Brock concluded, getting out of his chair to help Delia with the dishes. Ash and Misty followed suit.

"Yeah, and it really sounds like by the time Charizard came out you'd really figured it all out," Misty added, grabbing her boyfriend's hand and pecking him on the cheek. "I'm proud of you." She gave him a playful wink before returning to the table to grab more dishes.

A little confused, Ash couldn't help the goofy grin that overcame him. Fortunately, Pikachu was the only one looking, and he was more concerned about snatching leftovers from the peoples' plates before Misty picked them up than his master's love life.

"Why don't you three head into the living room?" Delia asked sweetly. "Mr. Mime, can you come in here and help me dry?"

"Thanks Mom!" Ash said, happily running from the kitchen and jumping over the backrest onto the couch. "I could use some rest after today!"

Misty followed after him and jumped on top of her sprawled-out boyfriend.

"Oof!" he moaned, a little surprised by the sudden weight after the big meal they'd just eaten. Though he couldn't complain, he was a little uncomfortable.

Sensing his awkward adjustments, Misty moved a little until she was lying in front of him with her back to his chest. Grabbing his right hand, she nestled his arm around her torso. Ash gently rested his chin on her crown, and was now very happy with the positioning.

"I've missed laying with you like this," she muttered as Brock came in after them.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've had a chance to…or wanted to."

She snuggled closer to him, and though the proximity caused him to blush, he wasn't about to push her away. Her hair smelled like some kind of flower…though for his life he couldn't imagine the name of it.

_I bet it's a pink one, though_, he thought, inhaling deeply. Almost dreamily, he pressed his lips down softly behind her bangs, and she gave a small giggle in reply.

"Did-did you just giggle?" Brock asked, his attention suddenly off the football show on the television. "Misty…_giggling_?"

She blushed a little. "Uh, no. Of course not! I-I was laughing at this show! Who watches soap operas like this?"

Brock suddenly looked offended – much to the water master's relief. "This isn't a dumb soap opera! It's a great show about a little town in…well, I forget where it is, but they love football and there's so much going on in it! I watch it every week. You see…"

As he continued, Misty gave Ash's hand a squeeze and pulled his arm in tighter around her.

"I missed holding you so much," he whispered. They hadn't done this since they were on the road alone a couple weeks before; although it felt like years now that he had her in his arms once again.

"By the way that was a giggle, but if you tell anyone, I'll kill you."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

In the morning, the two trainers awoke. He wasn't sure when it happened, exactly, but at some point between the drama and some show about mothers dressing their toddler daughters like dolls, he'd fallen asleep there on the couch.

Looking down, he saw his girlfriend still slumbering peacefully. She held onto his arm as tightly as she had the night before.

Feeling warm, he noticed either his mom or Brock had draped a blanket over the two before they'd gone up last night. Thankful for the covering in the brisk morning, he took another breath of her amazing scent before closing his eyes peacefully.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"Ew!"

"Brock, would you please quit saying that?"

"That's the third time today!"

"Exactly! How many times does this have to happen before you two finally just go and get a room?"

Misty huffed and Ash blushed. "We don't need a room. We're just kissing!"

"Y-yeah," Ash stammered in agreement. "I mean, we're allowed to do that, right?"

Misty gave her boyfriend a stern look. "Of course we are! Maybe if some people weren't such pervs, we could enjoy our relationship in peace."

"Perv? You're the one making out in plain sight! We're supposed to be gardening, remember? Not making babies out here!"

Ash's face reddened further, but Misty stamped her foot. "Just 'cause you don't have a girlfriend after all this time, don't blame us!"

Brock threw his hands up in exhaustion. "Whatever. I'll just announce myself before I turn a corner from now on."

"That'd be a start," Misty muttered. She turned back to Ash, clasping her hands behind his neck and pulling him in again.

"Do you think he's right?" Ash asked after a minute. "I mean, we _have _been kissing a lot more today."

"We were doing this all the time before I left for the competition," Misty reminded. Her heart raced a little in dread.

"Yeah, but, I mean, we _are_ at my house now. I think my mom saw us earlier when we were…you know, on the couch. And now Brock keeps catching us. It's just different than when we're on the road by ourselves."

"Do you not enjoy it?"

His whitening cheeks burned again. "Of course I do!" He waved his hands frantically, trying to dispel any doubts in her mind. "Why would I not like it? I've been the one starting it today mostly. I'm just worried that we're getting on everyone's nerves. Professor Oak called and told me Pikachu was with him, and I'm afraid it was because we've been all over each other."

Misty took her sunhat off the ground and put it back on her head. Placing her hands on her hips, she gave him a strong look. "Ash, do you remember everything we've just been through?"

"Well, yeah."

"And do you think that, after all we've done in the past couple of weeks, we deserve some time with each other?"

"Uh-huh."

"Then what's the problem? We've been killing ourselves trying to save the world! We almost lost each other several times! You've been acting all distant ever since we got out of the hideout – for obvious reasons – and now that we have a chance to finally relax and enjoy each other a little, you're worried some people might think it's gross if we make out in front of them?"

"Well…well I guess you're right," he relented. "It's never easy to admit, but you have a point. I guess I'm just a little self-conscious."

"Why don't we go out this evening?"

Ash looked up in surprise. "You mean, on a date?" The idea sounded so foreign after everything that had happened recently. Frivolities like dates and fun in general had become almost abstract concepts in his mind.

"Duh. That way we could get outta the house and have some privacy."

"As long as no one recognizes us."

"Well, we could go for a moonlight stroll or something like that. I mean, it's not exactly like you're Mister Moneybags anymore, so we'd have to do something cheap anyway."

Ash thought about it for a moment. Some time alone with Misty _did_ sound good. Maybe it was the near-death experience fueling their energy, but all day he couldn't seem to get enough of his longtime friend.

"Okay, it sounds like a good idea to me! We could use some fun."

"Perfect. Let's hurry and finish mulching so we can get ready!"

"Thank goodness!" Brock yelled from the other side of the house.

"Oh, shut up!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ash and Misty stood by the door, saying goodnight to Delia and Brock.

"Are you sure you couldn't wait till tomorrow morning for your little date?" Delia asked worriedly. "It's cold outside, and who knows who's wandering around out there after eight o'clock."

Ash shook his head and gave his mom a reassuring smile. "Trust me. She's a gym leader and I'm a champion. I think we can take care of ourselves." For safe measure, he patted a lone pokéball that was attached to his hip carrying Charizard.

"Yeah, I'm bringing Gyarados too," Misty assured. "They wouldn't be too smart to mess with us. Besides, we need the dark to avoid people noticing who we are."

Delia hesitated. "Well, okay, but don't be out too late, please? I know you think you're all grown-up, but you two are still babies to me! And Ash, don't you dare let her go cold! Give her that jacket if she needs it."

"No way!" Ash joked, giving Misty a look of disgust. "If that pink thing she's wearing won't do the job, it's not my responsibility."

Misty slapped the trainer in the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"You deserved it."

"Mom? You're on her side?"

Delia ruffled her son's messy hair. "Of course! I always take the right side."

"She never had an attitude before she met you," Ash mumbled as the two walked out the door.

"You were just never smart enough to notice," she answered under her breath, waving goodbye to Brock, Delia, and Pikachu.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"So what do you boys think we should do?" Delia asked, clasping her hands together happily.

The two boys gave the mother a confused look. "Do?"

"Chu?"

"I was thinking we could have some fun of our own since those two are ditching us for the night. Who's up for a good meal out in town?"

"Oh, we don't have to do that, Mrs. Ketchum!" Brock answered immediately. "Really, you've already been so hospitable letting me stay here on my vacation, I couldn't let you take us out!"

"That's nonsense, Brock," Delia answered, her smile wide and sincere. "It's always so much fun having you kids here, and you've been so great getting Ash out of the bad mood he was stuck in. You deserve a lot more than a good meal, but I'm afraid that's all I can offer you!"

Brock was about to refuse again, when his stomach began to growl at the thought. "Well…if you insist! I'll go get my jacket too!"

"Pika!" the mouse Pokémon agreed, jumping on Delia's shoulder and licking her cheek.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

As they walked past the rows of quaint suburban households, the two trainers held each other tightly.

"So did you really feel like yourself battling Gary again?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah. It just felt like I was back in the old days…you know, before all of this started. There were no politics or games or money. Just the two of us out there battling like when we were kids. It was perfect, kinda."

"Do you think it was good for the Pokémon like you planned?"

"I really think it was. I'm surprised I thought of it, but I'm really glad that I did. Having all of Venusaur's friends battling together really made me feel like we were all sort of honoring his memory. I think the Pokémon felt it too."

Misty stopped the pair for a moment to kiss him again. "I heard that speech you gave them at Oak's ranch before you brought them with you. I know they felt the same way you do."

"I'm glad you think so. Gary was right – I could've beaten him a little faster with a better combination of Pokémon, but that match wasn't about the combination."

"It was about the heart."

"Exactly."

The two continued walking down the sidewalk in silence. In one yard, a family was playing Frisbee with a pet Growlithe under the orange glow of a streetlight. In another, the two could see a young couple watching television through an open window.

"So what do you plan on doing next, exactly?"

"Mount Silver. Now that I have the drive to battle back, it's time that I face my destiny."

Misty looked up and gave her boyfriend's hand a reassuring grip. "You sound really determined."

He looked straight ahead, as if trying to discern the future in the black void of the night sky. "I'm more than determined…I'm ready."

"You know you can't battle him yet. You're just going to ask him some questions."

Ash shook his head. "There's more to this guy than that. I know it's not gonna be that easy."

"How do you know? He told you you'd just have to get to him."

"Mount Silver is one of the scariest places a Pokémon trainer can ever visit. You've heard the stories."

"Well, yeah, I know all about it, but still. I mean, I know you can handle anything you find in there as long as you bring your strongest Pokémon."

"It's not just the Pokémon I'm worried about. Red and I…I dunno. It's like I know that nothing's what it seems with him."

"Well, you did grow up idolizing him, so I'm sure you know him better than most people, considering he's been holed up in that mountain since we were babies. He's not exactly the most vocal person."

"I know. But what doesn't make sense to me is why he suddenly went into hiding. I mean, okay, so maybe my father knew him, and maybe there was some big showdown with Team Rocket, but if they really took his wife away like Ma said, then wouldn't he have gone out for revenge? What would have stopped him?"

"Maybe they had some kind of leverage on him that we don't know about. I mean, no one knows he even had a wife. Who knows what else he had that they could've threatened?"

"Like his money?"

"Or a family."

"I guess there's a chance that's the truth."

The two quieted for a spell, both contemplating the unraveling mystery that was the current Pokémon Master.

Clearing his throat, Ash looked down and gave Misty a grin. "Anyway, let's talk about something light for a little while. This is starting to put a damper on our fun night out."

Misty sighed. "Yeah, I think so too. Tonight should all be about having a good time!"

"You know what would be fun?"

"What?"

"Run up to that doorbell and ring it and then run away!"

Misty gave her boyfriend a look of mixed disgust and disbelief. "You seriously want me to ding-dong-ditch someone? What are we? Six?"

"Well me and my friend Jeremy used to do it all the time!"

"When you were six, right?"

"No!" Ash paused for a second, doing the math. "…we were more like eight."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh my gosh."

"C'mon, Mist! You said tonight was all about having fun! This would be sooo much fun!"

"Yeah, for you to watch and laugh at me."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"…no."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

She hesitated, looking down at her boyfriend who was now on bended knee with his hands clasped together tightly. "…fine. Just this one time, and then you have to do something stupid for me."

"Deal!" he agreed without a second's thought to what his girlfriend might have in store for him. "Now get over there!" He pushed her roughly past the front gates and towards the front door of a house that looked similar to Ash's.

Nervously, she tip-toed towards the door. Every step sounded like a bulldozer to her sensitive ears.

_I'm going to kill him for making me do this,_ she thought, glaring back at her smiling boyfriend. He shot her thumbs-up, and she narrowed her eyes in response. _Seriously, he's dead._

After what felt like ten minutes, she finally made her way to the sleepy home's front door. Her hand shaking, she slowly brought her forefinger to the doorbell. For a moment, the world seemed to stand still. The blood rushed through her ears, the adrenaline coursed through her veins, and her heart hammered inside her chest. A bead of sweat began to plummet towards the earth.

"While we're young?" Ash yelled from back near the fence.

Startled, she quickly jabbed the button with her finger – setting off a melodic tune that reverberated inside.

"Run!" she screamed, panicking and sprinting down the pathway leading back to the sidewalk. "Let's get outta here!"

Ash could barely breath from laughing so hard at the look on his girlfriend's face. Here was a girl that, not two weeks ago, was staring down the barrel of a gun, and now she was running away scared to death after ringing the doorbell of a home Ash knew to be empty and for sale.

Though it took him a minute, he finally caught up with her on the next block.

"Oh-oh-oh my gosh! That has-has to be the f-funniest thing ever!" He sat down on the edge of the sidewalk, still grabbing his sides in amusement as Misty shot daggers at him with her eyes.

"No it wasn't! That was terrifying!"

Looking up, he couldn't resist the bubbling laughter emanating from his ribs. It was all just too perfect, scaring her like that.

_She's so cute_.

She shoved his shoulder, causing him to tumble onto the pavement. Rolling onto his back, he put his hands under his head and looked up. "So what's your dare for me, then?"

Still flushed from excitement and embarrassment, Misty brought a thoughtful finger to her lips.

"Let's see…I could have you do the same thing, but something tells me you have too much experience from your past." She thought a moment longer before snapping her fingers.

"I got it! You're going to do the one thing that humiliates you more than anything else."

Ash gave her an inquisitive stare. "What? Admit my girlfriend's afraid of doorbells?"

She shook her head; her confident smirk refusing to be besmirched by the insult. "You and Charizard are gonna lose in a battle to me and Gyarados!"

"Uh-oh."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"This looks delicious!" Brock admired, examining his mushroom burger. "Thank you!"

"Don't forget the salad bar!" she reminded, examining her own chicken fillet. "I used to take Ash's dad here all the time when we were younger. They have pretty easy food, but they cook it so well. Even I couldn't fillet a chicken breast this perfectly!"

"Pika," Pikachu whispered from beneath the table cloth.

"Oh! Right! Here you go Pikachu," she replied in a whisper. Looking subtly to her left and then right, she slowly slid an opened ketchup packet down to the yellow mouse Pokémon. Animals weren't allowed in, but she didn't have the heart to exclude the little fighter from the humans' night out. "Let me know when you want more, sweetie."

Brock began gulping down his burger and soda. "So you used to come here a lot? If you don't mind me asking, why'd you move to a sleepy place like Pallet after going to college in a big place like Vermillion?"

Delia smiled, taking a small bite as she digested the question.

"Well, I was always more of a city gal, but Jay never was. He loved training, and he loved Pokémon. Big cities aren't the best place to train – unless you live in a gym like you or Misty. For trainers, though, as you know, it's easier to live in a place with a lot of open space and no worries about major property damage."

"So he came down here for the training?"

She nodded. "Red is from Pallet, you know. His family was one of the first to move here – back when this entire town was just the Oaks' home and the research facility. Blue, Gary's father, was once the Champion of Kanto, and then Red passed him up and ran on to become Master. This small town's bred some of the most famous trainers in the last fifty years."

"I noticed. If Ash succeeds, it will be the first time in almost a hundred years that two successive Masters have been from the same region…much less the same city!"

Delia nodded. "Jay was smart. Some people are just now starting to pick up on what he knew twenty years ago. The open space here just allows for great training and interaction with all kinds of Pokémon. We have a lake, we're next to the ocean, we have prairies and mountains. Very few cities have so much terrain with so many Pokémon!"

"That explains Ash and Gary's success."

"They were raised here," Delia elaborated. She seemed to forget her food as she thought back to her child's past. "They were always out with their friends looking for some rare Pokémon they never found. Most days they never came back with anything more than a blurry picture of a Caterpie."

"But getting to roam like that explains where their desire to travel and be trainers came from."

"And it explains why Gary would follow his grandfather's steps to become a researcher," Delia concluded, picking back up her fork. "But enough about Ash for now. I took you out to hear how your life is going! You're so grown-up! How's the job?"

Brock smiled. With all the drama surrounding Ash, he'd barely thought about how his life was going himself. It was nice to be the center of attention – if only for an evening.

"Well, the breeding center's keeping me busy. They pay pretty well, and I'm out of the internship phase. They officially hired me, and now I'm working under about a hundred different bosses. It's ground-level work, but they're a good company, and if I stay on track, I'll be working my dream job in a few years."

"What are you doing now?"

"Grunt work, mostly. My official position is as a breeding specialist, but that's not even a real thing. I mostly tend to minor wounds and make sure the Pokémon's living quarters are kept clean."

Delia stuck her tongue out. "Sounds a little dirty. Maybe I should ask what your dream job is instead? What are you working towards?"

"There's a really famous breeder in the company. He takes a few grunts like myself under his wing every couple of years. He pays for them to go to school and study pharmacy."

"You want to work as a pharmacist?"

Brock nodded. "I really want to work on developing real medicine for Pokémon. You know, the stuff Nurse Joys and doctors use on Pokémon to help them heal faster. I figure getting into school is the first step."

"That's a pretty serious goal," Delia lauded. "It sounds like you've been thinking about this."

"Well, yeah. For a long time I just wanted to work as a breeder. But now that I've been with the company for about a year, I'm seeing that breeder is just a starting position – not really something I still want to do twenty years from now."

"And how about your love life?" Delia asked innocently. "I hear Misty joke about it from time to time, but surely it's getting better now that you're older."

Brock gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I don't think Misty gives me enough credit. I still act goofy, but I like to think I've grown some since I was fifteen. I'm actually seeing someone, but I just don't know how to break it to those two. If they found out I had a girlfriend, I don't know who they'd make fun of!"

Delia clapped her hands excitedly. "That's so great for you though, Brock! You must tell them. Who's the lucky young lady?"

"Well, her name's Lucy. We met about five years ago when me, Ash, May and her brother were all traveling together. She's one of the Frontier Brains here in Kanto!"

"That's quite a while ago," Delia noted. "How did you two get back in contact?"

"Well, I sometimes sent her messages and emails while I was still traveling with Ash, but after I went to the breeding center, she actually came to breed one of her Seviper. She knew I was working there, which is why I think she actually came rather than just teleporting her Pokémon, but when she arrived we went on a date and she's been with me ever since!"

"Is it hard having a long distance relationship like that?"

"Well, I haven't told Ash or Misty yet, but before I go back to Sinnoh, I plan on going to visit her for a few days using some of my sick days at work. And she actually is coming to visit me at Christmas time, so that should be fun. I thought it would be really hard being apart, but she's worth waiting for.

Delia gave her son's friend a large smile. "You're definitely right about that. Right before we were engaged after we graduated from Vermillion, Jay went off for about six months to try and compete for the Indigo Plateau. He actually wasn't going to, after we'd met he didn't think I'd let him, but I told him I wanted him to be happy and that I'd be waiting there in the city for him when he came back as the Kanto Champion…I don't think he ever gave me a bigger hug!"

"That's really sweet," Brock chuckled. "He almost made it, too!"

Delia nodded. "That was actually after we got married that he made it to Lance. That six months he was gone? He actually left eight months before the competition."

"I don't – oh!" Brock laughed again. "I guess he just couldn't stay away, huh?"

She winked. "I guess I was more important than Pokémon. And that's saying something when you're talking about my husband!"

"It's saying something when you're talking about your son too!"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"This place'll be perfect," Misty announced, swirling around in the empty field. It was growing cold, and the grass crunched under her feet.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Ash asked cautiously, reaching for Charizard's pokéball. "I mean, I thought we were gonna have fun."

"Since when are Pokémon battles not fun? I thought you told me that you'd gotten your drive for battling back?" She gave the trainer a small sneer. "Or are you just chickening out because you know how bad you're going to lose this match?"

Ash grit his teeth defensively. "I have gotten my drive back! I just don't know how much fun battling is gonna be right now! I mean, I was kinda looking forward to just spending time with you."

He thought for a moment before quietly adding, "Alone."

Shocked at the sincerity, Misty stumbled a little before giving the trainer a soft smile. "Well, I guess I can't blame you. Now that you mention it, I kinda was looking forward to just being with you too." Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "I don't want you getting away with embarrassing me like that, though!"

She poked him in the chest and he backed away defensively.

"I won't! First thing when I get back from Mount Silver, you and I will battle everyday to get you ready for the scholarship competition in April. That should give me plenty of time to embarrass you again." He gave her a subtle wink, and she gave him a less subtle punch in the arm.

"Ow!"

"So what did you wanna do if we're not gonna battle, and we can't afford to go anywhere?"

He thought for another moment before suddenly moving in. "How about this?"

Without hesitation, the raven-haired champion grabbed his girlfriend from behind the waist and head and locked her lips into his own. There, in the middle of the open field, the two began a passionate kissing session that quickly evolved into more.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"That was so much fun," Brock thanked again as the trio reentered the Ketchum household. All the lights were off, meaning their friends hadn't come back just yet. "It's been a while since I went out for a good meal!"

"Well you need to start taking your girlfriend out for them more! She deserves to have more than a working relationship with you, you know," Delia lightly scolded with a smile.

Brock slid his hand sheepishly behind his head. "Yeah, she's been telling me the same thing. I know I need to get on that."

"Pikachu!" Pikachu thanked graciously, jumping up to Brock's shoulder.

"Do you wanna watch some television? I think I'm heading to bed, myself. It's been a full day!"

Brock yawned alongside the yellow mouse Pokémon. "Actually, I think we're headed to bed too. It's been a full year! We'll see you in the morning, Mrs. Ketchum."

"Night-night! Let me know if you need any extra blankets!" With that, Delia walked towards her bedroom next to the living room and Brock carried Pikachu upstairs to the guest quarters.

"Do you think Misty and Ash will be back soon?"

Pikachu shrugged. "Pi?"

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The kiss in the field was quickly evolving as the powerful mixture of young love and hormones began to take hold over the two teenagers in a way it never had before.

"You taste so good," Ash whispered breathlessly, straddling Misty from above.

"So do you!" she panted. "I've never had so much fun kissing you before."

"Me either."

Both teens were exhilarated. Ash likened it to riding Charizard during a thunderstorm, and Misty could only compare it to doing a dangerous stunt in one of her sisters' shows. Both knew that neither wanted the feeling to end.

"It's so cold out here," Misty half-moaned as Ash began to kiss her neck. "It's like f-freezing!"

"Ma warned us about the cold. You shoulda listened!" Ash jokingly whispered – his hot breath tickling her inner ear and eliciting another low moan.

"You're such a mama's boy," Misty huffed back, her words creating puffy clouds in the air between the two. "You always do everything she says."

He backed up his face an inch from hers – a confused smile tickling his lips. "No I don't!"

She gave him a playfully daring stare. "Oh really? Then why are we still in our clothes?"

At that moment, the entire world seemed to break for Ash as Misty's eyes grew wide at the realization of what she'd just let slip through her lips.

"Uh-I mean, um…"

Ash's mouth hung open, as if in disbelief and shock. He looked straight ahead as he continued straddling the redhead.

"Listen, Ash. I didn't mean I wanted – well, I mean, I _do _want, but…"

Ash shook his head slightly, not appearing the least bit recovered.

"I mean, I didn't mean for it to come out sounding like-like I was a whore or something. I just-"

Ash shut her up with another quick kiss – this one deep and meaningful in more ways than before to the water trainer.

When the two were done, he lifted his head and looked down at his longtime friend. "Did you mean it? Do you really wanna…you know…"

Misty nodded eagerly. "We've both been so patient. But we've been waiting for so long, and after everything-"

"Everything that's happened!" Ash concluded, quickly jumping off and helping her up. "Everything that's happened has just been crazy!"

He was speaking fast, and she began to do the same.

"Yeah! We deserve to let ourselves have fun after all that!"

"I almost lost you!" He grabbed her again in a hurried rush of frenzied passion. He grabbed handfuls of her waved hair as she tried to bite through his lower lip.

"I came even closer to losing you!" she cried, in pain from the hair pulling, but clinging even tighter to his lip in response. Her hands were roaming over his body, and as his grip loosened, his began to do the same. "I can't believe how close we came to never being able to have this moment."

It was as if the teens were in fast forward. Every word, every movement was rushed to its maximum speed as each searched for the courage to continue.

"What if we're not here tomorrow?" Ash panicked, planting several small kisses all over her face and neck "What if we don't wake up? And we never really showed each other-"

"How we feel about each other!" Misty finished. "What if this is our last chance? You're going to Mount Silver in the morning, after all."

"Yeah!" He almost jumped from excitement. "What if a Geodude falls on my head and I get amnesia? Or if I fall off a cliff?"

"Or if you slip and break something?"

"Or if Red beats me?"

"Or if you get lost!"

Between each scenario, a thousand heartbeats and a thick layer of small, passionate kisses emerged. Neither teen was able to speak in coherent sentences after another moment; each was lost in their own world of dread wherein they'd never have this opportunity again.

But beneath the thinly-veiled guise of dread pumped the exhilaration of what both knew was coming.

"I mean," Ash said, starting to slow his kisses, and pulling back from the redhead a little; their hands still tightly held as he looked down, "if tomorrow never came, could we say that we're happy leaving our relationship like this?"

Misty took a few breaths, slowing down too. She looked up and gave her boyfriend's hand a squeeze. "I don't know. Will you still love me if I say that I could?"

His eyes grew wide. "Of course! I love you no matter what. I love being with you no matter what. You could tell me to never hold your hand again, and I'd still stay by your side until we were dead…just a few feet away in case you ever changed your mind."

Tears began to swell in the water trainer's eyes. "I want to take that next step with you. I just need to know…"

"Know what?" The urgency in his voice fed into the mild panic that seemed to permeate the air between the two. It felt as if they were dreaming. A moment ago they were kids holding hands.

_Now she looks like a woman._

"I need to know you'll never leave if we do this. That you won't take me for granted or back out just because you got what you wanted from me." Tears began to actively fall and she looked down in shame.

"Misty…" Not knowing what to do – and feeling such a rush of emotion in his heated state that he simply settled on the first that crossed his mind - he grabbed her arms and practically lifted her off the ground as he pulled her face close to his. "Look at me."

Sniffling, she looked up.

His eyes narrowed, and his grip was almost painful. "You know me. You've known me longer than almost anyone. Do you even have to ask me whether I'd ever leave you? Do you even have to wonder if this is all I want from you?"

The hurt in his voice only made Misty want to cry more.

Instead, though she dried her eyes and quickly shook her head. "You're right. I know who you are. I know better than you do. I'm sorry."

He shook his head and loosened his grip. "It's a big step. It'd be weird if you weren't a little worried."

"No," she answered, softly removing his right hand and grabbing it with her own. "It isn't weird. That's the problem; that's why I asked. This feels so natural – so right. I can't imagine this not happening. I can't imagine taking this next step without you, and it almost feels like I'm on a snowy hill, just sliding down. I have no control over this, because I know you and I know me, and I know this is all just too perfect."

"Too perfect?"

"Yeah. You're the answer to everything I've been looking for – even if I didn't always know it. And now that we're about to cross this line, and it feels so easy to just close my eyes and go down the hill without thinking about it…"

"You panicked?" Ash hazarded.

She nodded. "I like being in control. I like controlling my own destiny. That's why I don't want you to pay for my school. That's why I left you when we were kids. That's why I ditched my sisters. But, with you as my boyfriend, it's like I have no control. I can't stop something that's so inevitable, so I…well, I just had to ask to feel like I had some hand in what's about to happen."

Ash tightened his grip around her soft hand. "I know what you mean, but this feeling isn't one-sided. It's not like I'm anymore in control here than you, you know?"

She gave him a confused look.

"We're both just riding down this hill together. You think it only feels natural for you? I've been fighting this feeling since we got together, and now that I know the fight's coming to an end I know exactly how you feel. Neither of us – I mean, I don't think either of us can really resist the next step. It's scary."

He took a step back from her, letting go of her arm and hand and reaching his left hand out.

"But I'm ready to take this ride if you'll go with me."

He gave her a small smile – the same smile she'd seen so many times before, and the tears threatened to return as she grabbed his hand.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Well, I know that it was kind of slow. That was probably even more disappointing given how long you've waited for this new chapter. But! Let me assure you that next chapter things pick up steam pretty quick, and all the romance and action you could hope for are jam-packed in there!

However, as always, if there's anything you thought I could do better, or wish I would fix, let me know! I'm always open to any constructive-criticism! Also, if you have any questions, let me know in your review and I'll respond as soon as I can!

**Please, please, though, leave me a review.**

I'm not above begging. I know how long I've left this story out of commission, and I know I don't deserve it. But, the truth is, this is truly the final arc of this great adventure we all started together over three years ago. I needed the break I took so I could honestly give this story the great finish I know it deserves, and I want as many people as possible to be a part of that finish. When you review this story, the review numbers show up underneath it, and that lets people know it's decent and worth looking over. My goal from the beginning with this fic was to take fans of the Pokémon universe (and Pokéshipping, in particular) on a fun, dangerous adventure with our favorite protagonists. Now that this story's coming to a close, that desire's stronger than ever, and so I really want as many people on board as possible.

Thank you all so much for your support. If you're mad at me, I understand. But please know that I'm working hard to gain back your favor. And if you forgive me, thank you for your kindness and friendship. I won't let you down again.

See you in two weeks, and LATER DAYS!


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